Thank you, brother, for the role you played in STGDP and NADD  to deliver Gambian from the jaws of Jammeh's misrule.. You are absolutely right to place the majority of  the blame of  NADD's breakup on Mr. Darbo. He has spoil the wises and aspirations of many Gambians who are yearning for development and rule of law. We would nerver forgive him for his role in our current state of affairs--Jammeh's reelection.
   
  Thank you for your service to our dear nation.
   
  Muhammed Lamin Touray

Musa Jeng <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  Ousainou Darbo’s role:

Ousainou Darboe, the leader of the UDP was one of the most needed participants to the coalition effort, and being the leader of the biggest party his role was critical for its success. It is indeed a fact that the UDP withdrawal from the coalition led to the disintegration of the effort, which resulted to the political morass our country is confronted with today. The UDP, like their counterparts in the opposition saw the coalition idea as one of the best idea in defeating Jammeh, and usher in a new beginning. Irrespective of the partisan divide, if blame is to be apportioned in regards to who among the leaders led to the break up, by far it was Ousainou. The coalition disintegration happen because he walked away from it. He made it clear that he walked away because he could not trust his partners. As an insider in STGDP, I will try to elucidate Ousainou's role to the NADD break up, which ultimately became the final blow to our dream.

From Day one, STGDP understood one underlying fact that these parties supported the coalition idea because it was the surest way of defeating Jammeh. My friends, this was the only thing that we had going for us in bringing about peaceful change to the Gambia. There is not a single Gambian who did not understand what both president Jammeh and Fatou Jahumpha meant when they said: these people would never come together. It was obvious to most of us that the longer they postponed the idea of selecting a leader; the whole thing could one day come crashing. Ousainou’s role in the breakup was his inability to lead, his ego and not completely upfront with the truth. He was never able to establish credibility and commitment to the effort at all, other than leading it and becoming president. It is sad that sometimes we got caught up with partisan politics, but any honest Gambian understood that this whole effort was not only to get rid of Jammeh. We wanted to have our politicians to
 come to
gether and build a political culture of good governance, rule of law and to bring an end to military aristocracy. We believed that this could be an opportunity for Gambia to bring its own Mandela, our own Sankara – a true leader that will at least attempt to bring the building blocs of a democracy. The only thing we got from Ousainou was I am the leader of the biggest party, and join me in this wrestling match and I will defeat Jammeh. As for the details, well just trust me.


Ousainou’s role from Day one was that this coalition should be party led, and he should be the leader. A majority of Gambians in STGDP that were true believers to the success of this effort, never really questioned the rationale that he is indeed one of the most viable leaders that can make it happen. His side kicks in the US were always buttressing and making the justification that all over Africa this is how coalitions are done. In his first trip to the US after the formation of NADD, we had an informal meeting with him in Atlanta. If there was one think that stood out was his emphasis on making sure that the process should come up with a saleable candidate, and he also complained to us the impracticality of the NADD concept. He blamed his partners for not listening to him, which led to the Supreme Court ruling for the opposition to vacate their seats in the National assembly. Interestingly, when he was confronted with what he meant by a saleable candidate at the public
 meetin
g, he bob and weave and basically concluded that all the NADD leaders were indeed saleable. When he was pressed whether he will stay with NADD even if he does not become the leader, he said and I paraphrase: I am not the kind of person that would sign on a dotted line and walk away from a commitment. It is also interesting that being the leader of the biggest party within the opposition and was a presidential candidate twice, his role in the effort should have been to take the lead, to be proactive, reaching out and building consensus. Obviously, it was natural for the smaller parties to be skeptical because they did not want to be swallowed by the bigger brother. Especially, After the Jammeh revolution – transparency and accountability, nobody wanted to find ourselves fighting a similar fight, except this time it will be a person of their own making – it was OJ Jallow who wants told me this. When the OJ’s and Halifa were putting together meetings, and taking leadership
 role in try
ing to build the coalition, all he was interested in was to be handed over the leadership on a silver platter. In fact, He was not attending the meetings, he was always represented by Kemeseng Jammeh and Yaya Jallow .Anytime a critical issue was to be tabled, He will attend. On several occasions, even after the group including his own representatives agreed to an issue, he will insist on revisiting. This has contributed to the delay and sent clear message to his partners that this man was not a team player. He would revisit all the past decisions and bring in new arguments. Any leader with a vision would have played a much more leadership role, reaching out, reassuring your political nemesis and to be seen from day one as the Moses that will take us to the promise land. For a moment, let us even overlook the fact that he was the leader of the biggest party, and bring his legal training. Every aspect of the MOU should have been championed by the best legal mind in the group,
 and the
re is absolutely no doubt that he has the capability. This document was debated and debated; because in the final analysis this was suppose to be the agreement that will bind them under one voice. Trust but verify – as president Regan use to tell the Soviets. I am of the belief that he never respected the process, and even when he signed the dotted line of the MOU. He put his signature to a document that he does not truly believe in his entirety and had no intention of honoring it. Really, Ousainous’s attitude was I am the leader of the biggest party, I am just going to go along with this charade and when everything is said and done I will lead it. And if it does not happen, I will walk away. All over the world, Leaders become sole owners of a struggle from the vision, ideas and the strategy. There was a reason why MLK was the leader of the civil rights struggle, Mandela the leader of the Apartheid struggle, even behind bars, and even the reason why president Jammeh became
 the lea
der of the July 22 struggle. These people knew how to lead. Ousainou never wanted to do what leaders do to lead, neither did he want to follow anyone, and when he finally got out of the way the whole process and effort came crashing down. The MOU, represented the building blocs of this effort, and this is a document that they all agreed to, and no matter how idealistic or unreasonable the document, especially as a trained lawyer, if he was honest with his approach from day one, we could have ended up with a compromised document. He was never an architect of it and even when he supposedly had problems with it, in the end he agreed to the final deal. In the final analysis, his lack of leadership skills contributed his inability to lead and which led to his withdrawal, and the final blow to NADD.

