I would like to take this opportunity to commend the brave Gambians that
exercised their constitutional rights as citizens of our dear country to
vote for the Opposition. The Opposition put up a great fight and was
rewarded with the votes of more than one hundred thousand Gambians. Those
Gambians deserve the protection of the Opposition leadership from the evil
of the APRC regime. If there was ever a time to be VIGILANT against Yaya’s
tyranny, now is the time.

Out of respect for the Opposition leadership back home that put up a
formidable fight against all the odds stacked at them, I will NOT revisit
here what chanced in this election. I know the leaders did what they thought
under the circumstances was best for ALL the citizens in the country. Since
I was NOT privy to all the information needed to make certain life and dead
decisions last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I think it will be morally
unjust to second-guess certain decisions.

Now that the election is behind us, little has changed as far as my stance
against Yaya’s government is concerned. My stance against this government on
G_L began in April 2000 in the aftermath of the MASSACRE of our children.
The election did NOT change anything about that. During the campaign, Yaya
did NOT even mention the plight of our children or promise to administer
justice in that case once he was re-elected. So, the election did NOT
address my major grievance. I therefore see no reason why the election
should shape my views about the tyrannical government we have back home.

The mediocre talents that were leading our country are still intact. During
the campaign trail Yaya did NOT promise to eradicate corruption, mediocrity
and callousness in our society. Making good on such a promise would have
entailed getting rid of Yaya himself and everyone surrounding him. So, the
election should NOT change the minds of people that stood against
mediocrity, corruption and callousness. The election changed very little, if
anything at all.

In my view Yaya FORFEITED his right to be commended/congratulated (treated
as a civilized human being) when he ordered the massacre of our children in
broad daylight and denied their families and friends justice. This is NOT
just some bitterly fought election with a controversial winner and a loser
like in the recent U.S. election. This was just one battle in the overall
WAR to bring freedom to our people. We in the Opposition should NOT lose
sight of that fact. Election is just one means to get rid of Yaya and bring
back sanity to our country. One battle in a WAR. The way we handle setback
in that battle is very important to this WAR to liberate the people.

As reports coming from Banjul are beginning to show, it is wishful thinking
to think that Yaya and his cohorts can be made to behave as decent human
beings by being decent to them. Just like they threatened to do before the
election, and just like we predicted, the vermin are at their thuggery
again. Numerous Opposition leaders and supporters have been attacked by APRC
thugs. As usual, APRC sycophants will come out and DENY that this is going
on in the country or blame the victims for asking for trouble. Remember,
NOTHING was changed by this election as far as APRC vices are concerned?

We still have POLITICAL PRISONERS in the country. Our people are still
POORER than they were before Yaya took over. Yaya still has a hefty Swiss
Bank Account stolen from the Gambian people. We still have in our law books
an obnoxious decree ‘insulating’ the thugs that massacred our children.
NOTHING changed.

Let us look at this battle like the Kiang debacle and the coup in 1994 and
redouble our efforts to fight the thugs that are holding our country
hostage. Let us continue to query the human rights abuses in the country.
Let us continue to expose the corruption in the country. Let us continue to
denounce ALES in our society and continue to point out to Gambians that they
deserve lot better than Yaya. Gambians do NOT deserve to be led by child
murderers. We have to continue to tell Gambians that despite all the noise
from APRC about ‘developing’ the country, APRC’s own figures show that our
people are worse off than they were before Yaya and his gang stole power. In
any case, our people deserve the ‘development’ that does NOT come with the
callousness of the AFPRC/APRC regime.

On a personal and a final note, I wish to point out that I would be
returning to the days when I did NOT toe any Party-political line. I had
always maintained that WE should try and get rid of Yaya by ANY MEANS
NECESSARY. Election was one of those means. Now that the election is over, I
will revert to those days when I would speak out for or against anything I
believe in or do not believe in, respectively, irrespective of the positions
any political party on the ground might wish to take.

Once again, my heartfelt commendation to the Opposition that fought a clean
and difficult fight in this election. Remember, this is just one battle in
the WAR to eradicate tyranny in our society.
KB


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