Omar,
Thanks for the response but I did not make mention or imply that you are not a part of NADD so forgive me if I fail to understand why you are addressing that issue with me, and I DO understand that "fresh blood" in political parlance has nothing to do with age or generation. I was not aware that I gave this impression. By old guard, I was referring to the so-called failed opposition politicians being asked to resign versus what I observed from the writings of those who may constitute the "fresh blood" referred to and the fact that this group is obviously comprised of people of all ages in the diaspora as well as at home is needless to say quite evident.
You and others keep talking about some of us engaging in the "blame game" but it is necessary for us to understand what eactly led to the failure of the opposition to unite in order to avoid repeating the same thing all over again. So simply calling for the resignation of the opposition leadership and then accusing those of us who believe in a need to dissect the problem in order to gain a clearer understanding of the reasons why the failure occurred and which process must necessarily then identify what individual actions led to this failure is hardly fruitful.
We simply stand to repeat the same mistake with a new set of people because no one out there has a magic wand to bring the opposition together. We will be drawing from the same groups of people with the same attitudes unless we are willing to identify the problems and are willing to state them frankly without being told that we have to engage in what seems to be a national passtime of nursing the fragile egos of politicians in the name of keeping them interested in bending to the will of the people. It is like a drug addict, unless they recognize that they are addicted and admit it, no one and nothing can help them. You cannot solve the problem by dealing in abstracts, that is self delusional.
No organization or individual is perfect, and I never implied that NADD is perfect or that it's leadership is perfect. I surely hope I am not that daft. That kind of blind worship is what we are trying to get rid of. My point is simply that rather than dissolve NADD which is an idea that has managed to bring together at least some aspects of the opposition, we need to build on at least that unity and then work to join that existing alliance with the rest. It does not have to be called NADD. In other words, we need to avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water.
As for the NADD leadership, I believe Halifa Sallah has already stated that he will tender his resignation so I think he is already ahead of the game as far as that is concerned although I see that Brother Modou Sidibeh does not even want to accord him that credit.
Finally, I do not worship individuals or organizations. I simply admire those who have a character that exemplifies the unselfish dedication that is required of those who come forward to seek to serve the people and whose service will hopefully contribute towards emancipation of our people from all forms of exploitation, and I do not hesitate to give them credit for this nor to state my committment to lend them my support whoever they may be, and if we want to see any meaningful change in our country, we need to seek out and encourage those who have demonstrated these character traits to represent us. I do not support people simply because they are at the helm of anything. Infact, I believe that anyone at the helm of anything needs to deserve to be there because they posses both the ability and the accompanying character trait to truely represent the interest of the people. I happen to believe that Halifa Sallah falls into this category and his actions in the effort to unite the opposition were never counter to the goal, and credit must be gien where it is due if we are sincere. However, expressing this opinion is hardly tantamount to saying that he is perfect or that NADD is perfect. So please let us not mistake that for some of the bafoonery of blind support that has brought us the political nightmare we are unfortunately living.
Jabou Joh
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: SV: CALL for THE RESIGNATION of ALL Opposition leaders
Sister Jabou,I am not aware that anyone is claiming that I do not belong to
NADD. This coalition was never intended to be a permanent structure. It is
unfortunate that while we are asking for self-crticism, most folks sofar, are
merely indulging in the blame game. Political institutions and programmes are
designed to obtain set goals, where they failed in that task their effectiveness
should be questioned. For God's sake nobody is criticising NADD for the benefit
of any other political formation in The Gambia.Now the truth you are all talking
about is common knowledge. Some of us have previously commented on those isuues.
But this time around, we are talking about NADD and the fact that it has failed
to obtain its set goals. Sister Jabou, do you folks want to maintain that NADD
as a political organization is perfect and it's leaders as persons are perfect?
Of course none of you would dear say that!Furthermore, "fresh blood" in
political parlance has nothing to do with age or generation. In our context
here, it simply refers to those who have not been involved in the debacle which
reduced the Grand Coalition into two. For us Yaya Jammeh and his followers
are bad examples. We should not follow our leaders because they are the ones at
the helm of things. We should follow them because they are making good of their
pledges.finally, Exuberance comes from my note book as a youth/student activist.
It depicts what the vanguard exudes when it goes into action after having been
galvanized.With respect, Omar Joof.> Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:08:21 -0500> From:
[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: SV: CALL for THE RESIGNATION of ALL Opposition
leaders> To: [log in to unmask]> > -----Original Message-----> From:
[log in to unmask]> > "Besides, in a more painfully and accurate
scenario, our Titanic has already > > hit the iceberg and is rapidly taking on
water below decks. Some passengers and > > crew have not yet been informed,
while others simply refuse to believe that the > > glorious ship is sinking.
Both ignorance and denial, however, will be swept away > > sooner than later,
and a time of scrambling for the lifeboats will follow. The > > majority of
passengers will not be pleased when they find out that there are no > >
lifeboats for them, only for the privileged few in First Class HONESTY DEAK."
