REJOINDER TO BATCH ON WHY PDOIS KEEPS RINGING PRIMARY BELLS?
I think Mr Batch Samba was simply dreaming about Gambian politics when he was writing his ugly and misleading piece if he is indeed an opposition sympathiser. First and foremost, Mr. Batch has contradicted his own self without realising it and must not believe that people will believe in a single bit of his trash that deserves to be in a septic tank.
Batch wants us to believe that PDOIS is a fringe party but fooling no one but himself, however contrary to that, PDOIS is one of the most popular parties ever seen in Gambian politics. He should accept that if his party is indeed the UDP, which have flouted its principles when they have agreed with all other parties after more than one year of talks, signed and launched NADD only for them to withdraw at the last hour on no basis but by simply saying “we cannot be in two parties”, while mischievously wanting to use others for a partisan interest.
Batch argued that, PDOIS is a very small and unpopular party which has no support in the country. While reinforcing that PDOIS would then send its supporters to districts where parties like NDAM, GPDP, PPP and NRP have no bases and these PDOIS supporters would disguise themselves as members of those parties and use other parties as vehicles to secure enough delegates for Candidate Halifa Sallah. How can PDOIS do the above if they do not have support across the country? This is typical of a ‘Charlatan’ who`ve proven to incoherently and illogically put a case against PDOIS.
The supposedly Mr. Clever Batch should read the NADD MOU before coming up with such an incorrigible assertion meant to confuse those who are giving thought to PDOIS` proposal for building an opposition ‘Grande Alliance’ in the December polls.
For your information Part 111 of the ‘ELECTIONS AND TENURE OF OFFICE’ of the NADD MOU on the nomination of candidate states that: “The selection of the candidate of the Alliance for the Presidential, National Assembly and Council elections shall be done by consensus; provided that in the event of an impasse selection shall be done by holding a Primary election restricted to party delegates on the basis of equal number of delegates, comprising the chairman, chairwoman and youth leader of each party from each village/ward in a Constituency.”
The UDP and NRP left NADD during consensus building which could have been achieved at the time without having to go through any sort of ‘Primaries’. UDP also had the option of pushing for the same Primary method, since it was confident of its overwhelming grassroots support.
Batch is also aware of the damage inflicted on his would be party by its impromptu withdrawal from NADD without a tangible explanation to the general public. That dent cannot be repaired or undone by a ‘Charlatan’ at this last hour by simply coming up with frivolous stories that are not convincing to even ‘Lilliputians’ in politics. How can other parties become vehicles for PDOIS in a primary without the knowledge and support of their leaders? Batch is at this hour trying to apologise on behalf of his leaders who had betrayed the Gambian people for their selfish and power hungry schemes in 2016.
Can any sensible person believe Batch when he said PDOIS will replace all Chairmen, Chairwomen and Youth Leaders of all these parties without the knowledge of such parties? Is this not absurd in every respect? It is parties that will name their position holders and not any other way around.
It beats my imagination that people who are genuinely interested in coalition building to remove a tyrant can at this hour come up with blatant lies as to place a wedge between PDOIS and the UDP. I wonder what his objective at this instance is.
I could have gone into the narration of history to expose the NADD history but that may as well divert readers from the coalition issue rather than the efforts my party is making in a collective scheme of coalition building.
Batch should go ahead and teach his party what politics to utilise to win election instead of coaching PDOIS. Can I remind him that since Gambia’s self rule leading to the first republic in 1970, no opposition party has ever changed the country through elections? That is not limited to PDOIS alone but even parties that used all the unethical schemes mentioned above have not also succeeded including the party he supposedly belongs to.
You are too mediocre to refer to Halifa’s father in your write up, which shows how empty you are in politics. It also shows how spiteful you are towards Halifa and Halifa has no such design hatred towards you and your kind. Those of us who are supporting PDOIS and Halifa are not doing so because of any relationship or personal interest but based on compatriotism. We belong to the same country under the sun and we all yearn GOOD for our dear mother/father’s land. Up to now, hawkers are selling beside Halifa’s father’s compound wall and Halifa has never thrown a stone at them. No one should vote for Halifa or vote against Halifa because of his father who has never vie for political office. You said Gambians need change but you are concentrating on what our fathers and mothers have done instead of on issues that concern change in 2016 and you call yourself a change agent.
Batch, NADD emerged for the cause of Gambians and it is written in the preamble of the NADD MOU that” it emerged to answer to the call of the Gambian people for greater national unity transcending tribe, religion, gender, place of origin, birth, disability or any other status.”
“NADD stands for a future that will place your country right into your sovereign hands. NADD aims to utilize the public power derived from your authority to safeguard people’s liberty, dignity and prosperity. After 41 years of independence, the Gambia deserves nothing less.”
NADD stands for a dual carriageway to liberate the Gambian people from powerlessness, voicelessness and poverty.”
If all parties had adhered to the principles embedded in its MOU, we would by now be narrating a different history and sure APRC would have been history.
PDOIS is very realistic when it comes to unity of forces. It is very much conscious that Gambians are divided by so many parochial differences between political groupings. This is why it is simply leaving matters in the hands of the electorates at this material time.
Whoever the people want, should lead the coalition and stand under a neutral banner and be supported by all parties and individual politicians with finance, intelligence, wisdom, labour, skill and all what is necessary in this struggle.
PDOIS keeps ringing the ‘Primary Bell’ because it believes that is the route believable by many parties and individuals but PDOIS is not saying that is the only bell to ring and this is why it is calling on other parties to ring their bells for all of us to listen and hear.
Finally, those of us who are in for genuine change should concentrate our efforts on what is positive and refuse to be diverted by those who belong to the ruling party but disguising as opposition to place a wedge between us as to create misunderstanding as a vehicle to disunity in the December 2016 polls if we are to attain the dream of our people.
May we not be persuaded and diverted by such scandalous stories meant to plant the seed of discord among us.
Forward Ever, Backward Never!
Sulayman Ba
Ends
Sulayman Bokarr Bah have finally expose a wolf in sheep clothing among those in Jammeh’s payroll to disorganise opposition parties! Note his comment that;
“My response to the ‘Charlatan’ Batch Baldeh.
