Politics and electoral campaigning are all about propaganda. Whether positive or negative propaganda it does not matter, for propaganda is propaganda. It favors or damages something period.
For the longest time since the beginning of 2016, with the exception of Pa Nderry Mbye and Fatu Camara almost all other radio commentators are constantly pouncing on the opposition and the electorate whiles giving a free positive propaganda to APRC and Yaya Jammeh and here is what they always say:
No elections can remove Jammeh from office.
Jammeh will steal the election therefor no need for elections.
The opposition is wasting their time and energy for Jammeh will win the elections hands down.
There is no need to support the opposition for it is a waste of time and resources.
The opposition is useless and will never defeat Jammeh and the IEC will never announce results that do not favor Jammeh.
Even if the opposition wins Jammeh will never hand over power and no one can do a damn thing about it.
Most commentators do the Jammeh propaganda free of charge unconsciously for various reasons including: hate, egocentrism, belittling, jealousy and stupidity. How can you on one hand hate Jammeh and on the other hand hate the opposition and put them in the trash? Yaya is already president and will not care if insulted or downgraded but for the opposition vying for office these negative utterings will surely damage their will and energies and their chances of winning Jammeh because you keep constantly pouncing into our brains that no amount of opposition trying and hard work will put them into office. Is this not free positive propaganda for Jammeh?
Since the sentencing of Darboe and Co. all that we hear online is the opposition is nonsense, useless and irresponsible. Yaya Jammeh will win and come December 2nd we will be crying like babies. Really! No one talks about the bad things about Yaya Jammeh anymore, all are focus on putting negative light on the opposition on a daily basis and worst still some are even competing on who can pounce on the opposition better than the other, whiles many will laugh and nod in agreement. Really!
Jammeh is so happy that the radio commentators are destroying and dampening the fighting spirits of the opposition campaigners and thereby discouraging the electorate to go and vote for the opposition on Election Day. Whiles the opposition are campaigning vigorously galvanizing the electorate to turn their back on APRC and Jammeh, these selected radio commentators are busy castigating the opposition in delight of Jammeh and the APRC. How can you call the opposition your partners in the struggle and turn around and stab their back with negative propaganda? What kind of partnership is this? Or should I call it stupidity to the highest level? Take for an example a Gambian sporting team qualified to go on international level, what will you do? Support your nation team or the foreign teams? This is exactly what you are doing with the opposition versus APRC and Jammeh. It is as simple as that. Even if your team is weaker, one should never break their morals for the benefit of the opponent. Where is the patriotism? Only Gambians behave this way for what I know. STOP it now for GOD sake. Please stop the free positive propaganda for Jammeh. It is more than high time for you to turn your guns and energies on Jammeh and spare the opposition the negative propaganda online.
Elections are about competition and no one knows who will win, for surprises can happen. Our duty is to support the opposition by all means necessary.
For the longest time only Pa Nderry Mbye, Fatu Camara and Mama Linguerr Sarr are focus and constantly pouncing on Jammeh and APRC on a daily basis and of course commentators on Kairo News, Kibaaro and Hellogambia.
What’s wrong with the diaspora commentators doing Jammeh an election favor? Are we partners or enemies?
We on the ground are clueless as to where your loyalty lies.
Sorry if I offended some online commentators, I had to empty my heart for we are three months away from Election Day.
Thank you for your understanding.
Baboucarr Bojang
Ends
Pa Nderry Mbye and his team are the biggest culprit of this anti-opposition, pro-Jammeh media campaign, so I am baffled why he is exempted by Mr Bojang.
Apart from this senseless, pointless and constant bashing of the opposition, another plus for Jammeh, made possible by Pa Nderry and his Freedom, which casts doubts, not only on the integrity of the online media, but the entire diaspora struggle, is the publicization of unconfirmed and unverifiable information that turns out to be false..
One such information was the much publicised death, in detention, of Imam Baba Leigh and upon his release, the regime used it very well to paint the entire diaspora struggle, as consisting of liars and insincere people, whose only aim was to tarnish the image of the country abroad..
Though false, these claims, coming from state authorities and religious leaders, may have huge effects on how people in the Gambia perceive the diaspora and this could in turn, affect the opposition, since they are seen to be supported by the diaspora…
What did Pa Nderry say, in his own defense about that false information…? He was engaged in “counterintelligence”…Damn right, he was…! Only problem is, who are his handlers, because every intelligence operative has a handler or more…Isn’t that true…? So who are Pa Nderry’s handlers, if he is a counterintelligence operative…?
Pa Nderry may think he knows more about “journalism” and his work, and may not care what some of us may think, but he and his team need to understand that their actions are having “knock on effects”, not only on the opposition, which is making life easier for Yaya Jammeh, but may also be a causal factor in voter aparthy, as the opposition’s chances is trivialised and dismissed out of hand…
….whilst Jammeh’s reluctance to accept defeat and hand over power, if he is defeated, is constantly drummed into the subconciousness of the nation by these Freedom presenters or shall I call them, “counterintelligence operatives”..?
On the other hand, the Freedom Radio, due to its outreach and great potential, which Mr Mbye deserves credit for, could have been the most effective tool for the anti-Jammeh camp, not by running a soap opera, where people’s personal lives are pried into and discussed, but by promoting the opposition camp’s positives and reaching voters to encourage them to vote for the opposition, if they show any signs of undecidedness..
Or by conducting regular and random voice pops of voters, to have an idea of how people wish to vote and why, so that the opposition can use this information and focus their campaign on addressing these areas.. That is the positive partnership we should have between the diaspora media and the opposition on the ground; not the destructive one we currently have…
Unfortunately, just by listening to the guy, you know that he has such an outsized and over inflated ego that he wouldn’t even cast a casual glance in the direction of “nobodies” like me, never mind take our advice..
And if I am honest, his problem will outlive Yaya Jammeh, because he is taking his “fight” from the public domain, where legitimate matters in the public interest should be discussed, into the private domain, where (private) matters of interest to the public, but not necessarily in the public interest, are discussed… thus rubbing so many noses and stepping on so many feet unnecessarily…
I hope to God that he changes his style, at least, for his own good..
I don’t buy the Argument. The notion that online radio stations are lending hand to dictatorship is farfetched. I think it is far more dangerous to “window dress” the situation in the opposition camp just for comfort reasons, which in its own right, can tantamount to post-hoc fallacy.