Edi,> > Bulls eye! This is the crux of the matter. Couple this with the fact
that we have an outlaw government at the helm and waking up becomes a matter of
do or die and those who refuse to compromise for the good of all become the
worse enemy of the people and it becomes more and more evident for them to see.
This is actually the problem and nothing else.> E.g, I do not for one moment
believe that the leaders of the UDP and NRP parties singlehandedly arrived at
their decisions not to unite with NADD when the invitation was extended , nor
did they make singlehanded decisions to put up national assembly candidates in
areas where NADD had candidiates thereby underming the very opposition they are
a part of. Or let us assume they did, and in that case, where were these
so-called sober minds and fresh blood that will take the place of the old guard
for a fresh start and why did they not prevail upon their party leaders to see
the light? > > So what fresh blood are we talking about? We all saw the
so-called new generation spitting more venum out here than those on the ground.
I think the suggestion to resign should be directed at specific opposition
leaders, namely those who refused to be part of a unified front if it is being
done in sincererity and is not just another cheap tactic hollow hypocritical
venture.> > I also think that dissolving NADD, an idea that has managed to
bring at least some opposition parties together is not something to advicate,
but rather, we should try to keep that union intact and attempt to bring others
into it so we do not have to re-invent the wheel all over again. Lord knows it
was hard enough to do in the first place. > The Gambian people had high hopes
in NADD and if it stayed intack and those who subscribed to the idea had given
it their support and appealed to their followers to do likewise, it would have
given Gambians the courage to ignore the threats of the regime and turn out in
large numbers to vote for the opposition knowing their very survival depended on
them winning. Instead, the people were betrayed and so they stay home suffering
in fear while people debate about everything else except telling it like it is,
and so we just engage in another session of shooting hot air to no avail.>
Unless we dare to speak the truth, we will forever be caught in this quagmire,
circling the truth and hoping to fool each other while only fooling ourselves.>
In the meantime, Mad hatter Jammeh and his group are quite united because they
know that their very survival depends on that. Even though his supporters know
the guy has lost his mind, he is their fool and so long as he is there, they get
to keep whatever they are guarding.> > Jabou Joh> > > > To:
[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 6:19 AM> Subject: Re: SV:
CALL for THE RESIGNATION of ALL Opposition leaders> > Hey everyone, > >
Overthrowing the old order requires a new order in its place right, and that >
takes discipline rather than exuberance. Individual power controlled chaos may >
be a contradiction in terms, but its part of the challenge we will be dealing >
with in-order to succeed, and from that successful result, way forward can be >
achieved. However, the more we surrender to the challenges on the unification of
> the people and therefore, their political awareness, the more we are failing
to > achieve our goals. Humbly, I think, UDP and NAD should try to resolve their
> differences by the mediation of strategic and well knowledgeable individuals
for > a stepping stone. I am of the feeling that both Darbo and Halifa sallah by
now, > knew the fact that, without unity there will be no prosperity for either
of them > to achieve their individual goals the prove of which is during the
past > elections when together they could have more seats than the division. If
they > both look back from the time they were> together and achieved victorious
in the by-election, they will not fail to > admit the power of unity.> > I
am of this believed that, there will be no future for a new political party > in
the Gambia without the reunification of these old players, because their >
meaning is not just external in the obvious influences but more internally, >
then again, Revolutionary coups will again attempt to overthrow faltering old >
guards on many levels and in numerous ways, but cannot refute their resistance.
> Therefore the way forward is uniting the old guards and convince them to >
consider the fact that, the power belong to the people and they will deliver >
those powers if they feel secured. > > For-example; As we can see, part of
the reason why people do not vote is lack > of security, if the opposition is
divided who will the people trust to for their > right? If they are united,
people might not sell their votes or stay from voting > but to vote massively
for them. Besides, how many people were arrested during > the past election and
what have the opposition did to help, and why can’t they? > The answer is
simple, disunity> > Besides, in a more painfully and accurate scenario, our
Titanic has already > hit the iceberg and is rapidly taking on water below
decks. Some passengers and > crew have not yet been informed, while others
simply refuse to believe that the > glorious ship is sinking. Both ignorance and
denial, however, will be swept away > sooner than later, and a time of
scrambling for the lifeboats will follow. The > majority of passengers will not
be pleased when they find out that there are no > lifeboats for them, only for
the privileged few in First Class HONESTY DEAK. > > Paradoxically, the
coming decade is also the best opportunity the opposition > will get to begin
cleaning up the mess they've made. The last 40 years have been > like a drunken
party that turned into a bar-room brawl. The coming years will be > the morning
after, the hangover to end all hangovers, and the shock of sobering > up.> >
Time will seem to accelerate dramatically. Crises of survival will arise that >
require us to get on with the building of a one-Gambian, and do it right now, >
immediately without class struggling or tribal sentiment. The challenges will be
> pragmatic, not philosophical. We'll know what needs to be done. The question
is > whether we can collectively handle the will and the strength to accomplish
the > necessary tasks. > > Edi> > > > > > --------------------------------->
New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at
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