When desperation gets the better of a cornered man on his wits end, he
resorts to a delusional rampage: even those allied to him are not spared when
he goes beserk. Nothing best illustrates the frustration, despondency and
fears of Jammeh and his futile 're-election' bid. The frequent bouts of
tantrum and frantic yelling at his campaign team after a dismal rally are all
the stuff of desperation, despondency and fear of a man who knows that the
party is over; and that this presidential election is merely to clean up the
dishes. A typical Jammeh campaign day looks like this: a small crowd comes to
his rally, most of whom are either just curious folks and the ferried APRC
supporters that is part of his campaign entourage; the small crowd frustrates
him and he resorts to yelling a hotch potch of threats and unrealisable
promises; then at the end of the campaign day, he summons his campaign team -
notably Jahumpa Ceesay and Yankuba Touray - and harangue them for their
dismal performance and for misinforming him on the extent of his popularity;
the day ends in tantrums as officials stay clear of the whimpering, sulking,
boorish and fatally wounded tiger. It's like that day in, day out as the APRC
discover first hand the extent to which their popularity has and continues to
plummet. But Jammeh may have already smell the coffee and contingency plans
are said to be afoot and deep throat has it that Cuba features heavily in the
said contingency plans. As a friend of mine once put it, even buffoons in
their infinite buffoonery have their moments of clarity. Jammeh knows that he
is living on borrowed time; and that political salvation is but a mirage in
the Morrocan desert he can't help but fantasize about as the end draws nearer.
Yet, just as the APRC continues to be torn apart by a bitter fratricidal war,
and its campaign lies in tatters as voters continue to desert them en masse
to join the Alliance, it has resorted to putting on an old hat: illegally
attempting to influence the outcome of the election through such electoral
shenanigans like intimidating and inducing voters. Whereas in the case of
intimidations these have been met headlong by the Opposition and the APRC
thugs are on the defensive, in the case of voter inducement, the APRC seems
to be gaining some ground relatively unchallenged and unfettered in their
unethical endeavours. Perhaps, that by itself is easy to understand: the sums
that are said to be involved in, say, buying the votes of a single household,
is said to be nothing less than D10,000. Clearly, this makes what chanced in
the Kiang and Baddibu by-elections look pale in comparison and most certainly
in deprived communities, it is proving and will continue to prove difficult
to stave off the impacts of these unethical practices.
Just because it is proving difficult to stave off these unethical practices
doesn't mean that we should stand by and let the criminals - operating these
illegal attempts at influencing the outcome of the elections - go scot free
and unchallenged. At the very least we ought to strategise on three levels.
First, the Alliance leadership must address the issue by directly appealing
to people's sense of moral propriety and patriotism; and placing emphasis on
the fact that these monies being given to them are nothing but ill-gotten
wealth, that belongs to them in the first place and can never alleviate their
plights. Indeed, the only good it can bring for them is to act as a
short-termist palliative. Secondly, Alliance stalwarts should patrol and
trawl neighbourhoods, communities and streets - night and day - for any
would-be eleventh hour APRC money-man, who dares visit an Opposition
household to try to buy their votes off them. Third, where it has been
discovered that votes have indeed been bought off Opposition supporters,
those who bought the votes should be identified, the press and the IEC be
notified of the incident. That way, we would have documented any such
attempts at illegally influencing the outcome of the elections; whereupon in
the event that the outcome of the elections become the stuff of legal
contests, wherein the results and the absentee vote are correlational in that
the absentee vote could well be the those votes bought off Alliance
supporters, we would be in a good position to tender evidence to that effect
- even if the evidence happens to be circumstantial.
When it comes to this election, none should underestimate the extent to which
Jammeh is desperate to 'win'. If 'winning' entails looting the whole treasury
and printing new money, and or borrowing from both domestic and external
sources, the moron would not hesitate to do it. We must not underestimate the
moron's determination to steal these elections. We underestimate him at our
own perils. A desperate fool on the brink of his downfall knows no boundaries
between the legitimate and illicit. Indeed, for the fool on the brink of a
freefall, there is only a thin line between the illicit and the legitimate.
To the extent that this is true, we mustn't take anything for granted
vis-a-vis the APRC's determination to cheat in the elections by hook or
crook, and the Alliance leadership is strongly and respectfully counselled to
work around the clock to stave off any such unethical endeavours by the APRC.
We might not completely stop the APRC's vote-buying spree but we stand a very
good chance of lessening its impacts on the outcome of the elections.
Hamjatta Kanteh
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