The Point

Hallo? The Opposition Hallo? This Is Our Message



Although the Opposition are making philosophical pronouncements and general
overviews of future intentions in their manifestos and rallies, they have
fallen short of coming out with specific solutions where the APRC Government
is found wanting.

Their ‘fighting horse’ generally revolves around human rights issues; yes,
they are very very important but people need to hear about other issues that
also have direct bearing on their livelihood. But what is practicable just
after the election?

They talked about groundnut marketing without analysing where the government
broke its back so to speak. They also failed to outline the counter policies
and measures both local and external as to how to resolve the issue.

Granted that all of them talked about revamping the Constitution by weeding
out the obnoxious laws that came through amendments in the Constitution. But
they all failed to make their voices heard on the current issue facing the
world in the aftermath of what is now known as Attack on America.

Still on external relations, at least three parties talked about close ties
with Senegal implying that under Jammeh relations are not so close. What did
not come out plain were the specifics about such relations as envisaged by
those who feel that Jammeh is not a friend to Senegal. What are their
parameters and what needs to be done to ameliorate the situation?

No word also about the African Union, ECOWAS when a Gambian is vying for its
top job. They didn’t analyse the tourism sector to arrive at conclusions and
strategies to bring in, say, 300,000 tourists per annum.

On Education, they have not assessed Jammeh’s education bid with the
much-talked about University of the Gambia to offer something more
sustainable. On Health, the issue of Drug shortages, and health in general,
was not tackled from the perspective of an alternative government.

The UDP just hit Cuban doctors’ communication problems. There are other
areas about which the Opposition has been ‘roaringly’ silent. Professions of
faith and other recriminations cannot supplant well-thought out analysis for
easy translations into strategies and plans.

Specifics must be brought forward with analysis as well as well articulated
practicable plans for transformations and improvement in the short and
medium terms as people want results and now.





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