In a message dated 3/2/2006 6:50:40 P.M. Central Standard Time, SS
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In fact if the Brikama show down is anything to go by, Lawyer
Ousainu Darboe is still a vote magnet. Mr Darboe’s
electoral record is actually a good foundation for the
opposition to build on. If the opposition is really
serious about looking for a realistic option to
dislodge APRC, they need to recognise this and rally
behind the UDP/NRP Coalition in the interest of their
ultimate common objective, which is to dislodge APRC.
In the same way, NADD should drop the idea of Staging
up Halifa Sallah as a candidate in the up coming
presidential election. This man has being the face of
PDOIS for decades and yet he never achieved anything
more than 3% for that party. How on earth can anybody
even dream of choosing such a man as President
Jammeh’s challenger and expect Gambians to take you
seriously?
unquote
Mr Mballow,
Since you are the man behind the mask of SS Daffeh, please relay the
following to him for me on behalf of the Gambian people.
The point is not who is more sellable or who gained what percentage of votes
in the past, but rather that as a strategy to enable them to garner enough
votes to win against the APRC, all opposition parties had agreed to come
together as one unit, NADD, and through a democratic process, choose one candidate
to represent this one unit, NADD to face Jammeh in the next elections.
The various leaders of these opposition parties were to then explain to
their various supporters that this is a strategy that would enable them to
remove the APRC regime and to give us our country back and that after this was
accomplished, and followed by the prescribed 5 year term of an interim
government, these parties who had come together would then be able to go back to
their individual parties and can then be able to organize themselves and contest
elections as individual parties. The people would have understood this and
indeed, all indications are that they already did.
All patriotic Gambians realize in their heart of hearts that it is high time
to forge a mechanism to dislodge the Jammeh regime from power before they
murder all our people and sink our country into an irreversible economic
disaster.Our people live the hardship on a daily basis, regardless of which tribe
they are, the suffering under the APRC regime knows no ethnic boundaries.
The idea is that if forging this mechanism means having to set aside for the
time being, all political, ideological or personal differences for the sake
of our people and for the love of our dear country, then that is what would
be done by all those who profess to believe in the democratic process and the
love of our people and country.
This was and is the hopes and dreams of the Gambian people who have taken
all they can take from this brutal regime.
What has transpired is that some of those who had subscribed to this
magnificent ideal have decided that they did not like what the results of a
democratic process to select the representative or flag bearer may bring, that this
process may not result in things going the way they want it, and so they
decided to break their word and abandon an agreement that they had made to the
Gambian people in order to have their way. This makes them begin to resemble the
dictator they claim to be trying to dislodge.This scares us because if
anyone can think in those terms at this critical juncture in the history of our
country, and to the extent of abandoning the promise of this alliance and the
democratic process that was in place to select the flag bearer, then that
sends a very negative message indeed that those individuals do not and will not
respect the same democratic process tomorrow should they ever be in power, and
that we will likely find ourselves in the clutches of another attempt to
cling to power at all cost. This is the message that these actions convey
unfortunately.
So you see, it is totally irrelevant to talk about which party leader is
more sellable because each party leader had subscribed to an ideal to pool their
resources together, in this case, those resources being their support base
and to implore that support base to vote for the flag bearer selected through a
democratic process by the coalition executive in order to accomplish a well
defined objective, to get a dictatorship off the backs of Gambians.
Unfortunately, a decision was made by some people that their own aspirations
were somehow superior to any effort to save our country and our people at
their most urgent hour of need and history will not look kindly upon them if
they persist in this senseless selfish endeavour.
These are the facts plain and simple, and people need to save us from the
endless rhetoric and spin which insists on making us stupid when we are nothing
but stupid.
It is also time to stop the accusations of tribalism by those whose actions
speak louder than words that they are the ones who are the tribalists. it is,
as our African American brothers and sisters say, a case of the pot calling
the kettle black, or a cheap strategy of trying to beat your opponent to the
punch by labeling them what you have manifested to be.
Our country and our people are crying and dying from the untold brutality of
this devious regime, and let those who truely love our country, and who say
they subscribe to the democratic ideal keep their word and come back to the
promise they made so that we can move our country forward. Their actions will
then be remembered by the people and they will be able to not only hold their
heads high tomorrow, but we will then know that they can be trusted as
people we the people can also trust to lead us tomorrow.
For the love of God, this is an interim government we are talking about, a
temporary solution that will create the kind of atmosphere all political
parties have been yearning for for forty years. Do not those who are so hell bent
on derailing this process trust their abilities to win an election in a free
and fair atmosphere after our constitution has been restored and coercion is
not the order of the day anymore?
Please also relay to "Mr Daffeh" that his cloak and dagger manner also tells
us that he and whatever he represents must not be something he can hold his
head up high for if he has to hide behind someone else to deliver his warped
messages.
And Mr Mballow, a word of advice if I may. If you are as objective as you
profess to be, and if you are as sincere in supporting one unified coalition as
your last posting implied, then it baffles me as to why you would agree to
be the bag man for "Mr Daffeh" and his divisive messages.
Jabou Joh
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