“Finally, those of us who are in for genuine change should concentrate our efforts on what is positive and refuse to be diverted by those who belong to the ruling party but disguising as opposition to place a wedge between us as to create misunderstanding as a vehicle to disunity in the December 2016 polls if we are to attain the dream of our people.”
Sulayman Bah, your article is just full of ignorant comments. Your indication that mr Baldeh is “apologizing on behalf of his leaders who betrayed Gambian people for their selfish and power hungry scheme in 2016” is indeed a despicable and stupid statement, to say the least. Are you suggesting that udp leadership who protested for the release of Solo Sanderg death or alive acted on their selfish and power hungry scheme? You are indeed out of your mind. You are an extreme element of your party. After spewing your garbage, how can you disrespect patriotic leaders who put their lives on the line to defend justice and fight for rule of law. You are indeed a selfish political hypocrite who is indoctrinated. You have expressed Similar stupid sentiment earlier in your response to my article on freedom newspaper. Castigating the peaceful protesters is the hallmark of your party’s efforts to entrench dictatorship. Any right thinking person will tell you that peaceful protest is a constitutional right of a every citizen and therefore UDP leadership’s protest is their legitimate constitutional right. You need to educate your ignorance mind.
For the rest of your garbage that pdois is the most popular party in The Gambia, you need to tell that to your repudiated leadership who has been in politics for 40 years without success. The good news is that pdois is just relevant on cyber space where confused disciples without any constituency make the most noise. One thing I know is that Halifa is not electable because he lacks honesty and clarity in his political deliberations. Halifa has no connection with the people and he is not charismatic to be a leader of our country .
You need to shut up because it is your type that are disorganising front and undermining any prospect of proper coalition as UNITED NATIONAL FRONT!
What success does UDP have, with all the networks, goodwill of veteran politicians and parties of first republic inherited and build the party? Isn’t PPP, NCP, GPDP & UP that form UDP for redemption?
LET’S BLOW DECEMBER 2016 AGAIN WITH YOUR STUPID RHETORIC AND PATHETIC MILITANCY! ANYTIME AN ARTICLE COME UP YOU MUST COME UP WITH GABBAGE!
CHEM!
Gluttonous, grudgeful, hypocrite. You need a big round ball of cabbage down your deep throat rather than try to shut up someone down here. You will never see a political hypocrite like the ones at the PDOIS.
Chemulakati. Useless tired inert sycophant Pdois to Yaya Jammeh’s delight
Quote…”One thing I know is that Halifa is not electable ……”
How do you determine electability…? Halifa, Darboe and Bah have all tried getting elected several times, without success.
In fact, Darboe and Bah have had more attempts at getting elected as President, than Halifa…
So, what is your criteria, if you don’t mind me asking.. ?
Bax , Halifa is not Electable because he is not honest and he pander a lot . Mr sallah lack clarity in his political deliberations and he is not charismatic as a leader. Mr sallah is not likeable and does not connect with the people . He is rigid in his political belief and has dogmatic approach to every problem . Example , the primary process he is so obsessed with is the most stupid proposal a politician can offer considering the political conditions of The Gambia . This makes him out of touch with the reality of politics in The Gambia or Africa in general . Halifa is not a flexible political leader because he propose unworkable solutions to our curent problem . All we need is geniune political leaders who can sit down and discuss workable solutions . We have discussed here why primary is not a feasible and practical solution to our current problem . Even in the most advance democracy , primary can have detrimental effects on a political party unity much more in The Gambia where for 22 years the oppositions are not united to find workable solution for our current problem . He is proposing primary because he didn’t believe that Gambia is in dictatorship which is why he never called Jammeh a dictator . Any right thinking politician won’t call for a primary process because of the dictatorial regime we currently have . It is disgraceful to see him to continue his dishonest political strategy to entrench Jammeh in power because of his business interest .
Right, so we have the criteria..My next question is, how does this relate to the other opposition leaders in Gambia’s history, from Independence to date…?
I asked because none ever got elected; meaning none was electable or have you got a different reason for these other than being “unelectable”…?
I hear around here, where I live,’Major opposition party’
@Bax, you shoudn’t be told what that means. It means; that party has more delegates and so the concept majority in a free and fair political playfield rules. Scientifically and statistically, the majority is highly probable in prevailing the best amongst us as far as the public environ is concerned. Respect constitutional votes. Respect constitutional votes. Respect constitutional votes is a good way forward.
There is not a question of whether the Aprc has been winning election. They have been taking elections and going home with it whilst you are contempt.
Bax Don’t mind opinion of one dsifranchise bigot and hater who has no vote for December 2016! It is insignificant against thousands of franchise citizens and electorates on the ground ready to vote for Halifa Sallah.
Party politics is about the party manifesto, visions, policies, programmes, resolutions, strategies and tactics to sell to electorates. There is no political party more ready than PDOIS for December 2016 with its Agenda 2016 blueprint, launched over 4 years now and its Secretary General, who is doyen of Gambian politics, dynamic statesman that rendered selfless service to nation, eligible and credible rightfully nominated flag bearer and Presidential candidate. Nothing can stop citizens to exercise their rights to decide destiny of the nation and if Jammeh APRC candidate and government is more credible or any other electable let it be decided December 2016 through the ballot.
As far as PDOIS is concern Halifa Sallah is electable among those vying for The Presidency. UDP haven’t got an electable candidate yet because facing serious leadership crises and other battles but hopefully will got its act together for credible flag bearer and Presidential candidate. Similarly each registered political party will strategise and have resolutions for the elections. We have Mama Kandeh for GDC, Hamat Bah for NRP that threw the party hat on the ring for Presidency 2016 but are they Halifa Sallah’s match for December 2016, citizenry will decide that?
So far among those that threw their hat on the ring Halifa Sallah is most electable flag bearer and Presidential candidate! He is a credible Presidential candidate that can lead a UNITED NATIONAL FRONT to usher in third republic and steer the transitional programme independently with a Government in waiting.
PDOIS and Halifa Sallah knew the challenges they face towards December 2016 and that lie ahead, so did their homework ahead of any registered political party.
Let the haters with pettiness, smaering campaign, malicious vile slanders and bullying tactics!
Time will tell!
My reaction….(1)
I think Mr Ba has done a good job to rubbish the claims of Batch Samba Baldeh, and to expose what may be his real motives for concocting this fantasy, but I do not agree with all of the tone of his response, especially in reference to the UDP.
