Aunty Jabou, Musa and Jeng

I still think we are under-estimating the task that
lies ahead. Forming a United Coalition without first
addressing the need for FREE and FAIR Elections in
2006 is just a panacea for disaster.

Some of us should reflect back on how Jammeh won the
last elections; Was it Free and Fair??? Did the
opposition had enough time to address the issue of
pre-electoral fraud. Remember that some foreigners
were registered as voters some months before the
elections. Remember that the APRC only repealed Decree
89 at the last hour so that the Opposition could not
re-group properly for the October 2001 Presidential
Elections. Remember that there was a dispute about the
mode of counting which should be used in the
Elections. The Opposition wanted ON THE SPOT COUNTING
but the IEC sided with APRC and went for the most
style of counting.

Look there are many issues which we should address
first at partisan level before we can form a well
deserved United Coalition.

More to follow next week

Sanusi Owens
 --- omar joof <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Folks,
> I apologise for coming back to the debate so late,
> and I hope you will
> appreciate my position when I say that I was simply
> held up by school work.
> All the same , both sister Jabou and Sanusi have
> raised  points which I
> intend to address here. But before coming onto that,
> I wish to say something
> in connection with another angle to the debate going
> on, in which Musa Jeng
> (mose) insist he has(or would have) questions about
> Waa's politics.
> Musa, like anyone of us has every right to raise
> questions pertaining to any
> politician's politics. Suffice it to say that on
> this occasion he has not
> raised any specific questions about Mr Juwara's
> politics. If he means to say
> that he will continue to distrust Waa's politics,
> and he has the decency to
> say so in public, then one would expect him to have
> a good enough reason for
> such a position. A reason that he can publicly
> discuss without losing face.
> However, Musa has written of Mr Juwara forming NDAM
> as if it is his personal
> property. This is very wrong. NDAM infact was formed
> by a collection of
> individuals in the Gambia and the diaspora. Thus it
> is again wrong to say
> that it was formed by any one individual.
> With regard sister Jabou's question pertaining to
> what to do in view of the
> Jammeh regime's flagrant violations of the
> constitution and other laws of
> the Gambia, the answer is as simple as this: let the
> masses defend the law.
> For example, in the run up to 2006, through the
> coalition, the individual
> political organisations and all civil society
> organisations, let us all
> advocate for free and fair democratic elections.
> Then all of us should adopt
> zero tolerance for electoral fraud, and be prepared
> to defend the will of
> the people at all costs. I am convinced that the top
> brass of the APRC of
> the AFPRC, does not believe in democracy. They would
> do anything that would
> perpetuate their stay in power. They believe in
> terror and aggression, and
> they would brutalize and murder us if that is what
> would brake our
> resilience so that they can walk over us.
> Softly-softly politics will never
> bring this regime down, it simply gives them the
> opportunity to spread their
> nefarious tentacles in our society and strenthen
> their stranglehold on the
> Gambia.
> As for the reconstitution of the IEC which mr Juwara
> advocated for, it
> envisages the inclusion of representatives of
> political organisations to the
> membership of the IEC. The reality at the moment is
> that the IEC has a
> chairperson who is known to be a defactor member of
> the APRC/AFPRC. His
> neutrality in the execution of his duties has never
> been trusted, therefore
> it would only be fair if the other political
> organisations in the country
> are represented  in the IEC. This could also
> represent opening up the IEC
> thereby effecting transparency.
> It should be noted, in conclusion, that the urgency
> of the need for the
> coalition to set up a machinery on the ground now
> cannot be exaggerated. I
> agree with sister Jabou that we need an organisation
> like a coalition to
> coordinate our struggle against injustice in the
> Gambia. This would improve
> our chances for success in our drive for free and
> fair democratic elections.
> The task at hand is a very difficult one. After
> having so many skeletons in
> its  cupboard, it should be expected that the APRC
> of AFPRC  will make
> dogged efforts to cling onto power even if faced
> with an overwhelming
> challenge. But we should all take heart because this
> is a struggle between
> right and wrong; the good and evil; a struggle to
> supplant a barbarous,
> brutal, criminal and incompetent political
> leadership with a just and
> efficient one.But the bottomline is, we must back
> our words with action. We
> must not only make it obvious to the Jammeh regime
> that we are fed up with
> its acts of injustice, but we should make it cristal
> clear to them that a
> subversion of the will of the people will not be
> tolerated again.
> Omar Joof.
>
>
> >From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing
> list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Why the silence/Sanusi
> >Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 17:56:49 EDT
> >
> >In a message dated 10/17/03 10:28:46 AM Central
> Daylight Time,
> >[log in to unmask] writes:
> >
> >
> > > If we Gambians hastily advocate for a United
> Coalition
> > > without addressing the issue of Free and Fair
> > > Election, then sorry we are bound to see Yahya
> Jammeh
> > > re-elected due to our complacency.
> > >
> > > Lets all  NOW work for Free and Fair Elections
> in 2006
> > >
> > > Sanusi
> > >
> > > Sanusi,
> >
> >
> >I just do not understand how we can address a free
> and fair elections under
> >the APRC regime when these guyd ignore all laws and
> are bent on placing as
> >many
> >obstacles in the path of the opposition as
> possible. Perhaps there is a
> >process that I am not aware of and which can be
> utilized to accomplish
> >this?Perhaps
> >some of you who know ways that this issue can be
> addressed can shed some
> >light on this.
> >
> >
> >Jabou Joh
> >
>
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