Because I do not want to exhaust my quota for the day, I will seek herein to
respond to the various postings that talked about the Opposition Alliance
and referred to material that I wrote. As shown by my last piece yesterday,
the Alliance is moving FORWARD. We are looking FORWARD to Sunday and a
future Gambia without Yaya at the helm. As also shown in that mail, as far
as I am concerned, I will NOT utter NCP’s or PDOIS’ name or their programs
if they leave the Alliance in peace. We have a bigger fish to fry. The
Alliance is preoccupied with presenting its plan for the future to the
Gambian people and informing the Gambians about Yaya’s horrendous record.
With all due respect to NCP and PDOIS, we do NOT have time to dwell on their
records as opposition parties. We have a mad man (Yaya) loose in our midst
ordering the slaughter of children as young as three and looting our
government coffers to send his wife to America to have a baby.

Having said that, if PDOIS or NCP supporters attack the Alliance (which
includes PPP), we will have to defend ourselves. To us TOLERANCE does NOT
mean sitting by and watching someone attack you and expect you to stay mute.
I hold no gun over someone to stop him/her to come to G_L and say something
bad about the Alliance. But Alliance detractors should be rest assured that
they will be taken to task when they say bad things about us. When I say
things they do NOT like, they criticize me. Do I go around whining that they
are intolerant? Let us all just stick to our guns and put aside the
sentimental crap.

Now to Hamadi. The first question you raised solicits a very simple answer
from me. You wanted to know why PDOIS, NRP and UDP did not hold a meeting
similar to the one that went on to nominate Ousainou Darboe as the Alliance
presidential candidate. Well my simple answer is that the presidential
elections are in 2001. Up to this day PDOIS is still talking about coalition
in the second round of voting (that might NEVER happen). The recent
by-elections in Baddibu and Kiang were a chance for an alliance to be
formed. PDOIS decided to boycott those elections (for legitimate reasons, if
I might add). UDP and NRP went ahead and formed a coalition to fight the
Kiang seat. Matter of fact, Hamat Bah actively campaigned for the UDP
candidate. So, there were similar meetings between UDP and NRP. PDOIS was
not part of the meeting because PDOIS was not taking part in the elections.

Secondly, PDOIS’ proposal about the transition period might have been the
only one you read, but I can categorically tell you (and you can confirm
this with MRDG(UK)) that long before PDOIS’ proposal (and when PDOIS was
still talking about second round of voting) advocates for a United
Opposition had already drafted a comprehensive plan for the Coalition and
transmitted such plan to all the Parties (including PDOIS). Check your
facts. Adama Bah might be on the ground, but he does NOT have a clue about
what is going on, or if he does, he is deliberately trying to mislead
people.

It is true that you did not mention Assan Musa Camara directly. But you
endorsed Adama Bah’s account that painted Assan Musa Camara as someone that
colluded with PPP and UDP to appoint Ousainou Darboe. I hope you get where I
am going. Now if we all know that Camara convened the Meeting. Then we turn
around and say that PDOIS was sidelined. Where is the finger pointing to?
Isn’t the suggestion here that Camara succumbed to the wishes of PPP and UDP
to the detriment of PDOIS?

You are right that the Opposition Alliance does not include all the
Opposition Parties. But whose fault is that? As I said yesterday, Camara
invited ALL the Opposition Parties. The Meeting was postponed twice to
accommodate Hamat Bah. PDOIS decided not to go to the Meeting because it was
not ‘properly’ convened. NCP went to the Meeting but decided to walk out
because they do not like the presidential candidate the majority delegates
at the Meeting choose. These are facts that you do NOT need to be in Gambia
to know them.

Adama Bah was NOT at the Meeting. He is also relying on second-hand
information he does not want Hamjatta to rely on. Only problem is,
Hamjatta’s information is far more reliable than Adama Bah’s who is on the
ground. Going back to the Alliance. Hamat Bah is NOT complaining about being
left out. On the contrary, he sent a message to the Alliance wishing them
well. Now, the task is to analyze whether the reasons forwarded by PDOIS and
NCP for not being part of the Alliance are legitimate or not. I am all ears.
If what Adama Bah said was not PDOIS’ reason for the boycott, let PDOIS come
out and say why they did NOT participate.

Jassey-Conteh, I guess you are NOT as engaged as I thought you were. I
understand Dibba was interviewed on Radio FM last night and he clarified the
reason why he walked out of the Meeting. I will let you digest the reason he
gave and tell us what you still think the chances are for Dibba to join the
Alliance. While you are it, tell us also why Dibba thinks it is legitimate
for him to be the leader of the Alliance contrary to the wishes of the
majority of the delegates that were at the Meeting.