I think, as an avowed, verified and active member of PDOIS, who has spoken brilliantly on many discussion fora in the party’s name, Mr Ba needs to be more cautious, more wary and always diplomatic when he addresses issues related to any of the political parties in The Gambia, particularly those on the opposition side, who are all partners, working for the same immediate goal, from different perspectives.
Whilst it may be excusable for ordinary forum contributors to use certain language in our contributions, Mr Ba’s attitude on this ocassion, as far as I am concerned, is not excusable and worse, it provides the anti-PDOIS haters with the kind of ammunition they look for, to further attack the party and sow discord within the opposition ranks.
I would urge my brother, if he is following the discussions, to be more measured in his reactions and never bite the bait of these infiltrators, which he may have done here. He has himself hinted at the possibility of saboteurs within our ranks, so he must never fall for their trickery, no matter the level of provocation.
For general advice, people should brace themselves for these little fairy tales as they (the APRC) are put on the back foot, and as we approach another elections cycle. It’s a tactic to divide, fragment and sow discord..They are not UDP supporters, have never been and will probably never be..
Bax , mr Sulayman Ba is indeed an extreme supporter just like yero Ba . His indication that udp leadership are selfish and power hungry is a very stupid comment and it exposes his stupidity and ignorance about the constitutional right of peaceful protesters . This is not his first time to categorize udp leadership peaceful protest as selfish , power hungry and distraction , his comment is from the playbook of pdois leadership who see this peaceful protest as distraction , a threat to national security and war mongering . Mr Baldeh has shown maturity and he eloquently pointed out the fraud scheme planned by pdois . Pdois Obession with primary process which has never happened in any African politics (especially a country like The Gambia where we have a tyrant) , is indeed has its own nefarious agenda . Pdois has very rigid political system and mr sallah’s rigidity and self righteousness belief is going to put pdois more into gutters . Your party is not growing but it is shrinking by the day because of attitude of your leadership and supporters like mr Sulayman and yero Ba with ignorance mindset .
Pdois is an agent of dictatorship and you are part of organization which play a major role to entrench Jammeh in power .
“Batch is at this hour trying to apologise on behalf of his leaders who had betrayed the Gambian people for their selfish and power hungry schemes in 2016.” Sulayman Bah.
Maxs, Sulayman is talking about 2006 and therefore the sentence ‘power hungry schemes should have referred to 2006 instead. It is a simple error and I apologize on his behalf. As a PDOIS supporter he is my partner in the struggle. The rest of his article is correct and factual. So kudos to him.
You are angry because Sulayman finished you in Freedomnewsonline when you expressed so many stupid things against Halifa and PDOIS.
You are still lying that PDOIS castigated the peaceful protesters.What will PDOIS gain by doing that? You are not sensible at all. PDOIS is fighting for the release of the victims of tyranny and will continue to do so despite the useless ramblings of Max and cos.
Yes, I also think that the context supports the view that he was referring to 2006, and not 2016…Nevertheless, the language wasn’t appropriate for someone of his standing, in my view..
Damn! They fear that their stance all the way back 22yrs is now understood by Gambians. The hell of this pains. The hypocrisy and cold bloodedness of it all. The tiny country and population lacks quantity in honest and civilsed citizens that is the reason for the unscrupulousity recently being demonstrated with regards to opposition coalition being formed irrespective of voters say. Never once in my life I have seen or heard of voting any where, were there is an equal and limited number of legible voters for each party in a primary or whatever democratic purpose. ARE FOLKS REALLY LISTENING TO THIS STUPID AND UNSCRUPULOUS EXPRESSION AND PROPOSAL?? Is it this we are gonna call voting? In this idiocy there is nothing to be called Gambian politics if not their deterring mindsets of hypocrisy within them still trying their efforts to put good people in the place of their evilous acts and images.
Perhaps in the Gambia, hypocrisy can be a substitute for the truth because eloquence is not.
No true respect and honesty amongst citizens that is why some are in these debates as opposition leaders and will get picked up by Jammeh’s chauffeur at night so that he will meet him in Kanilai. I have observed that the Gambian citizens are most betraying in each others life and one can notice this at a time when international efforts are being made to bring and end to impunity in the Gambia
I believe the “primaries” proposed by Halifax is really a good idea if there is no consensus between the parties.
The problem is such method is likely to usurp the will of opposition voters. Who are the people voting in the primary? who will be excluded? How can you justify that the result of such process will speak for the opposition voters better than the results that obtained from the general elections, consistently giving the UDP more votes than the other opposition parties? Is it going to be similar to the process involved in the NAAD flag bearer selection process where unelected individuals participated in making their choice? In my opinion the most democratic process for nominating a coalition leader is for the opposition leaders to recognise the verdict of the opposition electorates and suggest the UDP nominates a candidate who will negotiate with them the modalities for forming a government when the opposition wins. This is the process we have seen working in other countries and if Gambian oppositions are unable to do this, I am afraid no other process will work, just as coalition talks have failed all these years.
They are hell bent on the idea of getting themselves under the Gambians’ skins with PDOIS found political ideologies to have their grip on the Gambians’ heads and hearts and country, is evident in how they turn a deliberate and persistent blind-eye to what is not just feasible and real amongst honest and entrusted delegates of the ordinary electorate of the Gambia, but also what is true in every coalition making that is meant to bring a misrule like Yaya’s to an end. I have come to believe that Halifa is as power hungry as Yaya or perhaps worst.
Why wouldn’t someone call them political nerds as they are yet to introduce new found methods of their inventions and standards in global politics. Come on! l got to get myself away from too much PDOIS and likes’ piling of too much debris all the while. Who on earth needs a light more than the ‘DOY’ bros?, to mention how intrigued I am to be reminded with the brand of pseudonym.
Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrch.
My response….(2)
Constitutionally guaranteed rights to peaceful assembly; Constitutional requirements to exercise this right; The politics and hypocrisy of it all…
We are told, incessantly, that the actions of the 14 & 16th April (UDP) protesters, were in exercise of their constitutionally guaranteed rights to hold peaceful demonstrations or processions (which is true), but what is conveniently omitted, is the fact that this right is not absolute or open ended, but requires citizens who wish to exercise it, to fulfill certain requirements, as stipulated under the same constitution.
