I left the  last paragraph in this forward because  I feel it is a mesage 
to all 
gambians abroad.

Jabou

Re: Break-down of VOTERS ON THE VOTER REGISTER by Constituency  
Date:   10/26/01 5:29:08 AM Central Daylight Time   

To:    [log in to unmask]
    
Jabou,

While I write this note, the Senegalese border post at 
Sility is witnessing an unusally heavy traffic of human beings moving 
towards their respective villages in the Cassamance. At the border, these 
people are being closely scrutinized and their hands(fingers to be more 
precise)inspected for any indelible ink marks. They are then asked to 
surrender their Gambian voters cards before they are allowed to cross the 
border. Prior to the elections, about 5,000 cards were confiscated and after 
the elections the figure has now jumped to 20,000. A close relative of mine 
works in Sility, so I know.  The Senegalese are closely watching both their 
citizens who have participated in the Gambian elections against the warning 
of the senegalese government and the Jammeh regime whom they believe is 
meddling far too much in the Cassamance problem.

As regards the Parliamentary elections, the opposition should consider 
seriously whether it is worth participating thus giving legitimacy to the 
entire election process. The registration of illegal immigrants and allowing 
them to vote in the elections has really skewed the voter roll to the point 
that it cannot be rectified even if the APRC agreed to this, without fresh 
registration. My advice to them is not to participate in the Parliamentary, 
review what went wrong during the Presidential, asses the entire situation 
and strategize for future elections.

One other thing that Opposition Parties can do is to request the 
Commonwealth Secretariat to review their election validation process. 
Someone did complain about this issue of how the Commonwealth Observer Group 
would like to come in as quickly as possible, hoping that their in no 
violence and cut loose before cracks start showing in the process.  That's 
exactly what happened in the Gambian case.  I am particularly interested to 
see the final report of the British MPs who acted as observers. I know that 
they were not happy at all with the PROCESS. their report will be different 
from the Commonwealth's. I am sure of that. I also know that the diplomatic 
missions accredited to the Gambia are also taking a second look at the 
elections as reported by several wire services yesterday including the one 
that you posted from the AOL web site.

The Opposition should be the ones that should be reflecting on what 
transpired and how to aviod it recurrence. They must admit that they blew 
this one because they were overly confident, because of the crowd turn out 
at their rallies, particularly the Alliance, and complacent, at the expense 
of the poor and deprived masses of the rural population. The APRC should not 
be the ones to explain, as Elhajj Fye and Malanding Jaiteh said because they 
know how they 'won' the elections: you remember Yankuba telling people that 
if Gambians did not vote for them "the jinays" will. Remeber?  Well the 
'jinays' came from the Cassamance, voted and disappeared as 'jinays' are 
expected to. The onus, Jabou, is on the Opposition to come forward and 
explain to their supporters what went wrong and how they intend to correct 
it in future.

On clear winner in these elections in my humble opinion is Hamat Bah. He has 
demonstrated that he can stand toe-to-toe against Yahya and against all 
odds, with limited financial means and still pull a respectable and 'clean' 
35,000 plus votes. The other Parties should look at their leadership with a 
view to changing the guard.  They may not want to hear this but they will. 
The honourable thing to do after loosing two to three consecutive elections 
is move over and let someone else have a go at it. Introspection from all 
opposition parties is a must.

Are you wanting to come home because of the anthrax scare in America or 
because of Gambian politics.  Whatever the reason, we need highly educated 
and dedicated Gambians with high moral values to join the process of 
building genuine and lasting democracy in our dear country.

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