Mr. Jobe, please allow me to butt in here. I know Hamjatta can adequately
handle himself, but since I was basically making the same arguments as he
was, I felt obliged to clarify the point and help erase the absurdity in our
argument.

I am glad that you are NOT denying that votes were bought. Instead, if I
understand your argument, what you are saying is that we should not assume
that all the votes that were bought were meant for UDP. Correct me if I am
wrong. Your none denial of the vote buying might have been inadvertent. On
the other hand, you might have realized the futility of denying what was
widely reported in Gambian newspapers prior to the elections. It is also
possible that you are aware of the money that changed hands between the APRC
and the electorate. People that have been following the despicable and
illegal activities of this government know what exactly happened here. When
it is all said and done, people will come forward like they did before and
tell the whole world how APRC bribed them. This is not new in APRC politics.
If I wanted to destroy certain people, I will tell you here how money
changed hands in Saloum in 1996. Be careful what you ask for, when you
challenge people to provide evidence. You might just get it.

Turning to your argument, I hope you understand that what we are saying is
that the votes were bought in order to disenfranchise people. When we talk
about the 1000 or so voters' cards that were bought, we are not zooming on
the other shenanigans APRC was involved in by bribing people to vote for
them. We are talking about people that could not vote because they do not
possess voters' cards. Tell me this, does it make sense for APRC to buy the
cards of their supporters in order to prevent their supporters from voting
for the APRC? Even a party as dumb as APRC realized that that is absurd. So,
your theory that 15% of the voters disenfranchised by APRC would have voted
for APRC anyway, does not make sense to me. Maybe, I misinterpreted your
argument. Please enlighten me.

Finally, I would also like to point out to you that the UDP victory might
have been 35 during the previous election. But what is relevant here is what
happened in the interim. In the meantime, what did APRC do for the Gambians
and the people of Kiang? Is this not the government that massacred innocent
and defenseless children in broad daylight? Is this not the government that
cannot help purchase the groundnuts of our farmers? Is this not the
government under whose watch Gambians have grown poorer than they were six
years ago? Is this not the government that have turned Gambians destitute to
the extent that the average rural family cannot be guaranteed two square
meals a day? Is this not the government that loot our treasury, turning
nonentity lieutenants to overnight dalasi millionaires? Is this not the
government that boasts of thugs like Baba Jobe for leaders? I do not see in
APRC's record something that would make me believe that they are capable of
overturning the 35 vote majority UDP had in the previous election.
KB



>From: Kebba Jobe <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The By-elections(LpfManneh)
>Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 14:04:34 -0000
>
>Hamjatta,
>
>Lets think it and not feel it. To conclude, without any evidence, that
>because the number of absentee votes in Kiang is more than the margin by
>which the APRC candidate won the UDP candidate must have been due to voter
>card buying is totally absurd. How can you just assume that if all those
>absentee votes were cast all would have gone to the UDP candidate? Talk of
>scrutiny of the absentee vote and its possible impact to the overall
>outcome
>of the poll had they been cast, here is a simple scenario from "Tombong and
>his acolytes".
>
>Number of absentee vote = 1056
>
>APRC majority           =  793.
>
>FACT!!
>
>Now, suppose ALL the absentee voters indeed casted their votes with ONLY
>15%
>of them casting their vote for the APRC candidate.
>
>Now you figure this out.
>
>The final result would have gone something like this:
>
>APRC margin of win would now be:  793 + 158 =  951
>
>Additional votes for the UDP candidate would be: 1056 - 158  = 898.
>
>Still a victory for the APRC candidate with a majority of 53 votes.
>
>You will recall that the UDP majority for this constituency during the last
>elections was 35.
>
>Rather than feeling very emotional about this, you should instead be very
>rational about the whole issue.
>
>Remember " If you want a place in the sun, you've got to put up with a few
>blisters"  - Abigail Van Buren.
>
>
>Have a good day and bye 4Now.
>
>K.B. Jobe.
>
>
>
>     ==========================================================
>"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
>yet small enough to solve"
>
>                  (MIKE LEAVITT)
>     ===========================================================
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________________
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