Mr. Manneh, I thank you as always for your contributions, especially when it
comes to electioneering. You bring to the discourse invaluable insights you
gained from experience. As others subscribers that already reacted to your
post said, this issue about ‘on site’ counting should be a make or break
issue. The Opposition should NOT compromise on this issue. It is either on
the spot counting or no elections. And when we say no elections, we have to
follow it up with another message to the morons running our country. We have
to also tell them that come October (expiration of Yaya’s term), he is going
to be evicted from the State House, whether we have elections or not. The
vermin cannot hold the whole country hostage.

I thank you for the pragmatic safeguards you brought up in order to preempt
APRC shenanigans. I would however suggest that together with those
safeguards, we should also insist that the votes are counted on the spot for
everyone to see. Three year olds know what the APRC is up to here. We all
know that they want to steal ballots from Opposition boxes and put them in
Yaya’s boxes. That’s all. The vermin want to steal the elections and then
parade Gabriel Roberts on national TV to pretend that he is declaring
legitimate results when we all know that the elections were rigged at
gunpoint before the counting began.

All this talk about security concerns is nonsense. Why would people riot if
the ballots are counted on the spot? Yaya’s reason is ludicrous. Despite
that the by-election in Kiang was stolen, UDP supporters NEVER rioted when
the votes were counted on the spot and declared an APRC ‘winner’. No
disruption was reported in Kiang. Now, Baddibu on the other hand was a
different kettle of fish. In Baddibu when the UDP candidate was declared a
winner, the APRC supporters went berserk. They trespassed into the compounds
of UDP supporters, attacked and insulted UDP militants in front of their
children and wives. When the UDP militants beat up the APRC trespassers, the
UDP supporters were arrested by the police and put in jail. The magistrate
that saw this lawlessness and freed the UDP militants was fired from his
job.

Now, who in their right minds will blame the Opposition for this lawlessness
and thuggery? How would centralizing the counting of ballots solve this kind
of problem? Instead of IEC officials and pacifists in the country addressing
APRC thugs, they are looking at the wrong places to solve our problems. We
have a very simple problem if you ask me. We have thugs that have nothing to
offer us clinging onto power by any means necessary. If they kill people in
the process, so be it. If they have to steal ballots, so be it. The best
APRC supporter CANNOT tell you what these High School drop-outs have to
offer us. What experience does Yaya bring to the job? What did Yankuba
Touray achieve before 1994? Why should Yaya (who ordered the cold-blooded
slaughter of our children) lead us? Why should Baabaa Jobe (internationally
proscribed criminal) be the most important ‘civil servant’ in the country?
Why should the farmers vote for a government that has rendered them poorer
than they were seven years ago?

In short, the morons do NOT have an agenda to move the country forward. All
they are good at, is stealing money from us to open Swiss Bank Accounts and
send their wives to America to have babies. Manneh, when a government does
NOT have an agenda and is faced with a formidable opposition that has the
wherewithal to move the country forward, all the government can do come
election time, is to steal the election. Now, it is up to the Opposition to
ensure that the election is NOT stolen from under our nose. Fancy a
government that has Buba Baldeh as its chief praise-singer; Baldeh who is
grateful to Yaya because Yaya did not kill him after the 1994 ‘coup’. Can
you believe the vermin? Here you have someone that feels indebted to Yaya
because Yaya did not kill him. Yaya stole power from his government, and he
is happy with the vermin. Geez. For people like Baldeh to enslave themselves
this way, is mind-boggling to me. You will NEVER hear Baldeh articulate an
APRC agenda that can move the country forward. All you hear him say is that
the government he (Baldeh) worked for, was not good for us. The sad thing
about this (only) AFPRC/APRC message, is that they are NOT running against
PPP. Gambians are interested in an agenda that can move the country forward.
People want to hear how High School drop-outs can remove them from
destitution.

Manneh, thanks again for your contributions.
KB


>From: Lamin Manneh PF <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FWD:Counting on the Spot Is Just A Mere Dream - President
>         Jammeh
>Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:46:25 -0700
>
>Mr. Dampha, it is a big disappointment that President Jammeh and the IEC
>rejects counting of ballots at a sport. Personally, i think it is a good
>idea to count at various polling stations because it is transparent and
>less
>costly. There should be no security concern if no kind of hooliganism is
>not
>in the making. The opposition parties, having heard all these treats coming
>from government, must be very careful and explore all worst case scenarios
>concerning on sport counting. Our political atmosphere and composition is
>slightly different from Senegal. Remember our lout groups like the July 22
>movement, the army and NIA. These people are capable of doing anything. The
>police, army, intelligent agents and public media were all impartial and
>tolerant during the last presidential election in Senegal. Did you not
>smell
>a rat considering all the words coming the the APRC big wing?
>
>I would suggest that the opposition parties start working on alternatives
>to
>decentralized counting system because the IEC and Government will probably
>not bend. I strongly believe that if a united opposition front have polling
>and counting agents throughout the country, the APRC will have no way to
>rig
>the counting. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible to cheat
>elections on election day without being caught. Most irregularities happens
>before election day itself. The oppositions should also work on the kind of
>securities to put in place in order to avert any irregularities during the
>transportation of ballot boxes. I bet a competent Returning Officer will
>detect any vote rigging as soon as he/she started counting.
>
>One thing i will strongly recommend for next general elections is to
>install
>a hidden counting device in the ballot boxes that will count every single
>vote caste in each ballot box. This technology is possible since Gambia
>uses
>a marble ballot during election. The counting device will be hit sensitive
>engulfed in the bell inside the ballot drum. So instead having only the
>conventional bell to detect any double voting, a modified version can be
>installed to do the counting simultaneously.
>
>Finally, the way i conducted the last presidential election in Janjanbureh,
>i see no problem with centralized counting provided that polling agents are
>allowed to guide their political party's ballot boxes freely to counting
>centers and surrender them to their counting agents.
>Cheers
>Lamin PF Manneh


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