Sister Jabou

I am glad we both agree that President Jammeh's strategy is working to keep him in Power. I would also like to belief that you are one of the few members that have issues with some of his policies, but please rightly agree with me that other members just jealously hate him. The guy have perfected Gambian politics, and unless the opposition "think out of the box", they will never catch up with him. With objective observations, I couldn't help but notice his successful strategies, and how he changed to adapt to the oppositions'. See my sister, I like to objectively belief that historians will see more positive into President Jammeh regime that most of see now. Unlike most of us who are objective, other have a direct vested interest to get him out of power, and we should all be thankful that the voters didn't put our fragile nation into a power struggle had the opposition won.

With the above said and the call to regroup, here are some of my analysis as to how President Jammeh was able keep the oppositon at bay to win again. But before I get into that, I would like to state that this posting is in no form intended to offend anyone, but a simply comparison of what I observed and read about both camps. This is my personal view and non of my family members should be held responsible.

In the years to come, different people will come up with theories as to why the UDP/Alliance party failed in their efforts to unseat President Jammeh. Some of these theories will be directly blaming him of stealing the elections in different forms. Others will go to the extend of blaming the innocent voters for not doing what they think is right for The Gambia. Fact is my friends, President Jammeh and his APRC party ran an excellent campaign, and until the opposition admits to that, they will continue falling short. Accusing sitting governments of stealing elections is nothing new in Africa, but history will continue to show that well organized campaigns always end up victorious. One of the most important things APRC had going for them was that, they kept their campaign strategy in place even when they knew that the opposition was gaining ground on them.

The first obvious observation was the cancellations of meetings by UDP. Not at any point during this past campaign did we hear APRC canceling meetings because the locals wanted them conducted during daylight hours for the whole country to know who they were for (correct me if I am wrong). Some of those little changes not only delayed the UDP campaign trail, but also signaled to the next meeting venue how insignificant they were. They continued failing to realize that some of the local villagers spend a lot of time preparing for those meetings, and canceling them at the hindmost minute doesn't sit well with them. It is also beyond me how the United Democratic Party failed to realize that some of these local villages were using them and their meetings to anger fellow villagers with the opposition, which in most cases resulted into fighting. I am sure everyone on this list remembers the almost civil war that resulted into the loss of a young life in Basse a few months ago. That was also the result of another bad decisions made by UDP campaign officials. Upon putting together a good campaign on that leg, they again had to return at the request of some villages that felt left out. A party with a good strategy should not have allowed themselves to be played like that.

Secondly, just like American held former president George Bush to his "NO NEW TAXES" line, most Gambian voters couldn't trust the UDP party after they collated with PPP. To associate with the former regime after initially denying that they were affiliated was not only an inexperience move, but a signal of desperation on their part. Any smart politician should have known that was suicidal. See folks, as much as they would hate to admit, UDP officials knew that they can never single handedly defeat APRC, so they had to seek help from "big brother" PPP. What they failed to realize in the process was that, their "big brothers" are now the most hated politicians in The Gambian. Most of The Gambian people are sick of the old PPP regime. Although most of the voters would never admit in public that they only voted for Jammeh to avoid a PPP comeback, fact remains that the UDP's alliance with PPP was of no help. Like the majority of the Gambian voters, I would have also voted against the coalition to avoid a PPP comeback. We have to challenge our selves to allow the younger politicians to emerge. Going back to the dark ages will not help our country. It is only right that we let the old folks enjoy their retirement. We all know that the PPP regime wasn't the best, and it beat me to hear young educated Gambians rooting to get them back into power.

So while UDP/PPP was going around jealously campaigning against President Jammeh's wealth and success, APRC kept reminding the voters of the trick the former regime is using to get back into power. It was with that campaign strategy that APRC started turning the corner, while at the same time planting a conspiracy seed in the mind of most UDP officials. Like most of us had notice, the old PPP candidates started emerging, and UDP parliamentary candidates started taking the rear seat. That was a sign to the old candidates that they will not be nominated once Darboe wins, thus creating a deep rooted conspiracy that their campaign managers never figured out. By collating with PPP, UDP officials were in fact aiding APRC to victory with the delusion that they were using each other. The UDP campaign officials also fail to realize that the crowds following them were not all supporters, but people that wanted to see the former ministers. I guess after seven years of not seeing some of those old cats, most Gambians wanted to see how they look without the luxuries they were used to. Some of the voters I spoke with indicated that they fear a power struggle if UDP was elected. One even joked that "the Gambia doesn't have the resources for UDP to reward those starving grumpy old men". We all knew they were not doing all that campaign for the good of the Gambia but for their own benefits.

The other important factor APRC had going for them was UPD's mistake of not finding younger lawyers to represent them in court. I was amazed by the amount of time the UDP leader was spending in court rooms defending his people, especially after the Basse incident when UDP started gathering momentum. So the strategy of keeping them in the court rooms rather that the campaign trail actually worked for President Jammeh and his crew.

Oh one final point, with the Presidential position in the bag, I predict Jammeh to sweep the Basse area during the parlimentay elections if the opposition doesn't adjust.The above my friends are some of the factors I think resulted to the defeat of the "dream group", and I recommed the opposition take a good look in their internal structure and strategy than make a ……..

Momodou Billo Krubally


_________________________________________________________

GROWING OLD IS MANDATORY; BECOMING WISE IS OPTIONAL.

__________________________________________________________


---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>