Dear Jabou and Mariama,
Thanks for your candid and invaluable contributions. I completely subscribe
to your views except those of Mariama on PDOIS's popularity with the
electorate and her views on their socialist agenda vis a vis the so-called
trend of Globalisation.
The forth-coming Presidential election in our dear Gambia presents us the
opportunity to choose between continuing to travel along the road of the
APRC dictatorship characterised by killings, tortures and other forms of
deplorable human right violations, corruption and complete lack of
accountability and transparency and ever-increasing incidences and severity
of poverty OR taking a much-needed DIVERSION to a better Gambia, where our
leaders do not exist like parasites on the people or feign to be our
saviours while they inculcate the seeds of dicord, insecurity and
instability by their incessant efforts of undermining the basic fabrics of
our society that bind us together as a peace and justice-loving people.The
only option we have to prevent us from going the downward spiral as a nation
or to deviate from following the tragic path being charted for us by Jammeh
and his gun-tottling hoodlums is to UNITE and get rid of them through the
ballot box otherwise the undesirable alternative will be through bullets
which could be very expensive in terms of innocent lives.The call for the
unity of the electorate to get rid of the current despotism in the   country
MUST be led by an all-inclusive united opposition front.This bond of unity
could only be forged if the greater interest of the Gambia is the supremo
rather than relatively trivial issues of differences in personalities and
political ideologies between the opposition parties.History shall never
forgive those opposition parties who by virtue of default in closing ranks
against the APRC give license for the current trend of subjugation to
continue.
Mariama, i believe our emphasis at this crucial stage of our nation's
history, it is most useful to emphasise the common ground and incentives for
all the opposition leaders to form a coalition against the APRC rather than
pursuing the counter-productive strategy of respectively labelling and
classifying them. Your views of what is socialism seems to be derived from
the cold-war ideological depiction of what it is by the West.Contrary to
this notion, it has now been proved that Communism is  not synonymous with
socialism and that the latter is not as its enemies would like to potray it
in conflict with private ownership of wealth or freedom of choice but merely
a more equitable distribution of the benefits of our collective wealth such
as the River Gambia. Socialism in modern times is more about investing in
people and society than nationalisation of industries,except those that
genuinely belong to the nation as a whole.socialism is about social benefit
from the collective wealth and interest such as the State bureacracy and our
national assets.It would for instance be unthinkable for the River Gambia or
the Government to be privately-owned except for the APRC Government which
Yahya Jammeh like to potrays as his.
On Globalisation later!

BMK
>From: Mariama Diop <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Caution to Jabou
>Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 14:19:21 -0400
>
>Dear Jabou,
>Thanks for that fine comment. Unless PDOIS and NCP can quickly prove to us
>the contrary, it is just fair to conclude from their feet dragging that
>they
>( PDOIS& NCP) would rather subject us all to another round of Yaya's
>bullying than endorse a more winning party than theirs to lead an
>opposition
>alliance. It will definitely not be strategically sensible to catapult
>PDOIS or NCP to the helm of any alliance against APRC. PDOIS, with more
>than
>15 years in the political arena still has trouble connecting with even one
>fourth of the population. Besides, with all due respect to its leadership,
>I wonder how many of us sincerely believe that PDOIS's socialism platform
>can fly in this age of globalisation? The NCP Leader on the other hand,
>owes
>us a lot of convincing about how concerned he really is about all of us.
>I'm
>sure most of us are curious to know how productive he has been during the
>past 7 years?. In other words, did he use the opportunity to draw up a
>bluement for Gambia's development in anticipation of a comeback ? How much
>in touch has he been with the aspirations of ordinary Gambians.? How many
>times did he visit the provinces during the past 7 years. Has he ever made
>attempts to raise funds to support development efforts in the Gambia? Where
>was he when OJ and others were fighting against decree 89? These are some
>of
>the many questions that Dibba ought to address to convince us that our
>agenda is his agenda . Because October is just around the corner, every
>second must be spent finalising strategies for Yaya's exit and  finetuning
>programmes for a post APRC era. Enough with bickering, and let 's all get
>down to real business of building our nation's future.
>
>
>>From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>><[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: Caution to Jabou
>>Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 09:58:43 EDT
>>
>>Halifa,
>>
>>Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. If time proves me wrong,
>>I
>>shall gladly apologise to whoever i owe an apology to, and you can count
>>on
>>that.
