Hi Kebba!
While I respect your stance on the current scheme of things which are the result of deeply held convictions, please allow me to throw in a few words of caution. The decision of the alliance parties to come together is just the beginning of a tough battle. It is by no means a guarantee for victory. I therefore believe that it is ill-advised to draw battle lines between those parties that opted for the alliance and those that have not as of now joined.
You wrote:
''Now that the Meeting has taken place and the lines are drawn, I hope PDOIS,
NCP and their supporters get the message that they are NOT part of the
Alliance (as we speak). As such, they will be treated in the way they
deserve. ''
I think it is a mistake detrimental to the cause of the opposition to make such pronouncements. What do we as supporters of PDOIS and NCP deserve? Are you
sure that we agree with the parties' stance not to get involved? Are you sure that the parties' pronouncements are written in stone and not chalk that can be erased? Even if it is such that PDOIS and NCP are not part of the alliance, would it not be in the interests of the opposition to keep away from attacking and antagonising each other and in the process doing the APRC's job free of charge? I think your statement that ''ALL the other Opposition Parties (including NRP) are rallying behind Ousainou Darboe. He is our presidential candidate. He deserves our support and in my opinion he earned it too. I take this opportunity to appeal to PDOIS and NCP to be pragmatic.'' is the right avenue to take to bring about victory for the opposition. It does not however augur well to lace it with the first quotation plus the following one:
''I hope that the NCP and PDOIS supporters realize that if they persist in this avenue they would be as responsible for the 'election' of Yaya in the same way as APRC
supporters.''
How are we going to be responsible for the election of Yaya? Every party is created on an agenda and where different parties try to come together, different agendas also come into the picture. The pragmatic approach in this instance is to work out a compromise in order to forge an alliance. If this is not possible, the parties should then in the interest of winning the election not complicate matters further by creating unnecessary enemies among the opposition thus wasting their meagre resources on each other instead of the party they are all trying to defeat.
You wrote:
''But PDOIS and NCP have to realize here that people will NOT forget this treacherous stance. At the end of the day, UDP might implement a level playing field, but the parties that did NOT join the Coalition will be reminded about their stance when it is all said and done. When the field is level, we will tell the Gambian people on whose side PDOIS
and NCP was during the battle to unseat Yaya.''
What treacherous stance? On whose side is PDOIS and NCP? On whose side is the alliance? Based on what criteria? Like I stated earlier, all parties be they APRC, PPP, PDOIS, UDP, NRP etc. are all premised on agendas and interests. Most of us are not aware of what went on in the public meeting and the informal ones that led to it. We therefore have to rely on second hand information which might not be as holy as it sounds. What can however be assumed to be crystal clear is that none of the parties in the alliance went in at its disadvantage just for the sake of forming an alliance. The UDP gained a presidential candidate. We do not know what other concessions it gained. We do not know what concessions the PPP gained. We therefore should not condemn the other parties before knowing their official reasons for not joining.
Let me ask you a hypothetical question. If PDOIS and NCP had gotten together before the alliance did and nominated Sidia Jatta or SM Dibba as the presidential candidate without UDP, PPP, NRP or GDP participation, would you have accepted that? Would you have accepted your party's refusal (even though it might not be yours as an individual supporter) to accept the result of negotiations in which it had no part as treachery or would you have pressed on to see negotiations that might bring about a complete alliance based on principles and understandings that would ensure that problems do not arise after the battle is won? I don't think that we should write our positions in stone or present either / or alternatives at this juncture. Things are somtimes not as simple as this. We have to create middle grounds at the moment to facilitate dialogue which will bring about a complete alliance because believe it or not the alliance is faced with an uphill battle and all hands are needed on deck. As Saiks pointed out, Dibba might not be able to win the presidential elections but he can sure be a spoiler. Let me create a hypothetical situation. Let us assume that things are neck and neck between Jammeh and Darboe and all rests with the last constituency to be counted. This particular constituency has 10, 000 voters. Jammeh has 4, 950 votes and Darboe has 4, 945 votes. The remaining 105 votes is split between NCP and PDOIS. In the absence of a complete alliance, Jammeh becomes the winner. If you however take only 6 of the votes from the NCP or PDOIS, Darboe becomes the winner. Who would be to blame here? The alliance because it had so much confidence that it is made of the largest opposition party and the former ruling party which still has a major following and does not therefore need smaller parties or the NCP and PDOIS for failing to join? Would it really matter who is to blame? The reality would be that Jammeh would be deservedly celebrating. You see, one cannot afford to throw away a single vote in these elections. The present alliance might seem as a credible or even overwhelming challenge to Jammeh but we have to realise that Jammeh has the benefits of incumbency and all it encompasses in African politics. It is therefore incumbent upon the opposition to forge ahead and try to form a complete alliance. Just because this did not happen at the first meeting does not mean that it will not happen. I believe it will be a grave mistake on the part of the alliance to take an anti-PDOIS/NCP stance and create animosity within the opposition. A genuine alliance can come to fruition even a week before the elections. While it is your democratic right as an individual supporter of the alliance to take the stance you have taken, I hope and pray that the official alliance is more cautious in its pronouncements. I also hope and pray that Mr. Camara doubles his efforts to bring about a complete alliance. Thanks.
Buharry.
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