Janet,
Be rest assured that your contribution is highly appreciated.Besides,you
ain't got nothing to worry about as long as you are reporting facts.This is
a democratic forum!Peace.
Jobs.
>From: Janet Touray <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: being there
>Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 10:47:48 -0500
>
>There are a few occurances that happened in Faji Kunda around election time
>that no one seems to be raising.
>They are:
>The lose of communications between IEC and everyone else for about two
>hours on the night of 18th between about 8.30pm and 10.30pm.
>The extensive power cut covering the same time period.
>The celebrating of Jammeh's supporters who were chanting he had won from
>about midnight. Prior to this they had been very quiet and didn't seem to
>expecting victory.
>I don't live in Gambia but I was there for a month leading up to the
>election. I left on the 20th. Due to malaria I was unable to post this
>report until now. I will list events that concern me (and the friends I was
>visiting).
>I spent my time in Faji Kunda and URD. Most of the people I visited were
>farmers or the children of such. A
>fair number were PDOIS supporters, but
>some were UDP and the odd one NRP, and one actually APRC, or their family
>was. Most of the younger ones were educated to at least primary 6 level,but
>few of the old ones had any schooling.
>I travelled between Basse and Serre Kunda a couple times proir to the
>elections by van. Almost every van I travelled on, most of the passengers
>were very anti jammeh. I didn't start any political conversation, but when
>I was asked what I thought of Gambia, I just replied that the people I met
>were good, but roads and poeple's living standards seemed worse than a few
>years earlier. The usual response was an anti-jammeh ditribe and an
>assurence that he would be gone come the election. Only once did any
>passenger speak in support of President Jammeh. I know this is not a very
>representative way of polling the mood the electrolate. I could see no
>reason why people would be so open about expect
>ing a change of president if
>there was not a likely chance of such. I was also surprised that they were
>so open to a stranger.
>Certainly my friends were all predicting an opposition win but as they were
>pro-opposition, I tried to get others views. I did spend a day in a
>compound of APRC supporters. They knew that I had not been impressed by the
>situation in The Gambia, and were will to concede that APRC was not an
>ideal government. Their concerns with the opposition centred around the
>alliance of UDP with PPP, from one or two I had the feeling that if the PPP
>had not been in the equation they may have voted UDP. They were not sure of
>an APRC victory. Admittedly they did have other APRC supporters dropping
>all the time predicting a 90% win for Jammeh. I did not feel it was a good
>time to raise issues such as foreign loans, etc with such die hard
>supporters. When I left this compound there were a large number of green
>f
>lags on nieghbouring compounds.
>I saw mostly green flags on buildings fronting main roads in sere Kunda and
>surrounding districts. Especially on Police posts, gamtel offices and other
>government or semi government buildings. I also saw open backed 4 wheel
>drives with soldiers standing in the back with what I thought to be very
>large mounted machine guns, these could have been anti aircraft guns that
>other postings reffered to, but the noozles were definitely being pointed
>horizontally and swung from side to side. They scared the hell out of me,
>and other people around me didnot look too relaxed.
>From about the 10th or 11th there was definite feeling of unease in Faji
>Kunda. On one night we could hear gun fire but could never find out what
>had happened. This was the night after an UDP supportter had been killed.
>The compound I was staying at sent all their children back to the bush, we
>rented a van and loaded it up with about
> twenty children and a couple of
>women to supervise. I think other compounds did the same because after the
>13th I saw many fewer children in the nearby streets.
>For the week prior to the election people seemed very tense. There was
>nothing specific, just rumours flying around. There was nothing on the TV
>or radio that seemed to reassure people. The electricity supply was very
>erratic so that was not a good source of imformation. But when we did have
>power I noticed that there was not equal coverage. Certainly every party
>got about 5 or 10 minutes a night but President Jammeh's rally or journey
>through Gambia got half an hour every night and the hype surroundding him
>was incredible. Looking at the coverage as an outsider it was overwhelmimg
>pro-Jammeh. Where I live no government would stand a chance of getting away
>with such a bias coverage.
>On election day Faji Kunda was very, very quiet. It was like walking
>through a gho
>st town. Usually people are sitting outside the compounds,
>kids are playing in street and people are everywhere. Except at the polling
>areas there was noone around. The polling booths were quiet, with people
>standing waiting to vote, no conversation just waiting. The people I stayed
>with left to vote at 7am and returned at 1pm. They waited about 5 and half
>hours to vote. The polls closed at 4pm but the people in the queues at 4pm
>were permitted to vote so the actual voting finished about 6pm or later in
>Faji Kunda.
>We settled down to a night of election results watching. Surprisingly we
>had power all day until about 9pm. The TV coverage started off very well,
>for once GRTS should be given credit for a professional piece of work.
>There were representatives from all the parties bar one. There were
>political commentors who seemed to be uncensored. The coverage started off
>with summarising events and listing the parties and descr
>ibing how the
>coverage would proceed. About 8.30pm the first two lots of results were
>announced. Then we were told more were coming shortly. Then technical
>difficulties were announced and GRTS switched to a music program. 15
>minutes or so later, TV returned to election mode and said that all
>communicatios with IEC had been lost. Then the power went off. We switched
>to radio only to get the same message or music. From who we could call it
>seemed that power was out in all of Sere Kunda and Banjul, but I could not
>be definite. At about 11pm power returned, but still only music on the TV.
>Shortly after communications were restored and results begun coming thru.
>I'm going o have to stop now. I will continue later if anyones interested.
>If you feel I'm rambling I'll shut up.
>But to summarise, I don't believe the results. Somehow a rort was pulled.
>I'm very suss about the power cut and lost of communications. Anyone know
>
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