Mr.Manneh,
you are right in your statement in which you stated i quot{Ebrima,i want to tell your secret informer that Yahya and his men cannot rig voting and counting process in the The Gambia due to the high level of transparerency and constant surillance mounted by all the political parties involved.}BUT he can rig the elections through many other forms, like some of the activities he played during both the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
 During both the said elections campaign UDP supporters were picked up and detained for days and weeks without any charge in violation of their rights.Sometimes even when when they are charged and brought before the courts of law and released by the courts they are re-arrested by the police purporting to act under one decree or another.
 September 16th,Siaka Sonko the chief security officer to the UDP leader Mr.Darboe together with Saney Sabally were arrested and detained at Farafenni police station and later transferred to the maximum security prison in Janjanbureh where they stayed for the rest of the election campaign.No reason was given for this act.Lamin Waa Juwara was picked up and detained at the maximum security prison of Janjanbureh throughout the campaign untill the elections when he was released.
 September 22nd,as the UDP leader was returning from a country wide tour his convoy was stopped at Denton Bridge and the people were made to descent from their vehicles.There followed the most hideous act of brutality members of the Gambia National Army using rifle butts and weapons attacked and beat the innocent UDP supporters.Late Sidia Sagnia the then senior Administrative Secretary of the Party and some others,sustained fracures and had to be hospitalised for days.Other victims of this act include Mr.Amadou sanneh,a member of the National Wxecutive,Mr.Abdou Gassama,presently a member of the National Assembly,and many others.Throughout the campaign UDP became targets of violent attacks by Jammeh and his supporters.
 During the campaign Jammeh's tours of the countryside,was always accompanied by a large military escort.Often with heavy weapons like antiaircraft guns in tow.It is not difficult to imgine the effect that such displays of overwhelming power -dubiously justified as necessary for the head of state's personal security would have on small Gambian villages.
 The worst military commissioners like Momodou Bojang- CRD,Momodou Badjie-URD made their total controlled over the traditional rural network of village headmen.Those suspected of less than total support for Jammeh's dictatorial regime were replaced by some pliant individuals.
 Jammeh's media policy,for instance,restricted open discussion of political matters.The national television specialized in undiluted praise for Jammeh and unadulterated attacks on anyone who appeared to be critic as unpatriotic.From the beginning,Jammeh showed extreme hostility toward the independent press which was suposed to give a fair coverage of the elections campaign.He used a number of strategies to harass and intimidate journalists.
 All the above mentioned activities were geared  towards rigging the elections.
 Even today as i am writing this piece,he rigging the elections because the UDP have been denied permit to go on about meeting the people at the grass root level and APRC ministers,commissioners,assistant commissioners,chiefs,alkalolu and the defunct 22nd July members are going around campaigning and intimidating UDP supporters.The main reason why Mr.Darboe was ambushed was mainly to intimidate UDP supporters in the Upper River Division by telling them that now you see that your boss is arrested therefore,if you don't distant your self from the opposition,we will do the same thing to you and nobody can do anything about it.This type of elections rigging is wost than the votes and counting regging.
 I know that Gabriel Robert did a very good job that's why he was removed.He was totally against the monopoly of the state media,sacking of opposition supporters and the arrest of member of the opposition.
Secondly,the french organisation-De la Rue who trained the PIEC personnel also did a good job.
 Mr.Manneh,you mentioned that Mr.Darboe lost in his home town,the reason for his losing was an open secret because CRD particularly the Bansang people were subjected to continuous harassment and torture.The station officer Kulu Gibba made so that the people either voted for Jammeh or suffered, that was the main reason why Mr.Darboe lost not because the people of the area dissapointed him.
 Finally the UDP never challenged the election results simply because we knew it was impossible to get the truth like my Jimara election petition.At that time with the random  sacking of judges and untill now the random  sacking of innocent magistrates and judges would have not worked.Chief Justice Omar Alghali was just a rubber stamp for justice to satisfied the dictator then why should we waste our time to challenge such a flawed justice.
 Once again i thank you for your pointing out to the UDP and other opposition parties to fight for free and fair campaign and equal media access.
Saihou





On Tue, 11 July 2000, Lamin Manneh PF wrote:


>
> Ebrima, i want to tell your secret informer that Yahya and his men cannot
> rig voting and counting process in The gambia due to the high level of
> transparency and constant surveillance mounted by all the political parties
> involve.
> The military junta really tried to cheat using the methods used by the
> defunct PPP and NCP but all the "Tapaley" doors were closed by PIEC before
> the election took place. The PIEC conducted a study of how the former regime
> carefully arranged their dishonesty to victory in opposition strong hold
> areas and came up with very good solutions.
