I have opined that elections in The Gambia for our struggle is a cul-de-sac. We cannot win an election against the other contestant (its now Yahya, it was Jawara and in the future could be anyone including the current crop of opposition politicians vying for the presidency) who is in charge of running such election. If by any chance you’re in doubt, please remember Abdoulaye Wade and the people of Senegal - he was going for the coronation of his son. There is nothing left here to argue. The efforts to organize and/or reorganize opposition parties for another election is neither our problem nor the solution. In fact such efforts were over time sources of division and mistrust amongst our struggle. 

In the event of a military coup the coup leader will impose him/herself on to us as did Yahya. In fact is very likely some among us will jump to his/her aid as many did for Yahya. More importantly they will come up with pseudo-transition programs that will lead to their political legitimization with our willing participation. Just because we’re fed-up with Yahya doesn't mean we should settle for anything but him.

Should Yahya go down through natural death, the constitution prescribed the Vice President ascend to the presidency before a general election is call within a specified time period. Again I don’t know what will exactly happen but I will predict a palace coup by the guards and/or some military strong person in The Gambia National Army. Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy and/or a military person is not going to give us a democratic Gambia. It will be more of the same fashioned in the president’s personality.

2013 has been an eventful year for our struggle, yet the outcomes are anything but we looking for. There was Raleigh Conference, event in London and in Sweden. I also called for a National Teleconference. Mind did not go well first due to poor house keeping and technical havocs but also low participation. The take over of the Gambia mission in Dc is a strange undertaking to say the least. Last week the opposition Leaders called themselves to an emergency meeting on Yahya/Sabally/APRC accusing UDP of tribal politics. All of these are good efforts in the quest of solution to our political problem(s). Unfortunately the needle has not been moved an inch; thus something is not right.

That’s the status quo of our struggle! Why with so many efforts by so many concern citizens yet little or no impact? The answer is simple! It’s because we have no political leverage to support our positions. Simply, it means we have nothing that worth a value for Yahya to yield. We have no militia! We have no money to influence both locals and international community! We have no recognition/stand amongst powers of the free world! We neither have a national structure nor a democratic agenda. All we have is the believe/hope that if we organize/reorganize opposition political parties in certain ways we will win. It will never happen! Others settle on empty rhetorics such as ‘Yahya is cornered’ or ‘Yahya will not last the year’ or ‘Yahya is on the running’ or ‘he looking for an exit’. Not sure how an informed and rational Gambian can throw out such statements but it’s up to you to figure out.

This is why we pose no threat to Yahya hence he has no incentive to listen much more yield. He continued to contravene the constitute they crafted to suit his person. He is responsible of hiring and firing almost all levels of local government administration including village heads. State resources has become his personal firm. He has since seized private and state properties including gazetted lands reserved for specific purposes. He acquired assets such as real estates in foreign lands, personal airplanes and countless number of businesses that cannot be financed from his rightful income sources.  He is manipulating state employees and other ordinary citizens into forced labor in his various farms. He is running profit making businesses in contravention to the laws of the land. Please rethink if you’re one of those believing that Yahya is cornered and/or he’s about to yield to our pressure. Let me help you, there is no true pressure from us. We’re making lots of noise at distant lands which am sure he wouldn't like but bears no pressure on him to voluntarily give up all he amassed. 

It wouldn’t make sense just to say what we’re doing is not working and will not work and not propose an alternative approach. That alternative is the ‘Acquisition of Political Leverage’. It is simply having some strength that the opposing party recognize and value. I have leverage in my father’s household, first am the 1st child but also I have developed myself to a level for others to listen and value what I say or do. The former is an unearned cultural value and the later is earned value of anything that makes life worth living. Although they’re complimentary they’re not necessarily supplementary and the absence of the later may force surrendering the Jammeh Kunda household leadership especially in today’s material driven world. This is of course not relevant for my topic but I want to give an analogy that may affect all or most of us in some form.  

Equally to defeat Yahya but more importantly to begin to make Gambia a’A Functioning Institutional Democracy” we must have political leverage that others fear and/or value. To acquire political leverage we will have to put the following in some combination together - an organized body, an acceptable agenda, money, recognition and an ability to influence both home and away. Putting together such a leverage with enable us drag and/or any other authority in Banjul for that matter to a negotiating table and not on his/her term but only Gambia (The Republic and Democracy). The consequences of failing to meet demands will be punished buy actions such as economic/trade sanctions, budgetary restrictions, travel restrictions, mass demonstrations, civil disobediences, human right violation investigations under the auspices international law etc.

I don’t think anyone in our struggle will not see the need for political leverage. However, many may wonder how do we get one. I made this assumption because I had participated in discussions where I was branded a theorist. Maybe an element of truth in that statement! In fact they thought that was a hard knock but it was instead a validation of my point of view. What ever your academic level I think you will concur that every meaningful invention/development begins with a theory. You are building your house, you sketch it on paper and quantify what would be needed. Basic economic theory - price is inversely related to demand - is theory proven through experimentation. Remember Boyle’s and Charles laws in Physic/Chemistry at High School. Mathematicians can tell us Pythagoras  theorem! This is a long list! If my proposals are considered theory that maybe because we’re yet to put them into action. To claim they will not work seem lack of understanding of global politics. Disclaimer - am not a political science major.

