Anybody that says that I (personally) advocated for the return of Jawara as
a presidential candidate will be telling a blatant lie. I might have been
one of the most vocal advocates for Jawara’s return. But in what role? I
have categorically stated that the man should be encouraged to return and
support the presidential candidate that is going to be selected by the
CURRENT OPPOSITION LEADERS. Jawara can be very effective in defending the
PPP record and discrediting AFPRC/APRC justification for taking over. Rather
than current Opposition leaders tackling Yaya when Yaya tries to compare
himself with PPP, let the PPP fight that battle. Simple as that.

For people now to twist this logic and make it appear as if I am advocating
for Jawara to become our next president, is just mind-boggling to me. To
this day I can only name one person in the Opposition on G_L that is saying
that the Decree 89 politicians should also be given an opportunity to lead.
One person. Granted, I delete a lot of mails without reading them, but I am
pretty certain I would have read a mail under my heading advocating for
Jawara to return as a leader. To my knowledge, only Jassey-Conteh said that
we should not close the door on Decree 89 politicians’ chances of leading he
Coalition. Although I do NOT agree with Jassey-Conteh on this, I respect his
stance. Now, where is all this talk about people advocating for Jawara’s
return to the presidency coming from? Let us shoot straight and quit talking
in innuendo.

I still firmly believe that the man should be encouraged to come home and
defend his record and lend his support to the Opposition presidential
candidate. Even if I am convinced that the current Opposition can win
without Jawara, I will NOT recommend to the Opposition to snub Jawara. If
the Opposition can canvass for 90% of the votes, why settle for less? No one
can deny that Jawara still has a following back home. Would we rather have
those people vote for APRC or abstain from voting for the candidate the
current Opposition is going to choose? If we want the support of these
Gambians (that are still loyal to Jawara) we do NOT go around alienating
them by attacking their leaders. What does the Opposition seek to gain by
attacking Jawara? Preventing him from becoming the next president? This is
premised on the notion that he wants to become the next president. Not a
single person can truthfully say here on G_L that Jawara said that he wanted
to become the next president. Like I already said, apart from Jassey-Conteh,
there is NOBODY in the Opposition is even remotely saying that they want
Jawara to become the next president. And even Jassey-Conteh is NOT saying
that he wants Jawara per se. It is practically impossible for that to
happen. So, why use this false premise in order to attack the man?

Attacking the man serves one purpose. It helps Yaya and his gang stand up
and say that it was justified for them to take over. Attacking Jawara is NOT
helping us right old wrongs by preventing him from gaining power again. The
law already says that he CANNOT run in October. Besides, it is practically
impossible for the man to go back and run a political campaign that is going
to overshadow our current Opposition leaders. Our current leaders are lot
stronger than that. I hope the leaders on the ground will embrace the Degree
89 politicians and ask for their support. We need NOT force these people to
the APRC camp or away from us. The ex-PPP politicians, in particular, are
very important because (among other things) they need to defend their record
against attacks from APRC. We would rather that PPP fight that battle than
say UDP, NRP or PDOIS. For example, if Yaya wants to boast about a
University and belittle PPP, rather than Darboe tackling that, let Jawara
explain how Yaya built on what already existed in the form of GTTI, MDI,
Hotel School, Nursing School, Yundum College, etc.

That is the wavelength some of us are at. Division of labor. Tactical
Alliance. Now, if the Opposition wants to use PPP in this manner in the
Coalition, we do NOT go around singing APRC songs like Jawara was here 30
years and did not do a thing.
KB


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