>>
>>I guess you can say that I am at a loss for any sensible reason  as to why
>>there is anything personal, philisophical orotherwise that would delay
>>forging a coalition when the election is just a couple of months away and
>>in
>>view of  the critical situation we find ourselves in.
>>I do not think anyone is foolish enouhg to think that any of the political
>>parties will be giving up individual philosophies by  joining a united
>>opposition againt Jammeh. My point is that this is a temporary fix
>>designed
>>to get us our of an ever worsening situation that could enmesh us in a
>>bloodbath and another 5 years of a regime whose record all of us know
>>well.
>>All the political parties in The Gambia have endured 30 years of the
>>Jawara
>>regime, and almost 7 years of Yaya Jammeh. For these parties to set aside
>>their differencies in philosophy for a moment and join hands to save us
>>from
>>another 5 years of brutal oppression that knows no reason, and that will
>>eventually create an atmosphere where all will pursue their respective
>>agendas, is not something that should be guided by personal philosophies
>>or
>>any other reasons,  but is to be treated as an emergnecy action and a last
>>resort.
>>In the final analysis, it is the country and the people who matter as you
>>rightly pointed, and therefore, all political parties must realize this
>>instead of embroiling in endless strategysing and defense of their
>>individual
>>views and agendas, there will be ample time for such things if and when we
>>get rid of the monkey on our backs.
>>
>>This, dear brother is my point, and I think it is abundantly clear that
>>you
>>have done much work in our constitutional reforms etc, and can do even
>>much
>>more during the tenure of a government that may not be ideal for you or
>>some
>>of us, but during whose tenure fear and murder and mayhem will not be the
>>order of the day. Such an atmosphere is not  conducive to the reforms we
>>hope
>>to put in place in our country one day.
>>Yes, we want a politically mature populace who can  be masters of our own
>>destiny one day, and therefore, we need to do all that is necesary to get
>>rid
>>of those who kill, maim and silence any opinion otherwise there will be no
>>people left to enjoy this  golden period we are aiming for.
>>I guess i am playing the people's advocate, because we do need to remind
>>the
>>politicians sometimes that they cannot see the forest for the trees.
>>However, as you said, if there is yet light at the end of this tunnel, it
>>will indeed be good news for the people, and i shall not hesitate to
>>apologize. I just hope whatever the position of PDOIS and Dibba turn out
>>to
>>be, it does not take so long that it affects the planning that will render
>>any colaition effective.  This is an emergency situation, and the last
>>thing
>>we need are long drawn out contemplations that may not serve the best
>>interest of the people in the long run.
>>Again, thanks or the response.
>>
>>Jabou Joh
>>
>>In a message dated 8/15/2001 5:24:44 AM Central Daylight Time,
>>[log in to unmask] writes:
>>
>>
>> > Jabou,
>> >           I am disappointed. I have always seen you as an independent
>> > minded Gambian sister who is after the truth. I would have thought that
>>you
>> > would give your self-time to get all facts before you draw any
>>conclusion.
>> > I promise you that when you get all the facts you will owe PDOIS an
>> > apology. Personally, I am in same position as you. I am not any body's
>> > presidential candidate. I don't think any body can say that I am
>>waiting
>> > for Sidia Jatta to give me a ministerial post. I have bee offered such
>> > posts too many times to mention. I am not speaking for PDOIS at this
>> > moment. This is a personal intervention. The party is still studying
>>all
>> > the facts in order to come up with a mature and respectable position.
>>If
>>I
>> > did not have respect for you as the only woman who spends day and night
>> > following events here, I would not have responded. This is no time to
>> > question our sincerity. This is the time for all of you to own your
>>minds
>> > and seek to draw lessons from facts and not from fictions. It is
>>abundantly
>> > clear to me that it is the people who change society and not the few
>>who
>> > claim, rightly or wrongly, to be their leaders. When the Gambian people
>>are
>> > politically mature they will have mature leaders. My interest is
>>similar
>>to
>> > yours. None of us is a presidential aspirant. What each of us should
>>want
>> > is Gambia to be led by people who will eradicate the ignorance, poverty
>>and
>> > subjugation of our people. Do not condemn Dibba or any one. Find out
>>what
>> > all political leaders have to say and draw your enlightened conclusion
>> >
>> >
>> > Greetings
>> > Halifa
>> >
>>
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