Ousainou’s ego was another serious problem, and this I recognized after meeting him couple of time up and close, and it really couldn’t have helped his relationship with his partners... He was a prisoner of his own ego, and there was no way he could have brought himself to see anyone else leading this struggle other than him. This is not to say that he did not have a legitimate claim to the mantle, but for God sake fight for it and be very up front. To his defense, I understood and respected some of his arguments: I was giving the process a chance and have agreed to things that I might even have problems with, but keeping eye at the big issue - and defeating Jammeh was worth it. And when his partners would not at least, wink wink, give him the ultimate price for his compromises and sacrifice, he could not handle it. This, my friends, is the trust that he kept hammering away. He was never ever going to compromise the leadership to anyone, even though he subscribed to the
 selection p
rocess as indicated in the MOU. In this neighborhood such actions are considered dishonest, as an uncle and a father with due respect, I will say not too upfront with the truth. In the early part of the planning and all through the struggle, I have always worked with Karamba, a person that has contributed greatly to the effort. I once asked him whether Ousainou would consider anything other than leading the effort. He told me flatly, this is where we will draw the line on the sand, and I believed him. I have shared this position with the rest of the group, and I told them as far as I am concern – Karamba’s position is ultimately Ousainou’s. I was absolutely convinced that He was not going to compromise the leadership to anyone. Coming back to the ego issue as a contributing factor .When we learned that he was going to call for a press conference and that he was finally leaving NADD. Let me say, this was not the first time we were in this situation with him threatening to
 leave. B
ut this time around it was different, his ego was badly bruised. He walked into that fiasco selection process hoping to be coronate, and when it did not happen, he was finally convinced that his colleagues were not really interested in taking the risk with him. This was too much for him. This particular night it was different, we stayed on the phone for hours begging him to give us at least twenty-four hours to see what we can do to find a way out. He was steadfast, and said he has made up his mind and that he could not do business with these people anymore. Finally, his ego was dealt a final blow, and he was willing to find another way of defeating Jammeh and bring about change, but definitely not with these folks. Another instance that I saw his ego up and close was in Atlanta, this was after he left NADD, and STGDP was still trying to salvage the effort. We sat down in a Hotel with him, Amadou Taal, a surprising Haruna Darboe who has been out of the loop for sometimes
 and Banka 
Manneh. STGDP had a proposal that we wanted to discuss with him and to see what other possibilities. We were convinced his ego will not let him come back to NADD; therefore, the proposal to consider was to create a new alliance of UDP/NRP and NADD, he will lead it but only to run under an independent ticket with Halifa as his running mate. Remember, we were only trying to rekindle a lost hope, and this was a proposal that we contacted lots of folks including UDP supporters. To my dismay, his only response was, in a very forceful and angry tirade: “I have been meeting their demands for the past three years, now they have to come to me” To that I said, what difference does it really makes because we are not asking you to rejoin to NADD, and even critical points in the MOU like, term limits were being addressed in this new document. For me I found it to be really very disappointing for his outburst, and it revealed a lot about him as leader with a serious ego problem. This
 meeting c
ontributed to my own outburst, accusing him of being obsessed with the presidency, when he went after STGDP at that infamous interview with the Post. 


After a close encounter with him, without a doubt, I found his ego could not have been helpful in his quest to lead a country through a struggle and bring real democracy to the Gambia. This was indeed a huge character flaw. In addition, his inability to reach out to his nemesis Waa, as I indicated about Waa’s attitude to Ouasainou, but his ego without a doubt was not helpful in burying hatchet with political foes. Indeed his feelings to Waa contributed immensely to his lack of appetite to attend important scheduled NADD meetings. Even after the other players voted down the party led that the UDP advocated, he still went along with the majority opinion, even though he had no intention of respecting it. 

In the final analysis, the leader of the biggest party walked away from an effort that could have change the political landscape of our country, basically because of his lack of leadership, a prisoner of his own ego and not being upfront with the process from the beginning to the end.

Thanks

Musa Jeng

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