Gassama, I indulged you and reread the Independent piece but still could not
figure out the point you are trying to make. What is your point again? That
Jawara is a liability to the Opposition? Then encourage him to come back and
lose the Opposition some votes. Clearly, Yankuba Touray does NOT think that
Jawara is a liability to the Opposition. Otherwise, Touray would not be
terrified and start threatening the ex-president.

When I read the Independent piece earlier on and again when I reread it this
morning, what I saw was a good case made against a Jawara presidency. But
what has been mind-boggling to me all these days reading and hearing various
arguments made against a Jawara presidency, is that I just cannot believe
how certain people will engage in this exercise in futility. With all due
respect to the Independent (a Paper I hold in very high regard because of
the invaluable services they are rendering to the Gambian public), I think
they got carried away by the shenanigans of the APRC propaganda. Now, it is
in APRC’s interest that we make Jawara the topic of conversation and forget
for a moment about Yaya’s horrendous record. It is in the APRC’s interest
that certain people in the current Opposition be lured into saying certain
things to demean the Jawara record. It is in the APRC’s interest that when
certain things are said to the PPP stalwarts, those PPP supporters will NOT
support the Opposition. So, how does the APRC get the Opposition to have a
field day on Jawara and jeopardize the chances of having PPP firmly in the
Opposition? APRC propagandists lie about Jawara saying that the man wants to
return and lead the Opposition. The calculation is that once this is done,
the current Opposition will make anti-Jawara utterances that will discourage
the man and his supporters from supporting the current Opposition. Simple as
that.

I reiterate that these are nothing but vicious and blatant lies. I told you
Gassama that you lied about both OJ and Jawara. You NEVER came back to say
that you were telling the truth when you said that these people wanted to
lead the Opposition. OJ NEVER said that. Jawara also NEVER said that. Matter
of fact, these politicians expressed sentiments that are totally opposed to
what you Gassama have said. Every Gambian that knows anything about today’s
Gambian politics and that is honest to himself, knows that there is
ABSOLUTELY no way that Jawara can contest this election as a presidential
candidate. For crying out loud, now what is the point in writing an article
about why Jawara should NOT be a president? This is like arguing during the
American presidential elections that Ronald Reagan should NOT be the
presidential candidate as opposed to George Bush Jr. It is absurd. This is a
non-issue. The man has NEVER said he wanted to be a presidential candidate.
The law STILL prohibits him from running. He is politically dead as far as
President 2001 is concerned. What paper will waste space arguing that Pierre
Sarr Njie should NOT run in October 2001? Making a case against a Jawara
presidency in October 2001 is an exercise in gross futility.

Now, let us use our heads to analyze exactly what the PPP people are saying.
I am relying here on what I heard and read on BBC and also the various
reports in Gambian newspapers about the press conference at OJ’s. PPP wants
to come back to the political scene. They choose as their leader someone
that CANNOT run in October as a presidential candidate. Right there that is
a signal to the current Opposition that PPP is NOT looking to field a
presidential candidate. Their leader (Jawara, who in my opinion is just a
figure-head as far as October is concerned), instructed those on the ground
to negotiate with the Opposition to mount a united front against Yaya. Yet
another signal that these people want to play ball with the current
Opposition. The de facto leader of the Party (OJ) held an open press
conference in the country. NO Paper reported that OJ SAID that he wanted to
run as a presidential candidate or that the PPP wanted to field a
presidential candidate in October. NO PAPER whatsoever. Apart from the lies
from the likes of Gassama, no one can tell you that PPP wants to lead an
Opposition Alliance. So, why fall into the APRC trap and start engaging in
PPP bashing?

I reiterate that this theorizing (arguing against a presidency that will
NEVER happen) only helps the APRC. What it does is alienate potential
Opposition supporters. Even if the only support Jawara had was 100
supporters from Barrajali, let us try and get those people to vote for the
Opposition instead of the APRC. The Opposition will NOT get those votes by
making a case against Jawara that need NOT be made. The man is NOT running
for anything. Why argue that he should NOT be president? Why argue that
Gambia should NOT win the World Cup? We are NOT going. But this argument
against Jawara is NOT just irrelevant, it is going to lose the Opposition
some votes. What is more disturbing is that we have Opposition members doing
APRC’s dirty job for them. This was the ideal time for the current
Opposition to kick back and let APRC and PPP argue about their respective
records. But no. Some Opposition members will rather jump in on the side of
APRC and bash PPP just to appear to be righteous and fair. Well, let us all
be ready to be accountable for our actions. I would have thought that
politically conscious Gambians living in the U.S. would have at least learnt
from the Ralph Nader debacle from the last U.S. presidential elections.
Nader’s misguided self-righteousness ended up putting in the White House
some one far more hostile to Nader’s cause than he could have imagined. Now
the question is, are we going to be pragmatic and canvass for as many votes
as we can get or are we going to be blinded by hatred for one man (Jawara)
to the extent that we are prepared to unleash a child murderer on our
people?

Using a false premise (Jawara presidency in October 2001) to attack the man,
is NOT only intellectually dishonest, it is politically suicidal. I
sincerely hope that the leaders on the ground have their priorities right. I
hope that they will NOT waste time making a case against a Jawara
presidency. That is NOT on the cards. I hope our leaders will NOT be lured
into this absurdity of trying to bash PPP in order to preempt a Jawara
presidency. I am encouraged by the maturity leaders like OJ, Hamat Bah and
Waa Juwara (the only leaders I have read their comments) are approaching
this issue. We in the Opposition should avoid unwittingly justifying the
July 1994 ‘coup’. The people that staged the ‘coup’ CANNOT even justify
their case. Why should we (that wants the PPP supporters) now make the APRC
case for APRC? I am yet to hear one coherent argument making a case against
the Opposition canvassing PPP supporters. All I hear is arguments against a
non-issue (a Jawara presidency).
KB



>From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FWD:Jawara's Lost Opportunity
>Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 10:37:13 +0000
>
>Dampha, Hamjatta and co.
>
>Please take note of these developments. Do not say I did not warn you.
>
>Have a good day, Gassa.
>


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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

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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------