Manneh, as usual, I welcome your insightful comments and I take heed of your
caution. I hasten though to inform you that my statement you quoted should
by no means be seen as a wholesale endorsement of the IEC and Gabriel
Roberts. I still have serious reservations about the man and the institution
and I fervently believe that if Gabriel Roberts is NOT checked (in terms
suggested by you and others in this forum), the man will steal the elections
for Yaya like he did in 1996. I made the comment you quoted because I felt
that the Opposition was going to do a good job of making it increasingly
difficult for Roberts to steal the elections. I hope my earlier comments do
NOT in anyway signal that the Opposition should sit on its laurels vis-à-vis
Roberts and the IEC.

After all, to my knowledge, the IEC have still NOT rescinded their
unilateral decision to centralize the counting of the voted at 20 or so
counting centers. The Opposition is still saddled with the problem of
ballots being ambushed and tampered with as they are moved from polling
stations to counting centers. I have also NOT heard word about how the
certification process is going to be conducted. If Opposition
representatives are NOT present when results are faxed to Roberts (at the
IEC headquarters and NOT State House) then we have another problem in our
hands.

So, clearly, we still have some outstanding issues with Roberts. Having said
that, I have confidence that the Opposition can fight for the people to put
Gabriel Roberts straight. Like you, I also encourage Gambians to go out in
record numbers and vote. Yaya and his cohorts also realize that it is
getting increasingly difficult for Roberts to steal the elections. They know
that the people are aware of their shenanigans and this time around we will
NOT let Gabriel Roberts hand over the ‘victory’ to him. This is a matter of
life and dead. When Yaya and his cohorts realized the increasing difficulty
inherent in manipulating the results on election day, they resort to trying
to manipulate the results through other means. That was the point I was
trying to make.

APRC now seek to manipulate the election by getting the Jola clique in the
army led by Babucarr Jatta and Ousman Badgie to try and intimidate Gambians
to accept bogus results declaring Yaya a victor. The people will NOT accept
this either. As eloquently pointed out by fine men like Chongan and Colly,
the rank and file in the military will NOT carry out illegal and diabolical
orders from the likes of Babucarr Jatta that have a tribal agenda at work
here. I hope the message will get to our fine men and women in uniform that
they should NOT spill the blood of one single innocent Gambian just to
perpetuate a tyrant like Yaya in power. I hope the Alliance take cue and
talk to our military in an attempt to debunk the LIES being told by Babucarr
Jatta. An Alliance government will restore legitimacy to the military and
open doors to our soldiers that is currently closed because our current
Dictatorship is ostracized by civilized countries. For example, because of
the erratic behavior of vermin like Fatoumatta Jahumpa and Yaya, the
soldiers in the country will no longer benefit from Sandhurst scholarships
so long as Yaya is in power. As Colly pointed out, our soldiers will soon
kiss good-bye to the peace-keeping missions they go to in order to
supplement their incomes.

Finally, I take this opportunity to thank Chongan for his pragmatic
contributions. I am happy he laid it out to our men and women in uniform
that they can carry out their duties and safeguard people’s human rights
without having to carry out Yaya’s and Babucarr Jatta’s illegal orders. The
will of the people must stand on October 19, 2001. Yaya has all but given up
in this election. All the moron is doing now is going around dishing money
to bribe voters. What he does not realize is that buying voters’ cards to
disenfranchise people is one thing. Bribing people to vote for you is an
entirely different thing. When people are in the lonely confines of their
voting booths, they will remember how Yaya ordered the slaughter of our
children and how he continues to steal from government coffers and enslave
Gambians by making them destitute. Needless to say the inexperienced
nonentities calling themselves APRC politicians have no clue how to get
people to vote for them. Yaya is simply making promises people already know
that he had made before and did NOT keep. APRC is intimidating ‘Alkalos’ to
force villagers to attend APRC rallies. APRC thugs are attacking Opposition
supporters to discourage them from participating in the election. The Jolas
in Foni would NOT even allow Opposition Parties to hold rallies in Foni. But
all these undemocratic moves from APRC and their supporters will NOT yield
fruits for them on October 18, 2001. Gambians will repudiate Yaya when they
are in their voting booths away from the intimidation and bribery. Gambians
know that the APRC do NOT have plans to move us forward. They are all just a
bunch of thugs that will NOT hesitate to slaughter defenseless children and
empty government coffers. Manneh, thanks again for your contributions.
KB



>From: Lamin Manneh PF <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: ATTACKS ON IEC AND PA ROBERTS-MR. DAMPHA
>Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 13:11:47 -0700
>


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