News from the BBC that Jawara might go to Gambia in time for the October Election, is a welcomed one. Here is a chance for the man to vindicate himself. Power was unlawfully usurped from him by a bunch of bandits seven years ago. These low-lives should NOT prevent him from going back to the country he worked for for the better part of his productive life. There are still many people in the country that love the ex-president. Those people should come together with the current Opposition and give the elder statesman a hero’s welcome. These bandits currently running our country have nothing over Jawara. According to the White Paper that was supposed to impose a ban on Jawara’s political activities, the only corruption this government is accusing Jawara of, is the transfer of Jawara’s life savings from the then Meridien Bank after the president left the country. Nothing was said about crude oil or other corrupt activities these bandits were talking about in order to justify hijacking our country. The Opposition on the ground should set up a tight security apparatus for the former president. The international community should be lobbied to hold Yaya responsible for the safety and welfare of Jawara if he decides to return to the country. If anything happens to him, Yaya should pay with his own life. I am confident that nothing will happen to Jawara, just like nothing happened to other Decree 89 politicians. The cowards now know that they will be held accountable for their actions. It has began to dawn on them that this party is over. Pretty soon, they will be hoist in courts to account for their crimes. They know that. I respectfully counsel the current Opposition leaders to engage OJ and other PPP members in the country and encourage them to convince Jawara to come back home and return to political life. The Opposition can work with the PPP militants and the diplomats in the country to ensure Jawara’s safety. Once he is in the country, the Opposition should provide him with a stellar security detail and encourage him to tour the country and campaign for the presidential candidate the current Opposition is going to field in the coming election. Who best to defend the PPP record and discredit these APRC bandits than Jawara himself? Jawara owe it to the Gambian people to explain how well his government was doing before these bandits stepped in to render the country backward and end up making the Gambian people poorer than they were seven years ago. Jawara should explain what he would have done if he was the president the last seven years with millions of dollars of debt and aid money coming into the country. In short, Jawara should tackle APRC if they want to run on the PPP record, while the current Opposition focus on their plan for the country and Yaya’s mishandling of the country the past seven years. History will treat Jawara kindly if he returns to the country and selflessly helps to get rid of Yaya. But his return should be premised on an adequate security apparatus to be put in place by an Opposition Alliance. The current Opposition should field a presidential candidate as soon as possible and ask for the support of the Decree 89 politicians. One of the promises the next president might want to give the Decree 89 politicians is that the age limit for presidential candidates will be eradicated. With the imposition of term limits, we do NOT need this upper age limit. That is one concession that might be attractive to the Decree 89 politicians that Yaya CANNOT give them. There are many more which I trust our leaders on the ground will negotiate on as soon as possible in their quest to form an Opposition Alliance between Decree 89 politicians and the current Opposition. Finally, I hope the current Opposition sees Jawara’s impending return as a positive thing for the Opposition. Let the man come and defend his record and vindicate himself. The current Opposition should give him all the support he needs in order to help the next presidential candidate defeat Yaya. KB _________________________________________________________________ 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------