By Rene Badjan

AGERA, the Atlanta Emergency Relief Association organised a series of activities during its annual July 4th Re-Union of the Gambian community which is a day set aside to commemorate the Independence of the US. The programmes ranged from the holding of a symposium, a cultural evening, football marches to a family re-union at a park.
The symposium and Book Review, signing programme took place on 3rd July 2009.It was supposed to be Chaired by Dr Sulayman Nyang, Chair, Political Science Department, Howard University. He is reported to have expressed his regrets for being unable to come because of a clash of programmes. Mr. Sainey Faye, an elder in the Gambian community, therefore chaired the program.

An Immigration Lawyer, Mrs. Neera Bahl, LLC gave a lecture on “US Immigration Reforms”
The Authors
Dr Donald R Wright, Professor of History Emeritus, State University of New York Cortland, Cortland launched the books: “The world and a small place in Africa “ and “oral Gambian Traditions”
Dr Abdoulie Saine, Professor of Political Science launched his book “The Paradox of Third Wave Democratization in Africa “
Mr. Yankuba Mamburay launched his book: “The Search for a Lost Brother.”
Halifa Sallah launched his book “Treatise on Founding a Federation of African Republics -The Road to African Unity, Democracy and Development-The Third Phase of Pan- Africanism”
The people who witnessed the event appeared to have been overwhelmed by the depth of profundity of the presentations. The organizers did conclude that the presentations had made AGERA proud to have been behind such a rapprochement of brilliant minds. It could be gathered from the enthusiasm engendered by Halifa Sallah’s Presentation and the deep interest developed in his book by the audience that the presentation on Pan Africanism has won new advocates.

Symposium by STGDP
STGDP, Save the Gambia Democracy Project also organised a symposium on July 4 regarding the question of Unity among opposition forces. Their aim was to brainstorm and gather concrete ideas from political activists in the Diaspora. The STGDP intended to build a consensus from the diverse analyses and proposals and come up with a proposal for the opposition parties in the Gambia to consider.
The moderator of the Program was Ms. Siga Jagne. Mr. Banka Manneh, the Chairperson of STGDP, opened the program.
The speakers were Pa Samba Jow, Dr Abdoulie Saine, Mr. Pa Sallah Jeng, Mr. Amadou Lowe, Mr. Karamba Touray and Mr. Demba Baldeh. They spoke in their personal capacities.
At the end of the program, a request was made for some political figures i.e. Kemeseng Jammeh, Ebou Manneh and Halifa Sallah who witnessed the symposium to say few words. Mr. Kemeseng Jammeh and Mr. Ebou Manneh did indicate the difficulties opposition parties are having and their preference for a party led alliance rather than forming something similar to NADD.
Halifa Sallah in his turn informed the gathering that he came to Atlanta to launch a book, and was at the symposium as an observer and did not expect to be called upon to speak.
He urged all participants and reporters to record his views correctly. He reiterated that Gambia could only change through the ballot box if all Gambians who want a new start for the country by 2011 agree on an agenda to put an end to self-perpetuating rule which is strengthened by the exercise of power by the executive without restraint or control by institutions, civil society and the public at large.
He emphasised that the best way to put an end to the culture of presidency for life is to commit the next President after Jammeh to preside over a transitional government, which would last only for a period of five years or less. The aim of such a transitional government would be to build a democratic Constitution which should lay a solid foundation for establishing democratic state institutions, strong civil society pressure groups and a sovereign people who would build a way of life under which freedom of expression and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms would be assured and Public trustees fully scrutinized and restrained, so that no autocratic government would ever emerge on our soil.
Halifa Sallah conveyed to the audience that even though he is a potential Presidential candidate for 2011 he will be willing to support any candidate, with or without party affiliation, who is a choice of the people who has the capability to convince the people that he or she could unify the Gambian nation irrespective of party affiliation, religion, tribe and language and guide them through a political transition just to give the Gambia a new start.
He emphasised that he has no interest in sitting down to discuss or forge alliance with anybody who is not committed to the assertion and consolidation of the sovereignty of the people which is the only way of up rooting the foundation of the politics of patronage which provides a fertile ground for self perpetuating rule and autocracy. This Sallah posited, must start with limiting the tenure of the next president after Jammeh to one term with the mandate to restore the sovereignty of the people and build the democratic Instruments, Institutions and Culture necessary to ensure transparency and accountability and a vibrant civil society and population and give the country a new start.

ON NADD
He said that some people do give the impression that NADD was created in the US. Halifa indicated that this is a misconception. He said that since he was given only few minutes to make observations he would not want to go too deeply into the issue of NADD. He called on STGDP to explore the idea of a National Conference as proposed by Dr Saine and invite all political leaders to come and address them on the realities of the past and the way forward. He said that that would enable him to clarify matters satisfactorily. He however indicated that NADD was born out of unanimous decision by all the parties to the alliance. He said that after many sessions by the leaders without breakthrough he made two proposals to them to enable them to attain consensus. According to him, he asked the leaders in 2004, either to allow the individual parties to continue with their campaigns and come to the negotiating table within six months before the holding of Presidential elections to decide which party and party leader would be allowed to be the flag bearer or put the operation of all their individual parties on ice and form an umbrella party, which could start operation with immediacy. He said that after prolonged indecisiveness among the party leaders in making their option known he had to tell them that he could not continue to waste his time as coordinator attending meetings, which could not take decisions. He said that the leaders chose to form an umbrella Party. He observed that he still could not understand why the leaders chose to establish an umbrella party instead of continuing their party activities and forge a party led alliance close to elections.
He said that it is after the leaders chose to establish an umbrella party that a decision was made to prepare a memorandum of understanding to give structure to the agreement. He sad the memorandum provided for the selection of a presidential candidate by unanimous decision of the leaders or through a primary. He indicated that he still could not understand why the leaders did not resort to a primary when they failed to reach consensus. He said that he had a lot to say but that was not the place to be polemical. "