Sidia Jatta - Politician Worth His Salt



The Independent (Banjul)

INTERVIEW
September 21, 2001
Posted to the web September 21, 2001

Olufemi Jr
Banjul, the Gambia

The People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS)
has been breathing for 15 years but never came close to State House in both
republics. The party's lagging behind at the last presidential elections
says it all. However, PDOIS is not a party that embroils in what one would
tag as African politics: sputtering nude promises and putting across brown
envelopes. Rather, it presents its manifesto to Gambians and leaves them to
do the rest.

It's flag bearer for the October tussle to the State House, Sidia Jatta,
remains the only MP to slash off the chunk of his salary into a trust fund
for his constituency, Wuli. As he waxes here, a political office is not a
money-manufacturing department.




Certainly, Sidia is every inch a principled man, considering that he called
it a day with the PPP when as a linguist, his programmes were not taken
seriously. Teaming up with his colleagues gave birth to the PDOIS in the mid
80's.

Born in the mid 40's in Wuli in the upper belt of the country, Sidia
attended Bajakunda and St. George's Primary Schools before obtaining
secondary education at Nungua Secondary School in Ghana. He bagged a
teacher's certificate from Yundum College and pushed chalk for six years
before leaving for the land of fine wines (France) and empowered himself
with a Diplome de Zeme degree from the Paul Valery University in
Montpellier. He crowed it up with a B.A. and M.A. in linguistics from the
University of Grenoble.

Once a consultant to a sub-regional seminar on the production of literacy
materials in Mandinka orchestrated by UNESCO six years ago, Sidia, a down to
earth being in this portrait, gleans on Bharat Joshi's expulsion, the Wuli
fund and other political issues.

What brought together you, Sam Sarr and Halifa Sallah to form PDOIS?

We, in our individual ways, saw that there was a need for a change in this
country. To bring about that change, there has to be an instrument of
leadership, a party that will bring about that fundamental change. That
change has to be preceded by enlightening people.

At that time, there was no party, which was committed to doing that.

Why did you resign from the PPP government?

I resigned in September 1986 because of the need for a change. My colleagues
gave up their positions long before I decided to call it a day and help form
the party.

Are you saying that the PPP government failed to live up to expectations?

Not only the PPP but other parties that have ever existed in this country
before us had never lived up to expectations.

Why was PDOIS not banned for the 1996 elections? Was it because you did not
pose a serious threat to unseat the government?

(Hesitates) You see, there was no reason for us to be banned .

But GPP and NCP were banned.

Well, they suffered the same fate but I cannot speak for them. You know that
when the coup took place, we were the first to be arrested because they
wanted to ban Foroyaa newspaper. We contested that, which was why we were
arrested. But, I see no reason why we should have been banned because even
our opponents know this is the only party that is out to bring about a
veritable change. They know that such a fundamental instrument of
development cannot easily be destroyed. Touching PDOIS means putting
troubles on their heads.

The votes you polled in the 1996 elections clearly indicate that PDOIS is
yet to be planted in Gambians' minds?

What type of party do we have? What do we mean by votes? What types of votes
were cast for PDOIS, APRC, UDP and NRP at the presidential elections? You
know that PDOIS does not bribe, give cola nuts or intimidate anybody. We
simply present our programme to the people. PDOIS is mainly interested in
enlightening people and arming them with the necessary tools to make
informed decisions. All the votes that were cast for PDOIS were cast on
conviction of the programme that was presented to them. PDOIS polled 8,000
in Serrekunda East because voters there were convinced by the validity of
the programme. Inspite of widespread bribing of voters in Wuli, I still won
without even campaigning.

So, is it a case of PDOIS preaching spotless politics?

(Hesitates) I do not know what you mean by spotless politics. All I know is
that fundamentally we engage in enlightening people. This is our politics of
empowering people.

In African politics, if you can't beat them you join them.

No, I wouldn't say that is African politics, though this is how some
intellectuals view it. If you cannot beat your enemy and you join him, that
means you are defeated by the enemy. If you go into the enemy's camp, you
are rendering yourself powerless! We do not believe there is any enemy that
we cannot overcome. It seems PDOIS was more critical during the Jawara
regime than now.

In what ways was it critical during the PPP and AFPRC regimes?

It was more on the back of the former regime.

Were you in this country during the 1994 take over?

I was.

Who was saying no to all the propaganda in this country from 1994 to 1996?
Is there anything more critical than that? Since the AFPRC assumed power
their slogan was no election, which we strongly disapproved of for power
must return to the people. I think you journalists are very ungrateful
because if you dared to tell me that we are less critical now, I think there
is something fundamental in your observation. PDOIS challenged the authority
of the AFPRC. They wanted to ban our newspaper and we went to court and
preempted it. Rather, we started publishing twice weekly. PDOIS made the
constitution acceptable to The Gambian people, not APRC. We advocated,
explained, fought and within three weeks we changed the whole situation from
no to the constitution to yes.

What else do you want? It is for that reason that we have a National
Assembly and National Assembly members. It is through our efforts that
people are now drawing from the resources of the constitution to fight cases
in court even though they said the constitution was a military one.

What other organisation would have dared to do that other than us? Is it a
case of neglecting the good deeds that this party has been doing for this
country? Even though there were no parties at that time, we fought to make
sure The Gambia returned to democratic rule.

