In a message dated 8/18/03 8:35:16 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

> <<Like you, I have expressed my opinion in contrast to the notion that only
> those who have actually "put their money where their mouth is" ought to be
> part of the list-serve that is set up for discussion, which I am currently
> running. But there seem to be the wisdon of majority in that regard so
> far.>>

Laye Jallow & Joe Sambou,

Thanks to you and Joe Sambou for posting the address of the listserve of the
coalition fund.
Laye, you had stated that I should not refrain from joining the group just
because my wishes are not met, or something to that effect. Please excuse my
choice of words if it conveys something else other than what I intend it to
convey, but I think you get the gist of what I mean.

However, although you have made it clear that you also do not share the view
that only those who subscribe to the fund should be allowed to join the list (
I commend you for that) the fact still remains that Joe Sambou has reiterated
that the purpose of the list was for fund raising and that the list
guidelines stated that only those paying into the fund should be part of the list.
He also said that when Dr Saine wrote the guidelines for the fund drive and
asked for suggestions or changes, everyone acepted the guidelines. How was it
determined that everyone accepted the guidelines, ,and was there a condition
that the imput from people have to be given by a particular deadline or they are
no longer acceptable?
However, I have stated numberous times already that if the fund drive wants
to keep these guidelines, this is their choice and is fine, so long as that
list is restricted to teh collection of funds only.

To be fair, I did join the list and what I witnessed also confirmed to me
that the prevailing wisdom on that list was that only those who pay into the fund
can be part of the list, and according to the response that people who
objected to this notion received, there did not seem to be a willingness then nor
now to be flexible as far as this was concerned, and I think Joe Sambou's
response to Conteh has also proven that there does not seem to be any changes
regarding that opinion.
Therefore, in this regard, and also because Joe Sambou has also confirmed
what all of us know, he said:

"Issues facing us must be addressed.  What is the platform for a a
coalition?  How long should the nominee serve?  How many terms should the
nominee serve?  How can we meet the leaders of the opposition or their
representatives in the U.S.? "

This is exactly true and I believe that this issue mentioned above is a
separate issue from that of the fund drive, especially since those instrumental in
the fund drive as well as others on that list serve have made it clear what
the guidelines of belonging to the list are. The guidelines limit participation
and since the issue of working out the details of a colaition should be  a
matter of public debate among Gambians, I think that to undertake the issue of
the details of a coalition on a list that has set limits as to who can
participate is inappropriate and limits the rights of Gambians to take part in this
process, which the members of the fund drive listserve do not have neither the
mandate nor the right to do.

Therefore, I think the fund drive  listserve undertakings should be separate
from the debate to work out the details of a coalition. I think we need to
invlove as many Gambians as possible in that process,  and I also think that the
politicians should make an effort to talk to us as well as we to them because
it is not just an issue of collecting funds for them and letting them do what
they think is best for us.  This is the issue those of us who want to see a
coalition become reality first before collecting funds are talking about.

Gambians need to have an imput because these people are representing us. My
experience with the last election was that at least with one political party,
even simple questions were not responded to, leaving the impression that they
were telling us to merely collect funds and we do not need to answer any
questions. These politicians claim to be working for a sociaty where every Gambian
has a voice, yet, when they run into Gambians who know they can have a voice,
there seems to be the notion that they do not owe us any response, feedback
etc. We all saw the results of what self interest and a lack of sincerity to the
committment to form a coalition of all opposition parties despite the
impressions given affested the outcome of the last elections.

The opposition parties know that a solid opposition coalition is the only
hope there is in the next elections and we as regular citizens who want to
support this idea must also have the responsibility to make sure that we see to it
that we do not just provide them with funds, ,but that we make sure that all
the things that will result in the coalition becoming a reality are put into
place, that it is sincere and real, and  as many Gambians have as much imput into
that process  as possible. Then we can feel confident that there will be a
true representation of the pople,and we can work hard as heck to collect funds
to back them.
This is the idea, and not that one is interested in forming any meaningless
faction groups that has not helped us throughout our political history and will
never help us in any way.

However, again, if folks want to collect funds starting now, it makes sense
that only contributors to that effort should be part of the list set up for
that purpose,  and that is fine, but please do not infringe upon and hinder  the
people's right to participate in this process by undertaking to have the
effort regarding  the details of the coalition  to be discussed in the fund drive
list which has set  limits for participation and regarding which limitation
they are unwilling to be flexible.

Jabou Joh

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