Halifa,
Eventhough i still disagree with most of Pdois strategies, i will give you
my vote and support provided it is going to be on a collective card against
this present tyrant government.(Please Karamba don't shoot me).
Contrary to what your programmed followers think, that your critics are all
out to kill the Pdois party-distractors and newbies we are framed.

Halifa in high school, i used to be a programmed fanatic of Pdois(borrowing
a phrase from Ham.JK). I will run back and forth between my brothers who
programmingly follow the Pdois narratives of the Sanneh Manneh trial and
other hot issues. I was overly and blindly programmed
and can only rely on their secondhand analysis of the Foroyaa material
because i never could understand the tecnical language of such issues.
But hey, Foroyaa was the thing then.

Halifa, how many of Gambia's populations is literate? How many reads and
understands Foroyaa? How many understands Pdois policy ? and how many
understands what Pdois government will be like?

To give you a little backgroud history and story, I grew up in Sukuta and
Foni Bolock. During the last Jawara elections most of the youths in SUKUTA
and FONI BULOCK were PDOIS and NCP supporters eventhough we were not
voting.Our fathers and the elderly were all programmed P.P.P fanatics. They
all had PPP inscribed on their walking sticks. A streak of blue material on
their hunting guns, in their orange trees and on home entrances.Yes that was
PPP in my home environment. I remembered my sister running home in tears
because ABDOU JATTA, the NCP candidate and a homebuddy lost to PPP only for
her to be thrown out of the compound as my DAD and his older brother are in
preparation to fire that smoking gunpowdered gun (KARRTUSO they call it )in
the middle of the compound,in celebration and an annual ritual and salute to
their everlasting party,the PPP.

It was a different story in Foni Bulock. My brothers were very instrumental
in galvanising the youths and some families to shun BLK SANYANG at the
ballot box. The week before elections, one night knowing fully well it will
be considered sacrilegious to talk Jawara out of Dad,we rallied behind Mum
and urged her to give Pdois her vote. Not only did she not know what Pdois
is all about ,she keeps asking what is Pdois. What is Pdois? Not
understanding Pdois much either, i let my brother handle that matter. He
brought out Foroyaa issues and swore to mum and in his watered down analysis
assured Mum how Pdois was going to crush the corrupt Jawara government out
in the ballot box. He pleaded to Mum to vote for Pdois and try her best to
persuade that PPP monster, he calls DAd, out of the PPP camp.I think that
was the most difficult task mum was ever faced with.For mum, sneaking in and
voting for Pdois  can be a possibility but  talking  PPP out of Dad would be
considered blasphemous. My brother later cornered me and thinks that mum
will not consider our suggestion.She is programmed towards Dad's territory,
in his own words.

Mum played terribly sick on us all elections week. My brother as a last
resort, threatened Mum that he will phisically beat the hell out of BLK
SANYANG if he should step his foot at our door during his sporadic visits to
his constituency elections come near.Pdois lost but PPP lost too to NCP.We
join the NCP in their celebrations and efforts to put to rest the PPP
dominance and the oust of BLK in his own home grounds. In celebration my
brother threw empty barrels on our corrugated roof to make the most noise
whilst Mum kept cursing and swearing that my brother will do that behind
Father's back. She later told me that what she felt most in BLK's lost was
that most of the conspiration theories were implemented in my brother's
house!A house that is meant to be programmed PPP venue. Mum can never get
over that guilt and betrayal.

Halifa we still have  my parents thinking minded community intact at
home,unfortunately.I totally aggree with you that "to root your political
evolution on informing, enlightening and peruation whilst others are
inducing and intimidating",BUT Halifa don't you think for more than 20 years
Pdois trying to enlighten and inform the masses, that something is not
clicking between Pdois and the Gambian people if
it can  claim succes only in their backyards.Don't you ever stop for a
minute to think and revisit your strategies and tactics and honestly modify
some errors and this PDOIS myth? I do not underestimate PDOIS efforts but i
know for sure it is not a popular party among the masses.

PDOIS in the Gambia, is seen as an elite party. These elites enjoy the
notion that yes, here is the party that you can discuss heads on issues of
all kinds but they get frustrated with some discrepancies in your stance in
Gambia's political situation especially against this rogue government. That
is why the more clash with critics. It is unfortunate that your followers
see it otherwise.

