Conteh Julla SABARRY, MUNA SABARRY BANG!!!

Mr. conteh, your party leader Ousainou Darbo did the correct thing conceding
when beaten; and this is a strength and not a weakness. Secondly Mr. Conteh,
your party was supposed to be in an alliance with the PPP and GPP. That
being the case, don't you think the decision to concede was taken only after
consultations with those parties? Do you believe that the decree 89
politicians, who spent years in the wilderness, would have agreed for him to
concede early if they were not convinced that Jammeh had won fair and
square? Fact of the matter is that when Darboe was conceding almost 98% of
all the votes had been counted and the president had a cushion of atleast
12,000 votes. I will also tell you that by the time about 70% of the votes
were counted, the question the Jammeh camp were asking themselves was by how
much they would win and not if they would win. I am sure this was not lost
to the opposition either.

Now to the issue of the electricity blackout during the counting process.
This is such a hollow excuse, I would not have bothered to respond to it,
but for the fact that it really irritates me! We all know that we, in
Gambia, we use marble balls that we put in metal drums with bells rather
than stuffing ballot papers in ballot boxes. We also know that these marble
balls in metal drums are heavy and are not easily moved about. For the APRC
or IEC to rig the elections during the period that the electricity went off
would have required:

1) That a significant number of these drums full of marble balls for the
APRC to be substituted for the same number of APRC drums with the actual
APRC votes.

2) That the same number of UDP drums with real votes be removed from the
counting room and substituted for, by other drums with fewer marble balls.

3) During this time the perpetrators must also make sure that the final
count tallies overall i.e total number of drums and total number of marbles!

For God's sake what would all the reporters, international/national
observers and opposition party observers of the UDP, PDOIS, NRP and NCP be
doing while all this is happening during this period? Is it realistic to
assume that these people would just ignore it all or were they deep asleep?

Another nonsense that really irritates me is the allegation that up to
30,000 refugees from Cassamance were illegally given voter cards and housed
in the Brikama college. For the benefit of those who may not be familiar
with the location of Brikama college, I'll give a brief explanation of its
location.

Brikama college is located in the Nyambai area on both sides of the Brikama
highway just before entering Brikama, from Banjul end. It is fenced off
using wires and are in most cases 4 - 6 feet high with flowers along side
it. Going by the number of graduates from the college, it is safe to say
that the total number of people there, including staff, is less than 1,000
people.

Simple logic tells me that 30,000 people with voter cards = 30,000 adults.
This is almost equal to 100 fully ladden jumbo jets or up to 500 fully laden
buses/coaches of adults. This 30,000 illegal potential voters is more than
twice the entire electorate of Banjul and just about 4,000 less than the
entire elecorate of the LRD. How can this huge number of non-Brikama
residents be housed at Brikama college without anybody knowing? How come
even the reporter who allegedly went to seek clarification could not confirm
their presense at the colleg? Why then are people trying to give credense to
what is clearly just unfounded speculation?

Like I said before, it is time for all of us including all in the
opposition, to move on as one people. Now that the legitimacy issue of the
president's rule, that has been a major source of conflict between the APRC
and the UDP, have been clearly decided and settled, let us start a new phase
of peaceful co-existence. The leaders of the various opposition parties have
taken a significant move in readily conceding defeat and expressed their
respect for the verdict of the Gambian electorate who decided so in the
first place. This way, mutual trust between the two main parties can be
improved and strengthened. This will minimise unnecessary suspicion between
us all and create a very conducive atmosphere for the improvement of human
rights and the rule of law. It is very important for all to realise that it
is in everyone's interest that the governance of our country is as smooth
and peaceful as possible. Militancy from any quarter will only worsen our
state of affairs.

Have a good day, Gassa.

>From: burang conteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Early to congratulate
>Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 03:45:31 +0000
>
>Fellow Gambians ,I and many supporters of the UDP are very disappointed by
>the early move of lawyer Darboe to gave out a press conference without a
>breath of the issues that need to be look at , such as the reason of the
>blackout while the votes are being count and the late reversing of the IEC
>to allowed any one having a voters card to  vote even though there names
>thosen't appeared in the register.How sure are they that the news paper
>article of the 30,000 cassamace people didn't vote . It should be more
>fitting and wait until monday than the very day , I belief PDOIS and NRP
>have not concede yet. Lots has happend and few people lost their life only
>to free the Gambia from a system of bad governance to a country of true
>democracy. For my part , this is a miscalculated move to concede , Darboe
>you earn my respect and admiration , I will always see you as a genuine
>opposition party leader who forth a battle very difficult to conquire
>Just a though.
>Conteh Julla
>
>
>
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