It is stated by those who are familiar with the laws of the land, that holding peaceful protests, demonstrations, processions and/or the use of a public address system in a public place, are all governed by the Public Order Act and that their exercise by any group of citizens, require the acquisition of a Police Permit to be lawful…and I have no doubt that this is correct.
Whilst the reaction of the regime, on the 14th/16th April, was disproportionate, irrational, unjustified and borders on criminality, due to the treatment of detainees and the subsequent death in state custody, no one can argue against the duty of the state to enforce adherence and compliance to the law, when actions are taken by citizens that are outside of the ambit of the law, and likely to lead to public disorder …and unless evidence can be produced to proof otherwise, the actions of 14th & 16th April did not meet the Constitutional requirements and were therefore, unlawful…
The hypocrisy lies in the omission of this fact and the stubborn insistence that the actions of protesters was in legitimate pursuance of guaranteed rights, under the (2nd Republic) Constitution, whilst at the same time, repeatedly dismissing the same constitution, as “toilet paper” that is worth nothing..
How rights, whose pursuit are worth dying for, can be guaranteed by toilet paper, is completely beyond my comprehension, but even worse, is the apparent acceptance, as the gospel truth, of any fairy tales, concocted by anyone against PDOIS, however fantastic it may be, as well as, the vociferous assault of anyone who holds a different view that supports PDOIS : an indication and evident proof that the political discourse on line has degenerated to such a phantasmogoric level that honest and rational discussion is no longer possible.
Political oppositionism in The Gambia is suddenly being reduced to the events of 14th and 16th April, whilst genuine political opposition is defined by, and conferred only on, those who participated in those events or showed their unconditional support for them, in whatever form.
This is an exercise in futility, as we always point out, because not only is it delusional and unachievable, it does not reflect the political realities on the ground, where the battle for change will be fought and won or lost.. Nevertheless, it is the rights of these day dreamers to continue dreaming and I, for one, will not begrudge them this right..
The end…
My question in my previous comment is; Have anyone seen a voting were equal amount of voters are registered by every opposition party and to later contest in a primary. Every party is already a winner in this……………….? will I be among the registered PDOIS’s 1500 selected voters to actually end up voting for the UDP in a coalition primary? Is their any probability of this happening?
Can you call this an election??
Can you call this a coalition with a purpose for unity??
Can you call this anything scrupulous??
Citizen have the duty to think and act straight and learn to respect each other as citizens with a vote either in opposition coalitions primaries or general elections, irrespective of hidden cultural sentiments they may be concealing within the public domain in these times, if the oppositions want going the right direction. It is not a chess game whereby someone will be considered more intelligent by winning but it is about having a will power to search, find and concede to what is right and honest to the public’s interest.
I think the problem with your reasoning, where every party becomes a winner, if equal number of voters are allocated, is that you have closed your mind to the existence of other possibilities, except “loyalty voting”, where every voter votes for their party candidate..
If that is the only possibility, then yes, the method of selection is indeed utterly pointless, because everyone gets the same number of votes and no one gets elected at the end…Waste of time and resources, isn’t it..?
With due respect though, I think this is a very simplistic and somewhat, very narrow, uniformed and constricted approach to situational analysis, especially of a political nature, where social beings, like humans, who can be affected by a whole host of factors, on any given day, before or during the campaign and voting period, are the participants, and not preprogrammed robots. Please, let’s be a bit more sophisticated in our analytical approach to situations before us…
Moreover, if this is the line of argument, then by extension, there will really be no need and sense to contest national elections, because records show that APRC, except for 1996, has always almost doubled the combined opposition votes at every presidential elections…If your reasoning is to be followed, with every registered APRC voter and every registered opposition voter voting strictly for their candidate, then there will be no contest and no sense to hold elections.
Political contest is about attracting votes from across the political spectrum in order to win elections. We do not need to conduct studies of varied and various political situations to be convinced that often, opposition victories against incumbents, are only possible because the opposition candidates are able to attract votes from across the political divide, including from that of the incumbent parties.
In our case, if any of the contestants for flag bearer cannot attract votes from within even opposition voters, what chance have they got to attracting votes from the APRC camp, which is absolutely essential, in order to overturn the massive deficit and win the Presidential Elections ..?
Do people think merely coming under one candidate will ensure automatic opposition victory against an entrenched APRC…? If your answer is “Yes”, then prepare yourself for a massive shock in December..
@Bax, are there any constitutional numbers existing as to what may be considered a legal group of protesters and what may be not?
And aren’t the Afprc’s winning the elections not total farce all these 22 years by rolling with tanks and military hardware during so-called political campaigns that are indeed meant to terrorise and intimidate the population to be stagnantly unsophisticated with their governments affairs. Isn’t privatising the state media and the burning of private media outlets and the killing and torture and the disappearance of journalists, not reasons worthwhile for oppositions to set that example of civil society democracy right now by giving the flag to the major opposition party in a coalition in other to demonstrate scrupulousity, honesty and respect to the voters’ vote, as it is supposed to be anywhere in the world of promising citizens of civil democratic societies, without fruitcake ideals?
Many PDOIS’s defender’s expression have indicated their concession of the fact that the party is indeed complacenct to the dictatorship hence discribing the ‘state of terror’ as a prototype of the foundamental constitutional republic of the Gambia, that was socially and democratically evolutionising.
I am happy to join in the debate. I have been a keen reader of this site but have never contribute ideas. I have been compelled now to chip in. The debate is interesting but I think there is disingenuity by those propagating for a primary where every party is equal. That is not fair to the party with the majority. If there will be fairness, parties should be represented based on their strength. Let’s look at the United Nations where few countries have the veto power. Even among the veto power Nations, America has more influence. Let us stop the hypocrisy and nail the truth. The best option is for parties to be represented based on their electoral percentage. Parties that have never contested election should be given slot based on agreement. I hope this will be the only solution to this never ending brouhaha.
Good points, but unfortunately, the analogy of the veto power at the UN, is the wrong one for me…Why…? Because that situation was, and is still imposed on the United Nations by the victorious powers after WWII and I have no doubt, that except for the most puppet member “states” of the General Assembly, everyone opposes it and are constantly calling for reforms..
