Dampha,

I have never said that Jawara wanted to come back and be a presidential
candidate. What I said is that he (Jawara) clearly stated that "he is
willing to lead an opposition alliance IF THE OPPOSITION SO DESIRES". Now
refer me to any posting in which I said that Jawara wanted to be a
presidential candidate. For your information, even Hamat Bah was quoted as
saying that the Gambian people will not accept return to the old system as
it would inevitably lead to them (the PPP) wanting revenge and this may
destabilize the country. Isn't it strange to you, that to date, no member of
the PPP has tried to clarify this issue? Are we all cuckoo in thinking that
the PPP wants a leading role in an opposition alliance, when they claim that
all their structures are in place and that the PPP will soon be regaining
its former glorry? Isn't it strange that they are urging their former
supporters to come back to the party and give it their support? What is your
interpretation of Shygle Nyassi's membership of the interim committee of the
PPP? My friend, the oppostion, with the exception PDOIS, are in a dis-array
and you know it. No matter whatever you wish for, I still stand by my
prediction that Yahya will win come October. By the way, do you know that a
former national mobiliser for the PPP, Bakary Santang Bojang, is now the
APRC regional mobiliser for the APRC in Brikama? I await your response.

have a good day, Gassa.

>From: Dampha Kebba <[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 10:00:17 -0400
>
>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.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------


_________________________________________________________________
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------