Yes Halifa it is very unfortunate that most of PPP and their supporters are
all behind UDP.For certain reasons some see Darboe as a softer leader
considering the harassment they went through with the APRC government and
some for the fact that they see Darboe as a naive leader who they can loom
around and create space were they can still operate and engage in the
nation's loot.But no matter how corrupt and  fruitless they were, they are
Gambians and have all rights to rally behind any party they see fit.They
might not make any qualitative contributions but numerically they matter. In
elections ,principles aside numbers matter too.It is left to the opposition
parties to participate, debate and engage in discussions as how to
accomodate certain characters in a unified front against this  terrible
government.It's obvious that people unite with different motives.

Some come with very exploitative hopes but again that is the risk of unity
and democracy because you never can tell what is looming behind that
majority vote.

Halifa, Pdois cannot boast of SK east and WULLI because these are your
homegrounds and a very unfair arena, i mean to yourselves , to test your
numerical and qualitative strengths.
During your trip to DC, you gave a very short but strong speech at the
malcolm X park, emphasizing on African unity. Unity is a very tough
call,because you have to put very contradictory issues in the one box.
Sacrifice something to gain something. Halifa, Gambia's population is less
or a little over 2 million and less than 5 opposition parties. If you cannot
unite amidst this intimidation, disappearances and torture to pull this
killer government out of sight,then i will regard your call on African unity
as another political rhetoric not worth an honest attention because Africa
as a continent has more complex leaders and issues to deal with.

Putting party hopes and principles aside, don't you feel astounded by all
this intimidation,dissappearances and butchery going on  on the groud?. Or
are these happenings too common now that party priciples can take precedence
over human lives. Most criticisms are directed towards PDois  because it is
the party that is available to us(which it should be commended for)but
honestly Halifa,now should not be the ideal time in Gambian politics to be
testing numerical,qualitative and tactical strengths. Some mother is
mourning a son, a friend is mourning a friend and a wife is mourning a
husband or waiting and praying for a husband to return home.Please when you
reply let me know what you guys are doing on the ground collectively to pull
this tyrant out of power. Time is running out!