I do not see anything disingenuous in putting forth proposals for consideration and arguing their merits to convince others. The primary method of selection for flag bearer is just a proposal from PDOIS, for consideration by other parties, just as the party led alliance proposal from the UDP..
Why then is PDOIS being accused of being disingenuous for putting forth a proposal to address flag bearer selection method, especially when they have made it clear that they are open to other proposals from the other parties…This is unfair, in my view..
You may have missed it, but in 2011, Hamat Bah was elected as flag bearer of the United Front at a convention where proportional representation of party delegates, based on previous electoral gains, was actually employed..The UDP, which would have had the most delegates, due to their electoral achievements, rejected even this method and insisted on leading an alliance, presumably under their own terms.completely ignoring this fact, in our constant attacks against PDOIS, is what can be called disingenuous.
Proportional representation, based on records of previous electoral gains, is not the problem and we have to be honest about this…The problem is all too obvious for those who care to look carefully through “plain glasses”, so to speak..
BTW, welcome to the forum and stay involved in the discussions..You can be a valuable resource person…
Both Kim Jong st and nd will buy it. You guys are deadly creepy. God forbid your Gambia that will lockhorns with international organisations whilst silently suffocating ordinary citizens by subduing them to indoctrination, listening to and obeying what you say. You want to show disrespect to previous opposition party representation. What political science factor taught you this kind of an opposition coalition primary making?
Clear evidence that you are not capable of holding sensible and rational discussions.
Thanks for making clear evidence available that, you can heap all this trash in Kairo news in the cause of democracy and civilised society. All what you discuss here can’t be at your Foroyaa newspaper that’s out to tell citizens, ‘chill ain’t no problem at all, laid back and everything gonna happen for you by the power and magic of owls. Chill guys,’Nobody move so nobody turns fodder’. What the mess is it you guys rallying about for. Keep looking like you got a magic spell.
I was reading through the opinion columns of new sweek Africa under an article outlining the A.U and the African countries progresses, not remembering the exact captioning, and was this white girl, Jane, providing the email of a probably west African marabout, who she thinks can solve all our African problems if we get to knowing him. I wanted to respond to her by bringing her atetntion to the live horoscopes on the western Tvs but, I reminded myself that, they are ‘live’ on Tv so there ain’t no point at all doing so.
What you sow is what you reap. Halifa cannot lead the coalition through cheap, cunning ways. He breeds and lives with complications. I don’t think it is fair for anyone to take advantage of UDP’s crisis for your selfish gains. If these opposition parties are genuine, they would have asked the UDP to produce a flag bearer for them to support. That will tell Gambians about their genuineness. But they cannot wait until Darboe and others are jailed and want to take advantage of it. That’s my take on the debate.
False claim, smearing campaign and malicious slander!
PDOIS held a highly successful well organise Congress and nominated Halifa Sallah as Flag Bearer and Presidential Candidate before tragic incidents of April 14th & 16th 2016.
Baboucarr Samba, PDOIS’ Agenda 2016 was out in 2014 almost 3 years back and it has made a fervent appeal to all parties to reach out to the electorates to reduce the APRC support base and to put up their candidates ahead of 2016.
SEE THE BELOW QUOTE from the Agenda 2016 document and read for yourself: “FIRST TACTIC
PDOIS calls for all political parties to go on the ground to build their base and select their presidential candidates before the end of 2014. If there is electoral reform, they could put up their candidates to deprive the incumbent of the majority required to win in the first round, and form an alliance in the second round as has happened in Senegal.
2.4 SECOND TACTIC
PDOIS proposes that if there is no credible electoral reform, the opposition presidential candidates and their committees should meet to agree on the modalities of selecting one candidate in 2015 to face the incumbent in 2016.
With this approach, parties would not go up to the dying hours and then withdraw from Alliances and start accusing each other of betrayal which encourages voter apathy and facilitate the smooth sailing of the incumbent to victory.”
So as you can see PDOIS was not and is not profiting from any downfall of the UDP or any party at all but was thinking of a viable way forward for the change the country badly deserved for a New Start.
It seems we are heading for square one where others will argue that Primaries are late because TIME IS TOO SHORT and all that.
Sulayman, I wasn’t expecting you to jump in, though you are a Baye Fall of Halifa Sallah. I know you’re a political virgin who was very young when I fell in love with PDOIS. I even doubted why you guys are linking me to the UDP when I didn’t write that I am the party’s member. You guys have drawn the battle lines. I will come back in full swing and will prove to you that I served Doy with my heart, sweet, energy and resources. I’ll put on my glove. Unlike you guys, I dislike pettiness, which has over the years eaten up the party.
You are empty and hypocrite! Great minds discuss ISSUES and not fabricating malicious slanders.
Dawda , you are indeed mentally retarded because you failed to realize that you have small mind and you cannot comprehend sensible discussion. Now that udp leadership are in mile two central prison , pdois and other political parties begin to flex their political muscle thinking that imprisonment of udp leadership will only give them political gain. It is the same reason that pdois and others parties refused to join the peaceful protest. I want to know where in Africa did you guys ever heard a primary elections especially between opposition parties in a country having the same political climate as Gambia ? Instead of pdois coming up with better proposal to remove the tyrant , they come up with primary proposal design to create more division among opposition parties. Pdois think that we have democracy which is why they come with such a stupid proposal which has never been practiced in any country where there is dictatorship . Something is fundamentally wrong with pdois . The leadership need to use their brains to understand that there is no democracy in The Gambia .
Who actually has a small mind and is incapble of engaging in honest discussion…? I think there is abundant proof, even in your latest piece, that you are that person…How and why…!
You accused PDOIS of “flexing their muscle” only after UDP leadership was imprisoned, but every honest person knows that :
(1)..PDOIS made its position on coalition clear, way back in 2014, when it launched Agenda 2016, and even much further back to 2006, because they have not departed much from NADD Agreements..
(2)..PDOIS started its political activities, in preparation for 2016, well before anyone even thought about demonstrations and processions, never mind imprisonment…
Also….
(3)..If you are going to call PDOIS Leadership “stupid” for proposing a primary as a method of selection, then in the same vein, honesty demands that you view the leadership of all parties that signed the NADD MOU as “stupid”, because it too, identified the holding of a closed primary, as the method for selection, where a consensus cannot be reached…And they all signed it, including your beloved UDP, under almost, all of its current leadership.