> Here are some of the election frauds during the PPP regime and what PIEC's
> deterrent measures were.
> 1. Double or more voting by an individual within and/or another
> constituency. This was common in the Kombos and Greater Banjul Area where
> transportation is easy and not everybody know each other. So one can vote
> for OJ in all the polling stations in Bundum and travel to Pirang, Kombo
> East, and vote for Lamin Kitty Jabang without being detected. PIEC --- put
> Indelible ink on everybody's tomb after voting
> 2. Double registration in different constituencies: Common areas- Banjul and
> the Badibus, Serrekunda and the Fonis, Brikama and the Kiangs. PIEC :
> Control registration and use of indelible ink
> 3. Suppress supplementary Registration in opposition strong hold areas and
> secretly register families of PPP militants, Saffelo, Alkalo and top civil
> servants. Common places: Anywhere the opposition poses threat. PIEC - There
> was no supplementary registration before last presidential election
> 4. Meddle with the manual voter register: PIEC- Computerised Head Register
> controlled by United Nations contract staff.
> 5. Buying votes from poor opposition families. PIEC- No control
> 6. Registration of aliens. Common in Serrekunda, Banjul, Western Division
> and the Fulladus(both East and West). PIEC- The registration officials
> contracted by the PIEC were very competent, honest, brave and responsible
> young men and women. They strictly work according to the ethics of their
> duty and refused to register anybody who did not have proper paper works and
> the approval of the elders. The following people were not issued with
> voter's card at the registration grounds: Sankung Badjie Inspector General
> of Police, Yankuba Touray Minister for Youth and Sports(both were latter
> issued after the intervention of Gibriel Robert), some close family members
> of President Jammeh were not registered when they refused to comply with
> PIEC regulations. Two senior PIEC officials at that center were later
> arrested and detained at Kanlagi Police Station.The former minister Kabba
> Bajo, Tominic Mendy and many senior army officers were denied the usual
> preferential treatment at registration centers and they had to joined a big
> line inorder to be registered. One senior registration officer almost
> exchange blows with Major Bojang in Niamina when he attempted to disrupt the
> registration process . So these boys were really great!
> 7. Bribe registration and election duty officers. PIEC-- paid officers very
> well. The lowest salary rate was D95.OO a day
> As you can see, most of the cheatings were done before election and counting
> of votes.
>
> WHAT LED TO YAHYA'S VICTORY
> Yahya Jammeh and his political adversers after knowing that they cannot
> twist the hands of PIEC officials, resorted to the following strategy to win
> votes:
> 1. Controlled both private and public media. UDP had no media coverage
> throughout their campaign. Radio Syd started to cover some political rallies
> for all political parties but they were forced to stop it immediately.
> 2. Tribalism: When Yahya was fully in control of all national media
> networks, some prominent Mandinkas among his national campaign team,
> denounced their own ethnic group as selfish and tribalist people over Radio
> Gambia. This really boost Yahya's image among the Fulas and some wollof
> voters because Darboe has no access to the radio to refute these
> allegations. In fact before official campaign begins, i went on an official
> tour of over 104 villages in CRD and over 90% of voters(except the
> Saloums)were supporting Darboe. But the negative tribal comments by the APRC
> Mandinka Jon-o-lo attributes to Darboe's awful defeat among minority tribes.
> 3. Intimidation. This was a very successful tool used by Jammeh. All civil
> servants of all categories were intimidated by government to vote for APRC.
> In Janjanbureh, Major Bojang convened a meeting in his office with all the
> heads of departments in CRD and threaten to fire anybody who supports
> Darboe.  He held similar meetings with all the Alkalis and saffello(NO
> WONDER HE IS REINSTATED). Guess what this  brought to Jammeh considering the
> extended family system in The Gambia and dependency level of the poor and
> the unemployed to these civil servants and traditional rulers.
> Ebrima, the blunt fact is that the Mandinkas(except Jarra and Kiang) who
> were actually describe as tribalist were the very people who voted Jammeh to
> power. Can you believe Darboe lost in Bansang Town, Sami District, Brufut,
> Pirang, etc?
> What UDP should fight now is a free and fair campaign--- equal media access
> by all political parties, no intimidation on civilians, Commissioners,
> Chiefs, Alikalolo and top civil servants be neutral and Ousanou should
> deploy the same die hard polling and counting agents like the Bakau women in
> all polling and counting centers.
>
> I will end this paper with TWO rational questions: If the votes were rigged,
> why nobody sue PIEC?  Please give an example of at least one polling and
> counting center where voting was rigged.
> In my next article, i will briefly describe the voting and counting process
> of the last presidential election.
> Its too late here, have a wonderful day.
> Cheers
> Lamin PF Manneh
>
>
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