2006, THE MELTING POINT OF THE APRC AND JAMMEH
By: OUSAINOU MBENGA
WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AGENT PROVOCATEURS!
As we march towards a proud-future Gambia, coming out of the most repressive
ten
years in our recent history; the serious among us must strive to acquire an
indomitable spirit of resistance against the works of provocateurs. Simply
put, a
provocateur is a mean-spirited individual driven by low self esteem and is
habitually bent on disrupting the good deeds of other individuals or
organizations.
The provocateur takes pleasure in creating an atmosphere of suspiciousness
among
individuals in an organization with the intent to paralyze all genuine
efforts to
build unity among the members of the organization.
Following the January 14, 2005 demonstration at the Gambian Embassy in
Washington,
DC and the subsequent protest held in New York City on February 18, 2005
(the date
of our “independence”), we are beginning to see an increment in social
consciousness
among Gambians. An increasing number of us are discovering the essence of
demonstrations/protests not by accident but by participation. Once we come
to the
realization that our desires and intentions to bring about concrete changes
to our
beloved Gambia cannot be held hostage and confined in the comforts of our
homes, the
churches, classrooms and mosques, but rather to be liberated from these
confines
into the streets, only then can we become a formidable force to reckon with.
Subsequent to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the
coalition
of “opposition parties” – better known as the ALTERNATIVE – the APRC has
nervously
unleashed its arsenal of detractors and agent provocateurs to undermine the
momentum
of our unity against the Jammeh regime in the USA and indeed on the ground
at the
home front. It is quite apparent that the regime’s sycophants and
opportunists see
no need to change the system; they rather have superficial reforms to
maintain the
“status quo” thereby retain and maintain their “foolish prestige”.
But why are we sounding the alarm on agent provocateurs and detractors?
Brothers and
sisters, an event of historical significance took place on January17, 2005 in
Banjul. This event was the signing of of the MOU, which gave birth to the
National
Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) , the first sign of the demise
of the
APRC.
Many Gambians, in their wildest imagination never thought that such an
honorable act
of UNITY can possibly come from Africans. Many of our conquered-African
minds were
waiting to utter the familiar phrase, “I told you so; Africans can’t unite
around
any important issue”. Yet, others are overly and senselessly critical of our
efforts
to form a formidable coalition as if they want it to fail. We must remember
that the
most important aspect of the coalition is the sincere support from the
people.
Attempts to undermine these efforts must be exposed.
The fact is agent provocateurs never have anything to offer, therefore
resort to
slander, disruptive behavior and delaying tactics. Nothing should progress
unless
they figure prominent in the process.
With sincere humility, we have a strong conviction to change this rot-of- a-
society; we believe we have something to offer Gambia and Africa. And
nothing can
shake this conviction out of our hearts.
This is the reason for our sincere signing of the MOU. We will claim no easy
victories in our quest for freedom. We are not in this for narrow selfish
ends but
for our collective prosperity.
We raise these issues at this juncture to prepare the ground for the
struggles ahead
of us. We are not concerned with Jammeh’s sycophants and his herd of “
graduates with
illiterate ideas”. Those who sold their souls to protect their jobs; those
who are
beyond redemption can stay with the AFPRC-APRC sinking ship. Our concern is
with the
rest of us – the forces of victory – the solution to the problem. We should
do our
utmost to maintain our ranks and not lose any of our forces to the Jammeh
camp. The
protests must continue in Washington, DC, New York and any other city in the
USA.
Let us not allow foolish and childish rumor mongers to break our united
front. We
are in the right direction and all attempts to undermine this honorable
effort to
restore sanity in our beloved country will not work. This is the moment to
strive
for political maturity and flush all provocateurs and individuals who are
driven by
envy and jealousy.
With the increasing bankruptcy of the Jammeh regime and the visible
crumbling away
of the AFPRC-APRC state apparatus, we take it as our patriotic duty to
express the
no-more-secret yearning of the vast majority of Gambians to end Jammeh’s
tyranny.
All Gambians who are in unity with us must bring their lives to the level of
the
real REVOLUTION that will transform the Gambian front of the African
revolution into
a society of strength and self-confidence.
This is the era of doing the impossible among ourselves; where there is
disunity and
isolation, we will work towards unity; where there is mistrust we will sow
trusting
and where individualism prevails we will reassert our collective philosophy
for
harmonious existence.
We are witnessing a massive shift in human conscious-ness from the
strangle-hold
tradition that certain things are destined to remain the same despite the
tragic
consequences of the greed, exploitation and the “lust for self-
aggrandizement” by
presidents, ministers and the “impotent elite” that make our lives
miserable. The
fact that we catch the brunt of every known and existing misery on planet
earth; we
should be at the focal point of this shift and raise our consciousness to a
higher
level, beyond impoverishment, misery and the “beggardom” that we have
become. We
must declare without compromise, that life is not synonymous with suffering.
Our nightmares under APRC have reached horrifying proportions, we must be
willing to
step out of line and become the spark that would ignite all the individual
fires
into a united front. The quest of the coalition is to fire the imagination
of our
compatriots; open the hearts and minds of Gambians to change for a
proud-future
Gambia.
Never Allow Destruction of Democracy
LONG LIVE NADD! LONG LIVE AFRICAN UNITY! PROTEST! PROTEST!
OUSAINOU MBENGA
Deputy Secretary General
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ACTION MOVEMENT (NDAM)
DARE TO INVENT THE FUTURE! ‘TIL VICTORY ALWAYS!
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