Saul,
The same feelings here,I believed we should look at the election results
with sober minds.We might still need more infor on the ground.I am of the
opinion that blaming the people for voting the way they do might left out
vital issues that might be of great importance in analysing the elections
results,no one has yet raised the issue of the relationship between the
people and the politicians.This relationship has never, in the post colonial
history of our people and country ,buildt on a collective
interest,collective responsibility.Politicians come and go but the condition
of the people remains the same,they have been crossing over the border
selling their groundnuts to Senegal since time immemorial,they have been
arrested ,detained,tortured since time immemorial.We could still remember
when Senegalese forces invaded the Gambia,at the invitation of president
Jawara, murdered Gambians in their hundreds just to bring back to power some
one who after decades of rulling the country could not guarantee them simple
basic right or three meals a day,this invasion did save us from the
schizophrenic,Kokoi,but not from the continuous brutality and exploitation
of the PPP regime.What type of patriotism are we demanding from the Gambian
people?Is the opposition doing anything ensuring them that now a change will
mean for the better ?it will bring total freedom,It will change their
condition,it will give them three daily meals,their groundnuts will be
bought,they will have jobs to go to?
I have had the opportunity of following political developments in the
Badibus for many years,both on the grounds and from a distance,reading the
results I could still see that the patterns of voting did not change much
since the time of the PPP.Corruption have played little or no role in the
politics of the Badibus,this Nafa Saho could tell better and I am saying
this out of concrete experiences.Take Mandory,were the UDP did well,during
the time of the PPP,Nafa Saho came to that village with a Garden
project,which he was to sponsor,knowing that this small village could make a
big difference in voting times,the villagers turned their backs to this
project ,knowing that it was politically motivated and the issue ended up
been a court case because Nafa accused them of deliberately destroying  his
fencing materials.This poor small village which was in great need of a
better fencing material,had to struggle for many years before some of us
were able to fish out some small funding for them,thanks to the efforts of
some of our friends in Europe by then,it is not a question of going and
buying their votes.Similar examples could be found in other parts of the
country.
By the way should we not ask what is wrong for a farmer to take D25 for a
vote,when parliamentarians whom they voted  in office go behind close doors
to negotiated salary increase at a time when there was no money to buy their
groundnuts after many months of toiling?We can even see that the buying of
voters cards did not  make a big difference,if there was any.From experience
what I know of buying of voters cards,the person who sold his voting
cards,sell it to the party he never intend to vote for and this voting card
is put under the custody of the party that bought the voting cards until
elections are over when they are returned back to their owners.My experience
as an election secretary,these voters cards could hardly be used again
because  election secretaries representing their parties will always be
conscious of such possibilities and be on the guard,this would be easier
thing to discover in election cheating,especially in small places where
every body know each other.Voters cards that are bought could be  found in
the absentee votes.
We have seen that the victory of the opposition in Central Badibu is very
close,in a general election the opposition might not have the same weight to
put on the campaigned as in this by election,they should understand that
they have a continuous work to do there and no time to relax.
In my opinion we should not be relax with the saying that in a fair and free
election this fascist state would not be able to win ,we must go by the
experience of the Gambian people to prepare for the next turning point.We
must be frank to say that our people have a limited choice,the opposition is
full of political opportunist who are more concern with their own welfare
than that of the general masses,not to look at this problem is at the same
time refusing to ground with the people their political experience and
reality.Let us give the debate a new face and reality.

For Freedom
Saiks

----- Original Message -----
From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 9:42 PM
Subject: Re: By-Election Results


> Tombong,
>
> As much as it defies basic logic, I'll have to retract my statement a few
> days ago that your party will be humiliated in both Baddibu and Kiang.
While
> there's no doubt that money (vote buying,) and intimidation had an effect,
I
> blame the people of Kiang and Baddibu for voting the way they did. I'll
> advance a qualified congratulation to y'all for now, until we have
> independent testimony about what really happened on the ground in the past
> two days. But to your credit, even Baddibu is a lot closer than I could
have
> ever imagined just this morning. I'll wait for the independent papers or
Mr.
> Christensen's testimony before commenting any further. But to say that I'm
> surprised by the results is an understatement...
>
> Saul.
>
>
> >The results are:
> >
> >KIANG EAST CONSTITUENCY
> >
> >BAKARY JARJU - UDP   = 991 VOTES
> >
> >MAHAWA CHAM - APRC   = 1784 VOTES
> >
> >
> >
> >CENTRAL BADIBU CONSTUENCY
> >
> >LAMIN DIBBA - UDP   = 2534 VOTES
> >
> >SAIHOU SATOU SAHOU - APRC = 2392 VOTES
> >
> >More breakdown and voting pattern later.
> >
> >PEACE
> >
> >Tombong
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________________
> >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
> >
>
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