2016 is a defining year for The Republic of The Gambia.
An election year.
The year that could decide the fate of a country; the fate of an entire nation. A fate that hangs by a mere thread. The year that could usher in change, transformation, and restoration of democracy and rule of law.
The year when the Gambian electorate should be empowered to exercise a constitutional and fundamental right to vote. To act on the power bestowed upon all Gambians to elect a government and head of state that respects, recognizes, and protects the rights and liberties of all Gambians.
Change is a possibility and comes only when opportunities are utilized. This year, this election year, there is an opportunity for transformational change.
The Gambia Youth for Unity (GYU) and Coalition of the Willing (CoW: CHRG, GCC, GMDD) are committed to working with the opposition parties, civil society groups, Gambian citizens, wherever they may be, to challenge the status quo by continuing to engage and educate the Gambian electorate on the urgency for change, and to empower them to act on that change. Together, side by side, peacefully, forcefully, we can demand change. With our votes, with our voices, with our collective power to define our future, and to take control of our destiny by ushering in a new era. A new and democratic Gambia.
A new and democratic Gambia, where our fathers and mothers do not disappear into eternal darkness for imaginary atrocities, without due and just process of the law. A new and democratic Gambia where our aunts and uncles do not languish in jail, suffering unimaginable tortures, for unknown and fictitious crimes. A new and democratic Gambia where our young brothers and sisters do not flee their motherland in alarming record numbers on the quest for greener pastures and opportunities un-availed to them on their own land only to perish in the Mediterranean; a sea of young and unrealized lives floating in watery graves.
A new and democratic Gambia where our extended families do not have to sink to the lowest depths of indignities for a bag of rice to feed their hungry children. A new and democratic Gambia where our children are free from a censored and polluted education system designed only to further entrench an oppressive system. Above all, a new and democratic Gambia where justice and human rights prevail for all citizens regardless of economic circumstance or tribal affiliation.
To all Gambians: the urgency of change is upon us. Your vote is your voice. Your voice is power. The power of change.
Please join our “get out the vote” campaign to drive voter registration in preparation for the coming December 2016 elections.
Do your part by ensuring that friends and family members of voting age living in The Gambia have registered to vote.
Together, we can. Together, we must.
For more information, please visit: www.gambiayouthforunity.org
Ends
When you look at Yaya Jammeh’s public meetings, you will notice that only 10% are Gambians and 90% are from Casamance.
We can collectively deny Jammeh 80% of the vote cast in December.