As I explained earlier, Hamat Bah’s absence is NOT a ‘serious issue and a
dangerous move’ as you would perhaps like it to be. Have you heard the man
complain? Why should NCP use Hamat Bah’s absence to justify abandoning the
Alliance? Would Dibba be saying the same thing about Bah’s absence if he
(Dibba) was chosen as the Alliance presidential candidate? Give us a break
about this Hamat Bah absence. The man supports the Alliance.

This ploy to twin PPP and UDP to the detriment of NRP will NOT work. Hamat
Bah knows that Assan Musa Camara was also pivotal in this thing and Camara
is NOT a UDP or PPP member. Hamat Bah knows that he was NOT left out. How
can you call yourself committed to an Opposition Coalition and then turn
around and try to pit one Party against another? The APRC victory you are
predicting will NOT happen. Consult with people on the ground. Former NCP
heavyweights that are currently part of UDP are staying put. There is still
time for Dibba to rethink his position and come and join the Coalition.
Supporters like you do the man a disservice if you dig your heels and start
revving up that old PPP hatred and lying about a plot between PPP and UDP.
We do NOT need such divisive tactics at this stage.

Apparently, you are so confused in your attempt to disrupt the Alliance that
you are mixing up the Party colors. A concerned Gambian back home saw your
posting about the flag issue (which I would perhaps have missed because of
the triviality of the issue) and told me that you got it all wrong again.
PPP used to have blue. When they were banned  NRP adopted that color. Now, a
resuscitated PPP recognized that NRP is using the blue color and NRP will
perhaps be in the same Opposition Alliance as them (PPP); consequently, PPP
decided to adopt ‘hot pink’ as their color in order to avoid confusion. So,
you see? This seemingly trivial ‘color’ thing you wanted to use to pit PPP
against NRP has backfired. Instead, what you have here is cooperation
between the potential allies in the Opposition. PPP does NOT want to make
the ‘color’ issue a big deal, they abandon their color (for thirty years)
and adopt a new one. My friend, this is the way to go. We have to be
pragmatic and leave selfish interests aside. Support NCP with all the zeal
you can muster. Write a program for Dibba to move our country forward. Be my
guest and attack Yaya with all the venom you got. He is the one with power
to order the slaughter of our children. You cross the line when you try to
disrupt the Alliance.
KB



>From: Hamadi Banna <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Breaking News:A Split In The Opposition?(Latest Development)
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 16:01:35 -0500
>
>Mr. Dampha,
>
>Unless you want to put words in my mouth, I've never said anywhere in my
>postings that I "thought Jawara and PPP were going to spoil the Alliance."
>That beside the main issue, I still want to know why since 1996 the UDP,
>NRP, and PDOIS could not hold a similar meeting to seriously discuss about
>a
>coalition.  Why did all other attempts fail in the past? Apart from the
>occasional statements from the various parties about their intentions to
>work collectively no decision has ever been made by the parties to
>coalesce.
>  The only official statement I've read on the issue is when PDOIS came up
>with a proposal to jointly nominate a presidential candidate who would
>serve
>for 1 year before fresh elections would be organized.
>
>Let's drop the angry invectives and the name tag about me being a PDOIS
>supporter and look at the postings sent here by Adama Bah and Ebrima
>Sillah.
>  According to the press release of the Coalition Meeting posted to the
>list
>by Mr. Bah, the NCP has decided not to support Mr. Darboe's candidature and
>the PDP "refused to make any commitments."  I did not even mention Assan
>Musa Camara in my last posting, so I don't know where I've criticized him
>for chairing the meeting.  In an earlier posting Adama Bah had made the
>following statement:
>
>“Are you aware that when PDOIS contacted the organisers on the phone it was
>suggested for the meeting to be adjourned for invitation letters to be
>dispatched immediately to convene a more representative and proper meeting?
>Are you aware that the chairperson, Assan Musa Camara agreed to consider
>the
>suggestion but that the rest of the delegates felt that time was against
>them and that they must come to a decision? How do you read this picture?”
>
>In his posting today, Ebrima Sillah referred to a possible split in the
>Opposition.  Talking about his interview with the NCP leader Sheriff Dibba,
>he said: “My interview with Dibba was also very revealing...too much info
>than expected about the split and the dangerous underhand political
>tactics.
>Not too good a situation for the opposition.”
>
>Now, since I’m not in The Gambia why should I dismiss such reports as
>false?
>  I'm still concerned that the Coalition is not all inclusive for reasons
>best known the parties involved.
>
>Regarding my reference to the PPP, I see no reason why I should not mention
>their record whenever the need arises just as I would criticize the APRC in
>similar instances even after they’re out of power.
>
>Mr. Dampha, since we all are trying to get to the same place, I think we
>should be more tolerant towards other people who decide to take different
>roads.
>
>Hamadi.
>
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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