(4).. Halifa, as the PDOIS selected presidential candidate, is not in contest for the position of president with anybody in the UDP at the moment, because their leader is disqualified and they haven’t identified a presidential candidate yet…So their incarceration has nothing to do with PDOIS preparations..
As for your claims that the primary was only proposed because PDOIS believes there is democracy, well, the records (and there is 22/30 years of it) speak for themselves..
So it is clear that you are the small minded and dishonest one here, not mighty Dawda..He towers above you, in his consistence and clarity..
Bax , I know you have the ability to change truth to a lie to suit your false and dishonest propaganda . Those of us who have been debating you for long time know that you will argue with yourself to the grave but you will never admit the truth . Your Obession with NADD is a concern . Dawda , you , yero and rest of confuse team have no independent thinking. With all your foolish argument online , 96 percent of Gambians on the ground are not aware of your noise making online and on the ground. Udp has never agree to any primary in anywhere , so stop your delusional thought . Tell me which country that has the same political climate like The Gambia holds primary among opposition parties ? You guys never follow simple practical solution which is why you are at the bottom of the ladder .
You start cleaning up all your mess and pack as well and go home where you know you belong. You know very well where you are than everybody.
@ Dawda, your resorting to insults, an essential part of your counter arguments, unmasks your incapacity to handle big ISSUES.
Ah…! Take off your tinted glasses and look at the forum again. You may notice that Dawda is only responding in kind…So, why single him out.. ?
There s no taking off a tinted glass, yo old owl. Dawda shouldn’t talk like that! He got to be talked to like that. He is an inert empty barrel and hypocrite who won’t speak his mind easy like ABC. If people like him are expressing their true minds’ contents, these piling of rubbish and hypocrisy and all their’s and all explicity, fury, and rudeness around it, that them self graduated nerds provoked, could have been prevented. You guys really need to give this a break and come up with something much more sensible.
Halifa Sallah calls for a primary to select the best Candidate!
In responding to the calls made by some young people which was published in Tuesday’s Foroyaa publication for the opposition Halifa Sallahto form an alliance to remove the ruling APRC in the December 1 presidential poll, Mr. Halifa Sallah, the Presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Organisation Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), said the solution is for each of the opposition parties to identify its presidential candidate and then for them to jointly conduct a nationwide primary for people to select the best person who should be the coalition flag bearer.
Sallah said this in an exclusive interview with this reporter at the PDOIS office in Churchill Town on Tuesday, August 09, 2016.
He recalled that the principle of absolute majority was established in the Constitution of the second republic but this had been amended by the National Assembly. He said the removal of this provision in the Constitution means that the incumbent can win the election by a simple majority, which means there will be no need for a second round even if he fails to collect 50% of the total votes cast. He said this would have allowed the opposition parties to stand individually and form a coalition in the second round where the leader will disregard party affiliation for a national responsibility.
“However, where this is no longer the case, this is why we have emphasised as a party, as a matter of tactic, that we should implement the principle even though it has been removed from the Constitution. And that principle is to have a second round of voting. We are saying since the opposition would be the force that will be likely divided because we cannot have two ruling parties at the same time, let them (the opposition parties) be prepared to nominate their candidates, campaign, get 5000 people to nominate them, we put those people in an electoral list and then put the photographs of the candidates on it and then give envelopes to the people who are part of the electoral list, give them the pictures of the candidates for them to tear the picture of the candidate of their choice which they will put in the envelopes given to them. The candidates will have their agents by district who will travel together and get the nomination of those people which is counted nationally and whoever is selected becomes the Presidential candidate as this person would have been under normal circumstances, if we had had the second round, the candidate who other people can galvanise around emerge as the flag bearer. This is our proposal and we have sent it to all the political parties 2 months back in order to get their response. We are not saying that they should accept it but that they can even bring counter proposals. We haven’t got any response from the other opposition parties yet and have also not received any proposal from them yet,” said Sallah.
The PDOIS Presidential Candidate said they had scaled down their open political activities because of the incidents involving Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, the party leader of the UDP, and his party militants. He said he is still convinced that the members of the UDP should be released. He said, however, that since the UDP has now taken a stance that they will continue with their political activities, PDOIS will again send the proposal to all the parties for their reactions. He expressed confidence that a coalition can make a change in the 2016 presidential election if the primaries could take place in September followed by an effective series of campaign activities in the months of October and November.
Sallah said the reason why the PDOIS made this proposal is that they are not sure who the people want and that with this primary it becomes a campaign in the making because you are exposing the candidate. He said “in the process of involving all the opposition parties, you are building a way for change.”
He expressed optimism that this is a solid tactic because it involves every Gambian, adding that even independent candidates who wish to take part in the process can be involved as this is not restricted to only political parties.
“We have emphasized that even if our colleagues, for example agreed to select PDOIS to lead, it must stand as an independent party, we are ready to do that. We have also emphasized that even if we are selected as the Presidential candidate and win an election in a cabinet of 21, we will appoint only seven ministers and the rest have to be done by the parties. And in terms of our own pledges, we assured that we will not remove any of those ministers selected by the others if they have done anything wrong. The only thing that will be done by the President is to be announcing the appointments. This is just to say that the government is a coalition and not a PDOIS government. This is also to say that if I were to be elected as President, those ministers will not be removed by me, again unless you have a vote of censure under section 75 of the Constitution which gives the power to the National Assembly members to remove ministers for incompetence or in violation of the Constitution. So we do not want to dominate the transitional government but to see that anybody elected must be a transitional figure and that was why I said if elected, I will just spend one term. This is what we are offering and others may offer even better conditions. So, therefore, there is a room for debate,” said Sallah
The PDOIS flag bearer said the Gambia is a country that had never witness changed through the ballot box and since 1994 his party has been working for unity.
Batch Samba,
You are right Sulayman Bokar was a virgin politically indeed. Halifa is a none starter. He is merely relevant to confused disciples and Dawda, please give us a break, by recycling PDOIS statements will not distract Gambians. Halifa, Hamat and OJ have no mouth no relevance to Gambians on the ground. When it matters, they are nowhere to be seen but hiding. They can only have relevance in a polarised political climate filled with hate and tribalism.
