My Fellow Gambians,
These are crucial times in the history of our country, and anyone who means
well for The Gambia and its future, must from now on, play a much more
pro-active role, whether it be on the Gambia-L or elsewhere. Our common aim
must be the uprooting, through the democratic electoral process, of the
barbaric regime of Yahya Jammeh.
This really is a make or break period in our country’s history, and we
cannot afford to get it wrong: if we do, the dictator will perpetuate
himself and his criminal colleagues in power for years to come. Make no
mistake – Jammeh is doing all in his power to ensure a perpetuation of his
miserable rule.
In our turn, we also have to do all in our power to ensure that Jammeh does
not succeed. We should therefore minimise our own differences, control our
tempers, be respectful of each other’s views, and join hands in a concerted
effort to defeat Jammeh in the polls on October 18th.
This is not the time for us to be hurling insults, accusations and counter
accusations amongst ourselves on the Gambia-L. It is rather a decisive time
for us to brainstorm healthily; to debate healthily in order to try and help
the political process in The Gambia so that the elections will genuinely
reflect the wishes of the Gambian people.
It is time for sober thinking, and careful planning to see how best we might
help the Opposition on the ground in The Gambia to come together in peace
and friendship and with a shared determination to get rid of Jammeh. It is
a time for moral persuasion. It is a time for building bridges. It is a
time for compromise. It is a time for mutual tolerance and trust – for
coming together collectively against a common enemy, Yahya Jammeh.
As human beings, we have different loyalties, different agendas, different
wishes and aspirations, different perspectives. This is genuinely a healthy
state of affairs, and one which we should be doing our best to nurture and
protect.
However, there are moments in history when the situation demands compromise,
burial of differences and tolerance of each other, for a common purpose.
This is no time for playing or for argument between ourselves. It is a
decisive moment for us to forge links with each other so that we can achieve
our goal of seeing the back of Jammeh.
Since 1994, most of us on the Gambia-L (as well as off it) have been
cooperating with each other, and sharing views and ideas. I see no reason
why at the last minute, at this crucial point, we have started to quarrel
and hurl insults at each other.
We owe it to ourselves, to our country, to our children and to posterity, to
help to build a better and more prosperous Gambia. The challenges facing us,
amongst many, are to help to facilitate a process that will ensure the
unseating of Jammeh and the APRC, and to ensure the installation of a freely
elected government which will address the people’s needs and aspirations.
History will indict us all if we fail to live up to the call of our country
at this eleventh hour, when our country is bleeding, when it urgently needs
people who can help to heal the wounds inflicted on it by the tyrant Jammeh.
These are the challenges. We cannot afford to despair or to lose hope.
With hard work, determination and with a spirit of compromise and collective
effort, we can achieve our heart’s dream of a free Gambia.
We have all seen what seven years of Jammeh has done to our beloved country.
If we stand idly by and watch this monster get another mandate as
president, the majority of us will regret it for the rest of our lives, and
our children will hold us accountable for not coming to the rescue of our
homeland during its hour of need.
The bickering and squabbling ought to cease, both on the Gambia-L and on the
ground in The Gambia. The Opposition parties, if they genuinely mean well,
should bury their differences, accommodate each other and understand what is
actually at stake. It is still not too late for an all-inclusive tactical
alliance.
Let our Opposition parties meet together, talk together, collaborate with
each other. Flexibility is the key word: we have to avoid unrealistic
demands being made by any one party. We need to prove ourselves to the
Gambian public and to the international community who are monitoring and
scrutinising current events in The Gambia.
The aim is to get an interim set up in place: a coalition government which
would rescue us from the clutches of the tyrant Jammeh. Once our country is
rescued and some form of stability achieved, then we can start to pursue
individual goals and our own party interests.
It disheartens me (and many others) to see people on the Gambia-L changing
the tenor of the political debate, and engaging in charge and counter-charge
about the merits of either Jawara’s former regime, or Jammeh’s current
regime.
There is no good purpose being served and we are playing directly into
Jammeh’s hands. To make the current debate on the Gambia L a Jawara/Jammeh
issue, is to obscure the overwhelming need to unite and work together to get
rid of this current criminal regime.
Some are claiming that Jawara’s era was more democratic: others argue that
The Gambia under Jawara was no true democracy. Some say that The Gambia
under Jawara was poorer and tougher: others disagree.
In as much as it is important to look at the past to know how to build a
better future, we also have to be mindful of what the crucial priority is:
to ensure that come October 2001, Jammeh is ousted from the presidency.
Concerning the argument about whether The Gambia under Jawara was democratic
or not: well, academic scholars themselves cannot agree on what constitutes
democracy. Robert Dahl in 1971 went so far as to say that liberal or
political democracy is actually polyarchy: in his opinion, democracy is an
ideal type and therefore does not exist in reality.
