This is from the pages of foroyaa. I hope it will be of interest to those who are genuinely interested in knowing the facts about what is actually taking place on the ground.

On PDOIS’ Proposal For
An Alternative Coalition
The political situation in The Gambia is moving towards an election mood.
However, uncertainty still remains. The opposition coalition which had been
anticipated is yet to materialise. An alliance has been forged between UDP
and PPP. They are calling on the other parties to join the alliance. The
GPP leader had indicated that his party will not be registered. He has also
not submitted any application for registration to the IEC.
The launching of the presidential election campaign by the UDP-PPP
coalition graced by Assan Musa Camara the former leader of the GPP did not
convince many people that a coalition has indeed been forged. The claims
that all  opposition parties have been invited to attend the meeting at the
YMCA while PDOIS and NRP claims the contrary is an indictment of the
procedure or method utilised by some members of the opposition to forge a
coalition. A coalition is not something that is formed by some only to ask
others to come and  join. It is something that is voluntarily forged by
people who are convinced of its viability.
The rule of sovereign equality between political parties remains. No party
can be left out or forced to join a coalition. Parties must select their
partners voluntarily. There is nothing wrong with two or three political
parties meeting to form a coalition or alliance. It however undermines the
integrity of the opposition to make claims that all were invited to discuss
the selection of an opposition candidate for the presidential elections. A
discussion with Halifa Sallah of  PDOIS reveals that he was met by Assan
Musa Camara at a time when Sidia was even in Wuli; that he even mentioned
to Assan Musa Camara that parties should not hold join meetings until their
positions are known to avoid failures; that it was better to agree to
disagree than giving the impression that we are meeting to agree only to
end up in a state of disarray. After Assan Musa Camara’s departure the only
other piece of information received was a copy of minutes of a meeting held
August 4th 2001 by PPP, NCP and GPP.
Sam Sarr in meeting Mr. Omar Jallow took the opportunity to show him the
file containing the proposals provided by Assan Musa Camara and the minutes
of their meeting between Mr. Sheriff Dibba, Assan Musa Camara and his very
self dated August 4th 2001. He was informed that the minutes indicated a
proposal to meet UDP, NRP and PDOIS; that PDOIS had no way of knowing how a
proposal could be converted into a letter of invitation to attend a meeting
to form a coalition.
PDOIS’s proposal for a one year transition agenda for the coalition led by
a presidential candidate outside the existing political parties so as to
conduct civic education to raise the awareness of the people, open the
media to all political parties to put their programme before the people,
eradicate all laws which restrict the exercise of political and civic
rights by the people, institute a complaints commission to redress all
grievances and provide orientation to the members of the security forces to
ensure a society which is enlightened, just, peaceful, democratic and
stable. This is what should serve as a foundation for free and fair
elections. The letter addressed to opposition political parties put 20th
August 2001 as the deadline to receive feed back. When PDOIS failed to
received feed back, it took the initiative to contact each political party
to know their opinion. PDOIS met a representative of the PPP Mr. Omar
Jallow who concluded that while the proposal was accepted it was over taken
by events and cannot therefore change their decision. PDP has expressed
desire for further discussion on the agenda with the respective political
parties. A meeting has been scheduled with the NRP as soon as Mr. Hamat Bah
is back. A meeting is scheduled with Mr. Sheriff Dibba of the NCP for
Thursday 23 August 2001. The UDP administrative Secretary indicated that
the issue is being discussed and that he will call by Tuesday 21 August
2001. PDOIS will maintain contact until a definite response is received.
Mr. Omar Jallow of the PPP indicated  that they are in agreement with the
agenda in principle but that it is too late for them to consider it
favourably. This is how matters stand. Once all the responses of the
political parties are received we will schedule a meeting with Mr. Assan
Musa Camara as an elderly statesman to review developments.
By Monday 27th August PDOIS would state its position on whether a coalition
between opposition parties can be a reality or not.Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------