Halifa Sallah has masked his mandinka hating for years, but certainly, every clear Mandinka can see through the barricade with clarity except his ‘hunter’s dog’ Sedia Jatta, a useless kotoke and Suwaibou a confused disciple.
Halifa prefers dictator Jammeh to anyone who he cannot control and manipulates. The UDP even with all the senior and scores of leaders in jail is 4 times for powerful than PDOIS, NRP, PPP combined.
Dawda please keep drinking from Halifa’s hateful cup.
Mr Basiru Gassama , thank you for speaking the gospel truth here . Halifa , Ahmat and big mouth OJ are all cowards who hide when Gambians needed them most . Infact OJ and Ahmat lied to diaspora that they will convey an emergency meeting right after lawyer Darboe and co were arrested but to this day , these political hypocrites are no where to be heard except releasing a stupid solidarity message which in itself is irrelevant and disgusting to read . Where was Halifa when all these was happening , he kept quite and later pretentiously showed up for photo up at the court so that he can write about it in his newspaper . Today they are all busy trying to get influence or support for election when they refused to show leadership when it was needed . Solo Sanderg died for Gambian people , those women were tortured and raped on behalf of Gambians , then you have these bunch of political hypocrites who refused to lead . I respect ms tambajang because she stood and protested daily with udp protesters . Halifa is a political hypocrite while big mouth Oj listened to his daughter who advised him not to join udp protest . Personally , I do not see these leaders as geniune because some of them have bigotry mindset especially Halifa who is the least honest among them .
Sulayman was in diapers when some of us were supporting pdois while Bax is old demented guy who is very connected to Jammeh in many ways, he needs to come clean and tell us their family relationship or should I say linkage . I am sure the money Jammeh once gave to the people in his presence , he must have some connection with the dictator , just my thought . These are agents hiding behind pdois to prolong this fight and this is why they are so obessed with primary process .
Quote : “Halifa, Hamat and OJ have no mouth no relevance to Gambians on the ground. When it matters, they are nowhere to be seen but hiding.”
Comment : I guess this statement is referring to the none participation of these gentlemen in the demonstrations….
If so, then let me tell you who else is irrelevant to The Gambians on the ground: 99.99% of Gambians on the ground because they were nowhere to be seen when it mattered..
As well as 99.99% of voters who voted for the UDP presidential candidate, Lawyer Darboe, in 2011 because they too, were nowhere to be seen when it mattered..
Who then is relevant to Gambian matters on the ground, if I may ask…? 00.01% who were seen when “it mattered” ? You cannot be serious… You do really need to look at your criteria of who is relevant again, if you are not going to be guilty of living in cuckoo land…
99.99% of Gambians voters ought not show Halifa how. Halifa ought to show 99.99% of voters how; like the right example and the right constitutional statemanship Ousainou and the UDP executive have demonstrated to set. Hardly you will find in histories of such demonstrations where even 3% of the population will actually have to show on the streets. It should be first of all the opposition party leaders to unite and respect majority in the opposition politics if they don’t have any intentions of assimilating or justifying the military-in-civilian-clothes-government’s rigging of elections all the past twenty years, and face one hard honest task together to bring the state of impunity in the Gambia to and end but rather PDOIS and likes chose to remain and play games of ills of the struggling nation as they can be now clearly seen under-table as stakerholders in the dictatorship for they(PDOIS) prefer a dictatorship in the Gambia without their leadership of a government.
Forget about Halifa..The UDP Leadership, according to you, has shown the 99.99% voters “how”. The question is : have they responded ? Have they been seen anywhere?
If “yes”, they are relevant…If “no”, they are irrelevant. That’s your standard; not mind…
@Bax, stop being a shameless liar in front of everybody!
What I am simply trying to put forward to you is that, the fishermen, the tailor, the taxi driver, the cobbler, the farmer, the herdsman, the nurse, the school teacher, the ‘Fitaa’, the grocer, and all walks of lives in the Gambia, obviously have voted for you even if in their wee bits, for them to be represented by you in a demonstration like the UDP’s and not for them to represent you in such a demonstration. It is only after this that the electorates(masses) can likely rise against such dictatorships with international organisations’ full focus. The is not a peace dream but likely to be a real peace maker than the state of atrocities of the 22years that the world have been blinded from by some Gambians’ claims of existing sacred peace in the country.
@Max….” Udp has never agree to any primary in anywhere , so stop your delusional thought . ”
Really Max…? Come on, mate…How could you make such a blatant and outright false claim, and then expect people to take you seriously afterwards…?
What about the document they called, the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that they all signed to establish NADD..?
Didn’t the document clearly state that the parties agreed to resort to a primary to select a flag bearer, where consensus was not reached…?
Does signing a document imply that you agreed to ALL of its contents…? Again, the question has to be asked, “who is demonstrating a delusional thought here ?”
We are not obsessed with NADD…We know that NADD is not history, but we also know that it is like a “sore thumb”, which most of you wish never happened..But it happened and that fact, as well as all events that surrounded it, are here to stay for good.
And you know what…? NADD is the reference point for any sincere observer, analyst or interested persons who want to know the real problems of alliance building, because that was where it all started and all, but ended..
Oops…I meant to write….”We know that NADD is NOW history…”
NADD was not viable because it depended on the notion that udp need to abandon it’s “earned forced to be reckoned with ” and swap it with ineffective wrangling over position in a so called “coalition of equals”. Even with parties like majanko samusa of the barely functional ncp.
That is why I am bringing into the sphere, the suggestion that sallah, bah, kandeh etc. come together and form an alliance based on the best possible compromise reachable.
Udp will be forced to make a choice. Support that unity candidate or put up own. Even if that’ll be the case, at least we would have 3 candidates instead of 6 or more.
I believe also that that will lessen the pressure on Darboe to commit, from prison wall, udp to a coalition building which so much shrouded in unwillingness on the part of those not restricted in their movement.
I guess ‘primaries’ is an American product designed to nominate a candidate within a single party. How does this fit into our context where the different parties have no intention of permanently coming together to form a single party? I thought our aim is for a short term coalition, specifically to remove a vile dictatorship that is eroding the very fabric of our nation.
Why can the opposition parties learn the lesson already tested in our immediate African neighbourhood whereby the need for change enabled different parties to rally behind the one with largest support/vote? If we call ourselves democrats, we have to accept that democracy is not equated to winner take all, but does mean winner takes the lead. The danger with this so-called primary is that it has the potential of subverting the will of the majority voters.