Scholars are still arguing what actually in theory constitutes democracy,
and indeed there is no one definition to which all ascribe. In the literal
sense, the term derives from the classical Greek city states, and implies
the rule of the demos – the citizen body, and the right of all citizens to
decide what are matters of general concern.
In the days of the Greek city states, democracy was a direct political
reality: in the twenty-first century, it has evolved into a more indirect
form: that is, the citizen body now elects representatives to act on its
behalf.
The concept of democracy is an elusive thing. Joseph Schumpeter in 1960 saw
it "in terms of method rather than goals: democracy is an arrangement for
arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire power to decide
by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote."
On the other extreme, scholars such as Harold Laswell contended that a
system could be called a democracy even if power was exercised by a few
elites: he put the onus of democracy on "accountability". Within the
framework of the African continent, Ali Mazrui maintains that the system
whereby elders and chiefs meet and discuss issues of concern until consensus
is reached, characterises a form of democracy and accountability.
More recently, scholars argue that Africa has never reflected the European
notions of democracy, and that the promotion of the democratic ideal in
Africa is somewhat irrelevant, since it is based on an assumption of a
pre-existing and autonomous civil society.
Mamdani and Wamba Dia Wamba question the Western notion that civil society
is the foundation stone of democracy in Africa. They question the
promotion of democracy per se in Africa, and contend that it is a Western
phenomenon and for Africa, a result of the Western Donor Countries and the
Bratton Woods Institution’s interventions in African political life, rather
than an African political ideal.
Chabal and Daloz go so far as to conclude that "there prevails in Africa a
system of politics inimical to development as it usually understood in the
West…nor is it likely that the recent "democratic" experiments in Africa
will lead to the establishment of the constitutional, legal and bureaucratic
political order which is required for fundamental reform".
These two scholars are of the opinion that the process of democratisation
and the end goal of democracy based on a recognisable civil society in
Africa "derive more from wishful thinking or ideological bias than from a
careful analysis of present conditions".
Clearly, from the above, my readers will see for themselves that even
scholars cannot agree on what exactly constitutes democracy, apart from its
literal meaning. There is a 'minimalist' definition of democracy which
presupposes having regular and free elections, a free press, an independent
judiciary, the rule of law, a functioning legislative arm, and the promotion
of human rights.
At the other end of the scale is a "maximalist" definition which maintains
that democracy presupposes all the above conditions, PLUS the right of the
population to good health care facilities, to good education, to equal
opportunity, to good housing, to good nourishment, to economic well-being
etc.
According to the literature on The Gambia, under Jawara and using the
minimalist definition, it is argued that the country was a democracy.
However, if a maximalist definition of democracy is used, then there is some
disagreement about the democratic nature of the country.
Scholars who have focused on The Gambia such as John Wiseman and Arnold
Hughes use a minimalist definition of democracy and describe Jawara’s Gambia
as "democratic". Other scholars (such as Jimmy Kandeh and Obadare) use a
maximalist definition and maintain that The Gambia under Jawara did not
function as a democracy.
These arguments are of great interest, but in terms of academic exercise.
Our task in the here and now, is to overthrow Yahya Jammeh through the
ballot box, and through our combined efforts to unseat him.
Looking at the merits and demerits of Jawara’s time in power and comparing
these with Jammeh’s record, there is empirical data available to show that
under Jawara there were undoubtedly examples of elite corruption, of
individual cases of abuses of power, of occasional human rights violations,
the politics of personality and patronage.
At the same time, it may be claimed that these deficiencies were not
regular; they did not form a pattern of life; they were more in the nature
of isolated individual cases rather than anything state orchestrated and
maintained.
For the last seven years, under Jammeh, we have all been witnesses to
massive and widescale corruption starting in the office of the president and
filtering its way down to all levels of life; to the gross, sustained and
systematic violation of human rights; to the tampering with the electoral
process and to a regime based on the use of brutal force.
The current debates on the Jawara/Jammeh issue on the Gambia-L, are serving
to sidetrack us all from the main issue, and we need to re-focus ourselves
on the task in hand: it is a job for all of us who want a decent future for
our country and its people.
The merits or otherwise of the Jawara and Jammeh years cannot be put on top
of the real issue at stake (getting rid of Jammeh).
We should aim for something better and more constructive than criticism and
unnecessary argument. The time for these matters will come, once our
country has been returned to freedom and justice. We should be harnessing
the electoral process to ensure that we defeat the forces of darkness
operating in our Gambia. We should be working together in harmony to
dislodge the demon from office.
Our joint task is firstly to oust the dictator Jammeh from power through the
ballot box, and secondly to start to build a society will guarantee our
people’s basic rights and our country’s future.
May God help us, and may God bless The Gambia.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
