Thank yo Rene for sharing. I was able to glean that PDOIS like any opposition party had obstacles to political affirmation and succes. I did not read where PDOIS' motives are any different from any other political party including the incumbent. They all apparently want to win elections to govern a nation. They could be in Snenegal, or Mauritania for all I care. They all, and admittedly PDOIS want a mass base (patrons) that is reliable. One thing PDOIS has been adept t doing is to bring into question the motivation of the other opposition parties. DIsingenuous and self-serving panache. PDOIS is averse to being assigned the same motivation they assign other parties. I suppose you will tell us that PDOIS reviews and studies motivations profusely and carefully. The Republicans said of Bill CLinton that he was immoral and a philanderer. I think you know the rest of the story. And I'm sure the Republicans studied immorality and adultery carefully and profusely.

Now then;

Since all parties, opposition or incumbent, wish to create a reliable mass base, it would be common sense to expect them to villify one another when they go after the same mass base. The incumbents and other opposition parties use the cultural system of patronnage and system to build their mass base. There is actually nothing wrong with this system and I know exactly where PDOIS' problem in comprehension lies. I will not share that here for free. $1000.00 per word. And such revenue will go into Haruna's pockets. And those of my friends
and associates. Now PDOIS brow-beats Gambians into thinking that this cultural system of patronnage is evil and unreliable while all arithemetic indicates otherwise. They cannot contest for votes like other parties do because PDOIS has been negligent in cultivating honourable trust and patronnage with Gambians for decades. Therefore, their only recourse is to ride the coattails of the Press, the 4th rail of government, to achieve part of ther ends. That in itself is disgraceful and disingenuous patronnage. For part of their demarche to achieve their ends, PDOIS diffuses itself within institutions of governance in order to assume a modicum of authority much like a parasite does to a host and eventually becomes unrecognizable from the host. Education, Health, Agriculture. Remmember PDOIS cannot invent a new way of developing a mass base when everyone is vying for the same exact base. SO PDOIS excuses its incompetence by villifying the educated and elite and labels them as hypocrites, sycophants, and opportunists simply because they exercise their "sovereignty" NOT TO VOTE for PDOIS. But how dare them says PDOIS? They must be part of our problem. We must brow-beat them and destroy their achievements. That is the only way we can shame them into voting for us. That effort to brow-beat a citizen into voting for you is "INDUCEMENT" of an onerous kind. For the  For the remaining part of their demarche, the party invests its funds and resources into Growing their own mass base (1.95%) by offering study sessions and red
uced cost education. These students, as they progress in foreign lands, are reminded they owe it to PDOIS to vote PDOIS or assist financially and intellectually for the progress of the party. There is an understanding that they will be rewarded with positions of authority in a PDOIS government. This quid is not announced and no party announces such quid anyway. The nature of the arty setup and process yields this understanding. And this is not bad because the only people who believe in the parties and their various platforms and modus operandi, are those who invest time and energy in party affairs and who vote for the party. It is true everywhere in the world. PDOIS is no different. Parties survive on quid-pro-quos. So please, enough with the self-righteous propaganda. The sooner you are honest withyourselves, the better for you. Ask Pravda and Peristroika. There has been no more dishonest bunch of folk in all of human history.

Haruna.

   


-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, Jul 29, 2009 3:34 pm
Subject: Re: Opportunity for self-assessment?



Malanding,

            The questions you raised are indeed quite legitimate. There has been a lot of discussion centered on most of the questions you raised, and I have been privilege to be a party to those discussions. In as much as I would not claim to speak for PDOIS, or to be a member of PDOIS, I would bring snippets of
that discussion that can partly answer some of your query. The discussion, or if you will conversation, has been very extensive, and covers most of the areas of your inquiry. Therefore, instead of speaking for PDOIS, I would let their statements speak for themselves.    

