A diasporan Gambian organisation has launched an appeal to the opposition parties to team up and select the right candidate for the 2016 presidential race, insisting that “a divided opposition can never stand.”
In a statement, the National Transitional Council of The Gambia (NTCG) said the goal is to make the country “stand tall” because “we cannot allow Dictator Yaya Jammeh to collapse her. Dictator Jammeh has been lying to Gambians this whole time and he tries to play smart with all of us. So let us candidly work together to end any plan he has in this election.”
The organisation recognised that “we all want power and glory.” It however said since The Gambia supersedes all of us, there is need for the opposition to come to the table to renegotiate our politics. “It is a tough call but this is the truth,” NTCG said, calling on all Gambians to shun “tribalism and blind leadership.”
While urging Gambians to create a brighter future for their country, NTCG said there should not be any room for error in the quest to defeat dictatorship at home. “No hand should stand idle, for we can no longer afford to play poker with our country’s future,” the organisation wrote, proposing the opposition to select a single candidate against Dictator Jammeh in 2016.
“The main idea will be to give us an international dimension and credibility in preparations for the upcoming Presidential election. Despite all we have to build for the Gambian opposition, the best probability could also come through this election provided this is what we all want.”
The organisation is upseat of choosing a candidate through a primary election process involving all the opposition parties. “By this way, I strongly believe that we would be able to elect a popular candidate with the most public appeal to lead and who will also be able to go toe-to-toe with the Dictator in Banjul in order to combat the latter,” NTCG said, adding that President Jammeh has been using excessive force to cling to power.
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Quote Report….”The organisation is upseat of choosing a candidate through a primary election process involving all the opposition parties. “By this way, I strongly believe that we would be able to elect a popular candidate…….”
Comment :. . I think NTCG will.soon.become the most unpopular diaspora group for suggesting unity and selection of candidate through a primary. ….Primary seems to have become a taboo word in Gambian politics….
Nevertheless, it’s a good call and if conducted maturely and sensibly, a primary can be the process that galvanise a disillusioned, disinterested and politically fatigued population into action. ..Will.the call be answered..? I hope and wish so…But only time will tell…
Bax, I agree with you. An inter-opposition primary or convention is out of the question. However, if the people want UDP, being the leading party, to select their candidate through a primary just like how the APC chose theirs, I will be open to that provided the same people extended funding to the party to make it happen and successfully.
Thanks
Could you be clearer..? For example, will the contest for the leadership at this primary you agree with, be open to non UDP party members..?
It will be a wholly, solely and entirely a UDP affair as primaries are internal instruments that parties use to select a candidate.
Thanks
This has always been our call. Yahya is only winning because the people who want to see him go are not given the opportunity to send him parking by the opposition disunity. That is why they stay away and don’t participate. Others who vote for him say its because they don’t know who to vote for among the many opposition candidates.
How I wish and pray that this time, UDP would come on with their majority and be selected in a primary to lead a unified front. They have 5:1 opposition votes meaning they have nothing to worry about winning the primary.
Time will tell.
Lafia, are you interested in being a Part of bringing change to the Gambia even if it means being flexible once on your party led unity for the sake of the Gambia???
It seems, as the main decision maker of UDP, your only resolution is UDP party led or nothing else. Not even a UDP candidate winning a primary and leading with a consent and support of the 5 others.
If your this rigid condition is again what your party will hold and bring into the next election, then do equally be ready to take all the responsibility and blame should we fail again!!