May GOD bless us all.
Fatou Jaw Manneh
>From: foroyaa <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: <<Fatou Jaw Manneh>> Attn: Mr. Halifa Sallah
>Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 16:31:09 +0100
>
>Fatou,
>
>I have read your memo of 16 August 2000. I believe the essence of
>communication is to understand each other. You initially claimed that I was
>sitting on the fence. I responded by agreeing with you that that would be
>inappropriate at this moment when decisiveness is most required.
>
>I believe I have made it abundantly clear that the Constitution makes
>provision for a second round of voting; that the first round serves as a
>primary to determine the numerical strength of a political party among the
>voting population; that it is this instrument which helps a political party
>to assess the quantity and quality of its work among the population. It is
>generally in the second round of voting that united fronts are established.
>
>I have given example of Senegal in some of my postings where Niasse and
>Djibou Ka stood as presidential candidates in the first round. In fact
>there
>were approximately eight presidential candidates in Senegal. In the second
>round of voting, Djibou Ka even allied with Abdou Diouf but this did not
>prevent the opposition alliance from winning. In contrast, there were only
>two parties in Zimbabwe, yet ZANU-PF still managed to win.
>
>I am, therefore, not sitting on the fence. Our position is clear. I even
>went further to indicate that it would be unrealistic for us to ask other
>opposition parties to form a united front around a PDOIS presidential
>candidate, but that we will not oppose such a development in the name of
>unity in the first round. I said this because of my conviction that other
>opposition parties have the prerogative to test their numerical strength
>among the voting population. We are not creating any blockages to bar such
>parties from testing their numerical strength. this is why they were
>established in the first place.
>
>Instead of accepting the position that each opposition party could say the
>same ,thus giving legitimacy to the filing of candidate by each party in
>the
>first round to determine which candidates are wanted by the people to go to
>the second round, you automatically try to show how unrealistic it is for a
>PDOIS Presidential candidate to be the candidate of an opposition alliance
>by asserting the following: "Halifa we do not need to conduct a poll in
>Gambia's political environment to know that UDP support is likely to
>outnumber PDOIS. Halifa even though PDOIS is in Gambia's political scene
>for
>a long time it would be unrealistic to suggest Seedia as presidential elect
>knowing fully well that PDOIS doesn't or will be incapable of carrying the
>majority  vote. I do not need to be a political analyst to predict this."
>
>Fatou, what then is the essence of having an electoral system if you
>advocate the principle that once a majority party always a majority party;
>once a minority party always a minority party? What is a democratic order
>based on other than the principle of governing by the consent of the
>people?
>What is the essence of multipartyism other than giving opportunity to the
>people to make informed choices as they gauge the practices and programmes
>of political parties who appeal to them? Who can guarantee that those who
>voted for a ruling party yesterday will vote for them today?
>
>Let me give you clear examples. People keep on hammering that PDOIS is not
>getting votes. Serrekunda East is a constituency in the urban area with the
>largest number of voters. We did not take any colanut to any compound. We
>did not bribe or induce anyone. Even the committees we have today had not
>been established yet. Yet, PDOIS had over 8500 votes in Serrekunda East
>which was more than the UDP vote. Needless to say, PDOIS stood on its own
>merit while UDP is a coalition of different parties. The same thing can be
>said for the Wuli constituency where Sidia Jatta stood on his own merit
>against APRC and UDP and still won the seat without inducing or
>intimidating
>anyone. Now, everybody knows what Sidia is doing in the National Assembly.
>This was not the case when he stood as a presidential candidate.
>
>You see, my sister, there is a long story that PDOIS has to tell about its
>politics. One cannot judge PDOIS on the basis that it has been here longer
>than all other political parties. One must also understand the quantitative
>growth of a party leading to its qualitative development.
>
>PDOIS started as a small unit with few people struggling with material
>resources on their own to grow up to have branches all over the country
>without inducing or intimidating anyone. It was competing with parties with
>tremendous material resources which could rely on inducement to establish
>their branches everywhere. Herein lies the slowness of PDOIS in spreading
>and having grip all over the country. This is a simple and elementary
>truth.
>
>Suffice it to say, it was easy for the UDP to arise and grow by simply
>assimilating the structures established by the older parties like the PPP,
>NCP, GPP, as well as to draw tremendous resources from the same spring.
>This
>is also very easy to explain.
>
>The consolidation of the APRC by assimilating the structures left by the
>PPP, NCP and GPP, as well as the utilisation of the huge State machinery
>and
>immense financial resources from all sources, could also be easily
>explained.
>
>Hence, it will be wrong to simply conclude that even without analysis one
>can forecast that PDOIS cannot have a majority. This negates the democratic
>principle. It gives the impression that once people's minds are made up
>they
>are forever made up.
>
>The democratic principle is based on the presumption that the minds of
>people are in a state of flux and that political parties are to compete to
>win the minds of the people on a continuous basis, thus leading to
>variation
>in their numerical support from one stage to another. It is this variation
>that is to be assessed through the electoral process.
>
>It is, therefore, only fair for you to acknowledge that PDOIS is a party in
>The Gambia. It is your prerogative to support it or oppose it. It is your
>right to make suggestions of tactical alliances, but it would be unfair to
>pass the type of judgment that you have passed on PDOIS before assessing
>the
>verdict of the people.
>
>In fact, taking what you have said that there is no need for even
>assessment
>to know that PDOIS cannot have majority, it would be suicidal for PDOIS not
>to assess its numerical support among the people. In short, if it is put in
>a coalition, when will people know again how much support PDOIS has? What
>will prevent people like you to even continue saying when PDOIS wants to
>stand for elections tomorrow that PDOIS is an insignificant party and was
>an
>insignificant part of a coalition?
>
>This is the point, my sister. We need to understand the true political
>weight of PDOIS so as to shatter the myths which are based on PDOIS' own
>mode of growth as a party within a political environment which has always
>been unfavourable.
>
>Everybody knows that nothing is more difficult than to root your political
>evolution on informing, enlightening and persuading people whilst others
>are
>inducing and intimidating them. However, the fact that despite inducement
>and intimidation, we could take the Wuli seat and had more votes than the
>UDP in Serrekunda East confirm to us that with more organisation and more
>material resources from people who are convinced of PDOIS' politics, PDOIS'
>numerical strength among the voters will grow quantitatively and
>qualitatively.
>
>I hope my message is clear this time.
>
>Greetings,
>
>Halifa.
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Fatou Darboe <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 3:43 AM
>Subject: Re: Mr. Sallah>> Attn: Mr. Halifa Sallah
>
>
> > Yes Halifa we indeed met in washington.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to
>[log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface
----------------------------------------------------------------------------