 

 

  "Hence it has been clear to us from the very inception that we could not take over executive power in a democratic way without a mass base. We had to develop a strategy on how to build a mass base. We had to address the obstacles which lay in our path. We had to identify the obstacles in order to work out the strategy to overcome them. What then were the obstacles?


 "The major obstacle was the absence of a democratic culture which enables people to listen to divergent views and make informed choices. Only one voice was authoritative and legitimate and that was the voice of the executive.  All criticism of the state was seen as an act of subversion against constituted authority. Supporters of the ruling party were patronised while those who were opposed to it were demonised, excluded from the mainstream of society and subjected to intimidation just to convince others that being in the opposition could only yield trouble, marginalization and misery. Our principal task was to create an alternative voice which would be considered authoritative and legitimate despite the fact that it is not that of the government.

 

 "This was our first strategy. We had to employ two t
actics to attain our strategic objectives. First and foremost, we started to transform our rallies into civic education programmes in order to educate the average Gambian to know his or her sovereign right as tax payer and as a  sovereign citizen of the country who should determine who governs the country and how. This earned PDOIS respectability and legitimacy as the population contended that we were preachers and not politicians. Despite the votes of the other parties PDOIS’ rallies and symposia became the most authoritative source of facts and figures regarding developments in the country which were put in cassettes and disseminated without incurring legal problems. This gave credibility to the alternative voice.


"Secondly, we decided to establish a newspaper which would give an alternative view on developments in the country. This newspaper became a source of credible information which is relied on as a source information even by members of the executive. Hence between 1987 and 1994 when the coup occurred PDOIS had become institutionalised as a credible force which should be listened to and taken seriously.


"The second task PDOIS had to address was the question of expanding its mass base.We discovered that the mass base of the ruling party may have reflected a popular will at the beginning but at the time of PDOIS’ birth the support was based on patronage. The Commissioners, Chiefs, Village heads, and all those in position of authority in government or private sector had the primary aim of sus
taining the Government in power. The masses were generally controlled by their social groups and the heads of those groups were mobilised by the ruling party to build its own political base. Our review of the system of patronage also revealed that the existing opposition parties were just mimicking the system of patronage of the ruling party. They would look at all the government and private structures and then promise the rivals of those who occupy different positions that they would replace the substantive holder of any office once change comes about. These promises often motivate those who aspire to be ministers, heads of departments and para-statals, ambassadors, commissioners, chiefs  and  Village heads to utilise their energy, time, resources and connections to campaign for the opposition party. This created a two party system based on patronage.

 

"When PDOIS appeared on the political scene it had the option of establishing its own mass movement based on patronage or establish an entirely different system of mobilisation and organisation of the masses.


"It became clear to us that we could never rely on the politics of patronage to establish the type of mass base necessary to effect change. We had to build links directly with the masses that do not benefit from the politics or patronage but are just used as tools by political middle persons who batter the support of the masses, whom they mobilise as opinion leaders, for privileges from political patrons.

 

"PDOIS could not make any
 head way unless it could succeed in enlightening the people to liberate themselves from their opinion leaders and support those who intend to address their needs and aspirations. This required for PDOIS to have roots in each community. This could not be possible until we had branches in each community. The branches could not be established until we had members in each community who are capable of earning the respect and trust of the people. The primary task of the party as of the 1992 elections was to build its branches all over the country. We started a country wide tour in 1993 which should have been completed in 1994.The tour was linked to the mobilization of PDOIS supporters throughout the country so that they would serve as the building blocks of the branches of the party..."

 

 Malanding, as you can see from the dilation in the above quoted statements, PDOIS was quite conversant since from the beginning of the obstacles they face and the challenges they have to overcome. Contrary to what many may believe, PDOIS is very open to challenge and parts of the discussions I have forwarded here were the results of a serious and intensive query to some of PDOIS's methods and tactics. As the conversation progress, I will highlight more relevant answers that is germane to all the questions you raised.

 

   Rene     

 

   

 


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