Please give up , Gambians are not serious
We all know that election will never unseat yaya jammeh..Never ever…If we wanna rely on election only, yaya jammeh will be there forever…We can also call for the unification of all the opposition parties on the ground as long as we want, but that will never happen, giving the fact that each party is running on a different platform.. The question now is how do they compromise? Who is giving up what for what? Jammeh is the winner here.. FOR NOW.PPPF…
It’s a genuine call for our opposition parties to do the right thing collectively required to surmount realistic challenge to salvage Gambia…. No political party can do it alone but ALL parties must temporarily come together to enable the challenges effective…. There’s is no need hoping to bank on the proposed electoral reforms negotiations…. The hyena-face aprc propagandist yankuba Colley has confirmed on the pages of Standard newspaper what some of us have known & already said about the futility of the attempted reforms negotiations…. Evil yaya devil jammeh & murderous aid-abet MP cohorts will never negotiate for democratic dispensations, for they know suicidally they must be the first casualties….. It’s better for our politicians to know they are not “just helping” whosoever wins in the process; should rather see the greater picture of country FIRST which is the responsibility of us ALL, where all stakeholders stand to gain collectively, with the democratic dispensations & fairer opportunities, political & social security for the country & the communities from wanton murder of people & tyrannical oppression; etc etc….. God helps & bless the collective endeavour to salvage Gambia; Ameen.
Quote Bajaw
“……what some of us have known & already said about the futility of the attempted reforms negotiations….”
I disagree that the demand for reforms is a futile exercise. …
I do believe that the opposition leadership is very well aware of the intransigent nature of the APRC when it comes to reform and adherence to the rule of law….
I.do not think any of them is kidding themselves that their proposal for reform will be readily accepted by the APRC, and it seems, as you have indicated, that Yankuba Colley has alluded to no reforms…
However, I think the opposition’s demands for genuine political reform has a dual purpose, in that it has the potential to achieve reform, but where the regime refuses to undertake reform, this can also further expose them in the eyes of the international community and development partners, thus purring them under the spot light and heaping more pressure on them…
I therefore think it is a very worthwhile initiative, with or without reforms….And I think now is the time for the alliance efforts to be vigorously pursued and intensified to achieve a settled United platform, as soon.as possible, to fight the next elections. ..
Bax, true it can put the murderous regime under the spotlight again but to what effect/s that they haven’t already been under the spotlights for before…??? Ranging from the butchering of the April 2000 demonstration students, kidnappings & forceful disappearance of journalists & purported & perceived opponents & enemies, the breaches, defies & refusals to comply to sub, regional & international legal rulings for conformity & compensations to victims of repression, torture & murder; the idol-rituals murdering of the 9 Mile II prisoners & massacre of about 50/so Ghanaians & other nationals & refusal to hand over the bodies to families, the refusal of entry for the dead into Gambia for befitting home burials, the illegal parading of the bodies of the tortured & killed comrades of December 30, 2014 attempt, the seizure of their death bodies & refusal of the persistent efforts & demands of the relatives to accord them required ritual burial rites, the kidnappings & continuos illegitimate detention of the relatives & children of the suspects, etc, etc; when Gambia is a signatory to sub, regional & international conventions for lawful judicious dispensations to safeguard human rights & decency….??
True, maybe the only duality left for the proposed electoral reforms could be if this rejection can motivate the the opposition parties to unify temporarily to surmount serious challenges to salvage the motherland without ‘holding the citizens & various party supporters to ransom’…
I challenge our opposition leaderships to selflessly rise up above individualistic & party selfishness to answer the to call of the country & suffering citizens, when it matters most…. The innocent citizens stood tirelessly with & by the various opposition leaderships from day one of forming their parties, attending their various political campaigns after campaigns, & contributed to what made the various leaders who they are & where they are today… It’s time for the opposition leaders to reciprocate the same selflessness to the peasants, who just asked for their temporal unity to rid Gambia of the wanton murderous & evil devilish kanilai tyrannical syndicate, & the reestablishment of societal safety & the peaceful harmonious coexistence & justice & rule of law the Gambia is ever known for…. It’s selfishly unfair on the part of our opposition leaderships to reward/repay the selflessness of the citizens in anything different other than & except from prioritizing country FIRST above all & anything else… God helps & bless the collective endeavour to salvage Gambia; Ameen.