We need an organization that represents our believes and values. That can articulate our positions both on paper and verbally in front of audiences. That can educate, organize, mobilize and inspire us to hope and believe in ourselves. It is through such organization our voice and stands would be heard. Such organize will advocate, influence and lobby our cause. The organization will receive and dispense funds on our behave. Without one we can neither inspire our own citizens nor can the international community come to support us. This is what I called in my earlier writings ‘A National Face’ of the struggle. Leadership, should I say visionary leadership is a key component of such an organization. I will ignore that subject for another day.

We will have to clearly and coherently articulate our purpose on paper. This is the 21st century! We will not be considered for anything if we cannot put on paper what we stand for, how we want to go about achieving that goal, what resources we need and from where.  I recognized our cultures are none writing but this game is played in a territory where we must learn to play not only by the rules but also by the norms. I hope we make this move quickly. This was what i called in my proposal ‘A National Democracy Vision’. In my view it has very little to do with Yahya and all to do with the two basic words our nation was founded on - Democracy and Republic. If we start from these 2 we will clearly see the path. That doesn't mean the ride wouldn’t be difficult but we can take comfort on being on the right track. Excuse for not elaborating on ‘Our Cause’ and what our nation is founded on - Democracy and Republic.  It will take me off topic!

Money! It’s crude on my part to use that word but with deliberate intent. It might have been subject  appropriate to generalized as resources.  I’m trying to avoid ambiguity. We need lots of money to execute our cause. So far all I see and heard was let contribute. Yes it is important show of our commitment to the cause but what is required to fix Gambia cannot and will not come from all our hourly wages put together much more what is left of it. Our struggle has to come up with clearly articulated programs informed by our vision/mission that are sold to the world of democracy and freedom for funding. To attempt to give a laundry list of all we need money for to execute such a national program will be planning and budgeting. I will leave that for another day, rather think hard how money can help execute our cause. My own detailed estimates are north of US $5 million just for 5 years and you can be sure we will need more than 5 years before we halt this wreaked ship, turn it around and start the fixes. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to present the details of this plan and budget to Gambians in the very near future.

International community’s support is probably the backbone of our political leverage. It’s this community we have to convince that Yahya and all/most of what obtained in our country are unacceptable to all international standards - norms, conventions, laws, human rights, etc. We have to recognized that this is no a homogenous community. It’s likely before we begin our work we will realize the powers have their own interests, politics and economics all of which influence how they act. It’s an art we will learn quickly and play rightly and accordingly. We will have to work to turn all those adversities iFor those who have followed my writings please remember the SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis I talked about in “The Working Paper”. This is not an easy work but necessary. From the international community we will have the threats of sanctions, human violations investigations, travel bans, etc. We need lots of this!

Democracy can only be sustain through enough capacitated people of a nation’s populace.  Our ability to capacitize our people is crucial to the success of  our struggle and for lasting democracy. Our struggle will have to figure our a national political education on governance, the constitution protect rights, redresses, etc, completely divorced from party politics. Equally a comprehensive school curriculum will be needed to educate future generations on all aforementioned matters so no individual will take advantage of their ignorance. These efforts will form the bases of local community education, organization and mobilization. We would hope it is never necessary but should our demands are ignored we can call on such informed and involved citizens to the streets. In fact citizens of The Gambia are the ultimate political leverage but lacked the requisite capacities.

How do we cultivate this leverage was the subject the 10-Phased Proposal/Plan circulated earlier in the year. It’s a not claim we should adopt my proposal, rather, to share how I think we can kill this bug. Unfortunately, there is yet any other proposal put to the public. Of course there are many talking - Yahya “Jeppo", Yahya must go, Yahya is cornered, etc. Someone suggest we raise money,  charter couple of passenger flights and descend on Banjul. My answer was - count me out. Isn’t that suicidal? A couple of planes will probably be less than 1000 of us. Yahya killing one thousand Gambians in broad day light will not make the current timid global political leaders take him down. Syria and Bashar Al Assad is my evidence.  These empty rhetorics are at best hopes and at worst total lack of understanding of the problem at hand. Fellow Gambians Yahya is bad/terrible but we have to ensure what we get after him is better than him and not worst. We cannot be another Liberia, from William Tolbert to Master Sergeant Samuel Doe. In fact Gambia lost Jawara to Yahya and  the later is better, of course not in everything.

To conclude what we have done and doing is not working. I will not claim to have the right answer(s). However, I once again renew the call for Gambians and friends of Gambia to meet again with everything on the table. This meeting will not be a one-off gathering but a process. It can be easily and cheaply done using technology. This meeting should thoroughly assess everything our struggle has done and as well explore new areas. It should be an exercise ready to drop those without merit. My hope is the end result will be a product that inform us how we can go about demanding what Gambia was founded on - Democracy and Republic. By extension that will inform the necessary vehicles to execute the programs. 

Empty statements behind a computer screen will hurt that maniacs feelings but will not diminish his grip on power.

Let the efforts start with you and me! We do not have to wait for the next person. S/he will join at his/her time of choosing.
 
Burama FL Jammeh

Founder/General Secretary 
The People's Movement for Democratic Gambia 

[log in to unmask]
Facebook.com/buramajammeh
Twitter.com/@bfljammeh
Skype.com/bfljammeh
810 844 6040

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