But do you think Gambians are grateful for that?

I don't know but I think Gambians are more grateful to this party than any
other party that has existed in this country because they know that without
this party The Gambia would have been plunged into a bloody war.

You seem to stand out when talking of National Assembly members because of
the Wuli Fund. What brought about the fund and how is it managed?

No, I'm not standing out because of the Wuli Fund, which is just an
insignificant part of my work in the National Assembly

But it is a heroic move, which other members are not trailing.

The Wuli Fund came about because of those of us occupying political offices;
it is not a place for accumulating money. Rather, it is an office for
serving the people. We also know that this country is so indebted that we
can never pay the loans going by the way we are taking them. We need money
to develop this country. During the last election, the candidates promised
go give this and that. But if we who are suppose to serve the people and
help change their living conditions take all the money from the national
coffers, what would be left there to develop this country? That was why I
said D6000, which was the first proposed salary was too much. I know if they
offered D7000 to us, the executive would offer themselves three times more.
Why should an MP earn D7000 when a doctor at the hospital earns less, though
he works 24 hours? MPs only meet from 5:30 to 8:00 once or twice every
month. I don't need D7000 because the people who elected me, none of them
are earning that amount a month not to talk of per annum. That was why I
decided to pay myself D1,500 and D1000 for my transport and put the rest
into the Wuli Fund. D135,000 of that sum was spent on literacy classes,
assisting flood victims and schools that suffered during the rainy season
were re-built. A management committee appointed by the people of Wuli,
irrespective of party affiliation manages the fund.

Certainly, if this is the way you serve your constituency it will be
difficult to unseat you.

As long as I'm responding to the fundamental needs and aspirations of the
people of Wuli, they will always elect me. If there is anybody who can do
better, then I will be voted out. If not, the people are always going to
vote for me even if I don't campaign!

How good are your chances of making it to State House, come October 18?

Well, we are going to present our manifesto to the people and on that basis,
they will cast their votes. We know we have a very good manifesto and are
committed to promoting it.

So it is a case of how the people would warm up to the PDOIS manifesto?

Yes. We put to them our manifesto and leave them to decide. This is what
democracy is all about. We don't need to intimidate, promise or bribe anyone
for his/her vote.

Why did PDOIS opt out of the coalition?

We did not opt out but rather, it is a process of politically observing
events in the country. A couple of months ago, Halifa and Ousainou Darboe
participated in a radio programme in which the issue of a coalition was
raised. Since the parties have to come together to give their views about
the coalition we couldn't forward our views of a coalition. However, we sent
our opinion on the matter, discussing the possibilities of a coalition. We
waited for a month and out of the blue minutes were sent to us indicating
that the opposition parties would meet. We were informed on the day of the
meeting. We are a party and cannot attend meeting like that, as we have to
meet and send representatives. Halifa suggested the date should be changed
to enable us attend but they told us that there was no time. So, was it they
or us who opted out of the coalition?

Was it a case of a slap dash coalition as not all the parties put their
heads together?

Well, it must be noted that only the UDP was registered among all the other
parties that attended the meeting. I would say it is an alliance of the PPP
and the UDP. That is the bottom line.

How could you define PDOIS' relationship with other parties, particularly
the APRC?

We have nothing against any party. But we do have problems with programmes
and policies presented by other parties. We have a fine relationship with
all the political parties. We analyze each party's programme and present an
alternative. We don't just criticize.

People believe PDOIS is a party of intellectuals whose message has not sunk
into the Gambian people.

Let's put it this way. 8,000 people could cast their votes for us without
bribing them. All we did was to present our programme and leave the rest to
them. Others have something else to talk about, politics of character
assassination and insult and not issues of politics. I think some so-called
intellectuals close their minds to the message but the masses have not.

How could you sum up the present political atmosphere?

The situation is very promising because the people are becoming increasingly
aware and informed. It is not going to be easy to hoodwink them anymore.

What of the mud slinging and chilly threats, aren't they marring it?

People are raising their voices, as they are not interested in that sort of
things.

Rather, they want to be told about issues regarding the affairs of the
country. Once this is underway, the problem is as good as solved.

What do you make of Bharat Joshi's expulsion?

Well, you see, I think it is important that before certain actions are
taken, they should be preceded by reflections. If the British diplomat had
attended a press conference organised by APRC I don't think he would have
been declared persona non grata. I think he was free to attend any political
meeting.

Then the government must have acted immaturely?

You know that. I think it is a case of doing something without thinking,
looking at the implications or analyzing the purpose of it all.

But why should government take such a decision considering that Britain is
The Gambia's closest development partner?

I cannot answer that. The government is in a better position to do that.

What makes you stand out from other politicians?

I don't think I stand out. All I know is I'm committed to what I'm doing.

What coerced you into politics?

I chose to go into politics because I saw and read the situation. I was
working as a linguist. All the programmes that I designed could not be
implemented because the government was not committed to implementing them.

It was committed to the teaching of the local languages, which would have
made the people have massive access to information. It is the people who
vote in leaders and they should have a say. Thus, the country needed a
change, which should be in the guise of a party that would enlighten the
people. Thus I went into politics.

Are there times you regretted taking up the political baton?

I will never regret going into politics. In fact, I would have regretted it
deeply had I not gone into politics.

Have you carved a politically niche for yourself?

No, I would not say that. I would leave that for the people to decide.



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