Mariama

Thanks for your wishful thinking. Unfortunately, the
news we are receiving from home does n't look for a
United Opposition. It has been reported in the press
that PPP and NCP have began submitting  their papers
for registration.(SEE www; ffdig.org.)One would have
expected these unbanned politicians to emulate Assan
Musa Camara's decision not to register until after the
Presidential Elections but to my disappointment, I am
smelling a dead rat here.

It is on those grounds that I shall not criticise
Foroyaa for issuing such publication. The truth of the
matter is that some of our politicians are
underestimating  the struggle to unseat Jammeh.
Believe me, it is not going to be an easy one to start
with. The unbanned political parties should take note
that they can't solely rely on past support acquired
during the first republic to unseat Jammeh. Instead,
they will have to convince the Gambian electorate,
that they  have a better political agenda for the
Gambia.  Since there are already 4 political parties
in the opposition, one would have expected these
politicians to join forces with them in coordinating a
programme for an alliance against APRC, but it seems
the politics of ego is certainly undermining our hopes
for a united opposition, I hope not.

The challenge lies on us now to start making petitions
to the unbanned political parties about the need for a
united opposition or else chaos for The Gambia as
Jammeh would win, hands down.

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL

Have a wonderful day

Sanusi.

--- Mariama Diop <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
Dear Hamjatta,
> Thanks for your constructive analysis.  Your
> suggestions could  definitely
> help reinforce efforts geared towards forging a
> stronger Opposition alliance
> and defeating Yaya.
>
> warmly,
> mariama
>
>
> >From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing
> list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: BURNING ISSUES FOROYAA Publication
> >Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 20:49:52 EDT
> >
> >For a paper that has more than a decade's
> experience in reporting and
> >commenting on topical issues, Foroyaa seriously
> goofed here by allowing its
> >columns to be reduced to being a mere recycling
> factory of APRC rumours and
> >conspiratorial innuendoes. Instead of Foroyaa
> getting first hand
> >information
> >from the individual parties and personalities it
> reported about, it relied
> >primarily on second hand accounts of events and
> inferring from them grossly
> >erroneous stuff on the intent, manouevres and
> actions of some Opposition
> >heavy weights. Foroyaa certainly doesn't help the
> collective spirit when it
> >tendentiously make conspiratorial what is at best a
> genuine effort in the
> >preliminary engagements of ironing out wrinkles
> that have the potential of
> >hindering coalition progress. That is to say that
> it is perfectly normal
> >that
> >before formal negotiations take public form,
> backroom horse tradings - that
> >are invariably raucous and having the negative
> impact of throwing poor
> >light
> >on the collective spirit if conducted in the public
> eye - have to run their
> >course before the shape and form that the
> collective spirit will take is
> >announced to the public. Foroyaa's whining or
> lamenting at this backroom
> >horsetrading denotes and betrays its innocence in
> political negotiations.
> >
> >Insidiously, and with great literary adroitness,
> Foroyaa tried to paint a
> >patrimonial picture of Hassan Musa Camara's
> informal appointment as the
> >'political fixer' to work on narrowing down the
> differences between the
> >different Opposition parties. Camara's appointment
> as a political go
> >between
> >to finesse a common platform of action for the
> Opposition signally
> >represents
> >the recognition that such a role invariably
> involves negotiation skills and
> >a
> >lack of direct interest in who heads the Opposition
> Alliance. Camara, by
> >virtue of decades experience as a public figure who
> had served all areas of
> >gov't and led a mainstream political party and the
> fact that he is
> >ineligible
> >to contest the current presidential elections, was
> better predisposed than
> >anyone else to play this role without any ill-will
> towards and or fearing
> >or
> >favouring any political grouping. This is the
> context of Camara's current
> >role. It is not so much the 'patrimonial kingmaker'
> Foroyaa subtly and
> >deceptively tried to implant in its readerships'
> minds.
> >
> >Moreso, if Foroyaa was irresponsible and lazy in
> its reportage and
> >commentary
> >of the Opposition Alliance issue, it was
> surprisingly sulking and hubristic
> >in the way it expects cooperation to eventually
> take form and work. For
> >instance, Foroyaa commented that:
> >
> >"UDP has held rallies and invited opposition
> parties to join them but this
> >had not materialised. Analysts observe that unless
> the opposition reaches
> >an agreement on a presidential candidate it is not
> likely to have a joint
> >rally which gives the impression that a particular
> aspirant's candidature
> >has been endorsed. What is therefore of paramount
> importance is discussion
> >to determine whether a coalition is to be forged or
> not."
> >
> >Above all, this passage demonstrates the extent to
> which, say, the UDP is
> >ready to sell the message of cooperation. Foroyaa's
> assertion that the
> >UDP's
> >invitation has, as of yet, not materialised is a
> bit disingenuous. Perhaps,
> >as it applies to the PDOIS, it is true that the
> UDP's invitation has, as of
> >yet, yielded no dividends. But it is a matter of
> public record that UDP
> >rallies have and continue to be graced by such PPP
> heavyweights like OJ and
> >NCP or GPP stalwarts alike. Which takes me to
> Foroyaa's dissembling
> >argument
> >on why the UDP's invitation has, as of yet, not
> materialised; i.e., because
> >there has been no agreement on an Opposition
> Alliance for the presidential
> >elections, such invitations will remain unreturned
> or never materialise.
> >The
> >fact that PDOIS has been invited to a UDP rally and
> declined it and
> >wilfilly
> >reports it in its political organ, Foroyaa, does it
> no favours.
> >PDOIS/Foroyaa
> >also does itself no favours if it willing to sulk
> rather than proactively
> >engage its Opposition colleagues in what could be
> the beginning of a
> >fruitful
> >cooperation. For instance, if the UDP invites it to
> join it in a rally,
> >PDOIS
> >ought to accept the invitation and use it as a
> basis to explore ways in
> >which
> >it can stamp out misconceptions, mistrusts and
> misunderstanding that
> >continue
> >to stand between the different parties. Likewise,
> to see how cooperative
> >the
> >UDP is, PDOIS then can return the UDP's compliments
> by inviting the UDP to
> >join it in a similar forum. That way, we are no
> longer talking about
> >parties
> >communicating through third parties; rather, we are
> beginning to see a
> >whole
> >new mechanism that would greatly help foster common
> understanding on the
> >way
> >ahead. The collective interest and or spirit is
> neither served by column
> >inches of regurgitated APRC rumours or inferring
> from these rumours grossly
> >erroneous stuff about Opposition players and
> consituents. Mistrusts and
> >misunderstandings feed from such a parlous way of
> comminucation. And most
> >definitely not the prudent way to build common
> bridges to cooperate.
> >
> >Foroyaa also lamented that to this day, an agenda
> or a framework has yet to
> >be worked out to form the basis for an Opposition
> Alliance. Again, PDOIS
> >should not whine or sulk but seize the initiate and
> proactively come up
> >with
> >an agenda which it can publicly propose to the
> other parties. That way,
> >PDOIS
> >would be at the forefront of Opposition thinking
> and would not be reduced
> >to
> >chipping sulkily at what others have publicly
> tabled for the Opposition
> >Alliance. PDOIS has the intellectual muscle to come
> up with a programme
> >that
> >it feels would be the correct basis with which the
> minimalist programme it
>
=== message truncated ===

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