Mr jawneh , you made a very sensible observation and I have been telling these confused disciples the same thing over and over . They are not democractic which is why I called them “the agents of dictatorship “. What you have described above is exactly what had happened in majority of countries where oppositions came together but in our case , most of the opposition parties leaders are dishonest and care about their selfish interest . Pdois is in politics to safeguard their business interest .
Bax , I know you are very good in distortion of facts just to suit your narrow indoctrinated agenda . For your information , Udp has never agree to any primary which resemble what Halifa is proposing . MOU stated that ” the selection of the candidate of the alliance for the presidential election , National Assembly and council elections shall be done by consensus ; provided that in the event of an impasse selection shall be done by holding a primary election restricted to party delegates on the basis of equal number of delegates , comprising the chairman , chairwoman and youth leader of each party from each village/ ward in a constituency “.
Bax, the above quote clearly indicated that consensus is the primary method of alliance and incase it fails , party delegates such as chairman , chairwoman or youth leader from each village should be involved in the selection of presidential candidate which is different from Current proposal from Halifa . Halifa sallah’s current proposal is that each party or independent candidate Should get 5000 people to get the party nomination and those candidates who get their nomination should contest for primary election across the country to elect an alliance flag bearer or presidential candidate . Such proposal is different from Nadd MOU as indicated above . Halifa’s latest political moves is meant to cause disunity and it is not an intelligent proposal considering the current political climate . Your suggestion that udp agreed to such a primary process is not only a lie but it is malicious and misrepresentation of udp position in any previous agreement . As I always said to you and pdois , lack of honesty and distortion of facts are hallmark of your continue sinister propaganda . The agreed MOU primary process is not even a primary election but a caucus process design to select presidential candidate because it is doesn’t call for participation of voters but only party delegates from each party in the villages across the country . PDOIS obsession with primary process Which you never understand is beyond me . With all the noise you are making about the Nadd MOU and primary election , you do not understand that the proposal in that MOU has never called for participation of ordinary voters to elect an opposition alliance presidential candidate . In the most advance democracy , primary election itself didn’t result to selection of party presidential candidate , what a primary elections does is to enable various candidates in the same party to compete for delegates during election and party delegates are allocated based on the percentage of each candidate get in the election in each constitutency in consideration of the rules of party , that is whether it is winner take all delegates or proposal percentage of each candidate result. This is the system of primary process which is practice in USA . You must remember that primary process is commonly practice in USA electoral process than other advance democracies . Halifa seem to be fixated with such concept but he actually did not understand it . His disciples in USA needs to educate him but I doubt he will accept any such education from anyone .
Once again In the NADD MOU , there was no indication of general population involment in the election of opposition alliance presidential election as explained above . Pdois is involve in its sinister and malicoius agenda to further confuse and bring division among the opposition parties . Halifa is not a honest political leader by any standard based on his pseudo political moves . Please read the MOU carefully , you can honestly tell readership where it stated that party needs to get 5000 people to nominate their candidate and those candidates will compete to get the nomination for presidential candidate of the opposition alliance . Please provide that evidence . Thanks
“…provided that in the event of an impasse selection shall be done by holding a PRIMARY election restricted to party delegates……..”
Comment : Have you missed it…? Did it say that selection shall be done by holding a primary…? That is all that matters here to refute your lies that UDP did not agree to any primary anywhere..UDP signed the MOU which included holding a primary as a method of selection….The UDP, therefore, agreed to holding a primary.
Now, you are creating your own argument by relating the primary, as agreed by all through the MOU, to the primary as proposed by Agenda 2016, and then accusing me of lies and malicious whatever, based on this new argument…What a cheek…! .Are you being serious…? Where did I say that the UDP agreed to the enlarged primary as being proposed by PDOIS now, with 5000 voters from each candidate..? This is typical dishonesty alla Max style..
Your dishonesty becomes apparent when you try to “rewrite” the MOU, a decade after it was signed and sealed, by substituting the word “PRIMARY” with “CAUCUS”… The document, which everyone signed mentioned the holding of a primary; not a caucus and so it shall remain..
And whether the process involved party chairmen and youth leaders only across the country or 5000 voters is irrelevant..It is still a primary selection process, where different candidates present themselves before a body of voters for selection.
Bax, you need to understand the definition of primary election. According to Wikipedia, a primary election “is an election that narrows the field of candidates before an election for office”. Wikipedia went further to define primary elections as closed primary or open primary. That means there would election in which ordinary citizens will participate . Nadd Mou stated that delegates from political parties will vote to chose a leader but it was not voters who will participate in this process. What mou meant is like leadership convention or caucus (meeting to select a candidate ) where delegates will meet and vote to elect a single candidate who is going to be nominee. It is the leaders of parties which I mean the delegates who will meet and vote. By default it was a mistake to call the process a primary and I believe it was an idea of Halifa sallah . The current proposal from Halifa is what entails a primary process because there will election as a result of participation of ordinary citizens to elect a nominee which is different from delegates electing a nominee. Stop confusing yourself.
Look, regardless of how you define “primary”, you will reach the same conclusion: it is a selection process….
And the group that formed NADD defined their selection process as such, whether you agree with it or not, and all agreed to that definition by signing the MOU…
If you think it was a mistake, then you should be honest and have the decency to blame the entire group, rather than single out an individual, as you have done here.
And here’s a brotherly advice: be careful of Wikipedia as a source material in a debate..
Folks, let us stop the dreaming and denial because PDOIS will never win an election in The Gambia. They can try it again in December, 2016 but having a primary with a party 50 times their size is unacceptable when they want equal representation to elect the presidential candidate for the alliance. Nobody with their correct mind will accept that foolishness.
PDOIS is open to other proposals, which they acknowledged, might even be better than theirs…and have demonstrated in 2011 that they can accommodate other forms of selection, including one that reflects electoral strength…So come with your proposal and let others scrutinise it in order to accept or reject it..
Bax, PDOIS primary idea was bad, unacceptable and it is not democratic in anyway. Please stop fooling yourself. Halifa need to know that Gambians are not going to accept his craziness and arrogance anymore.
Response to Kinteh…
(1)…Viability/Non Viability of NADD :
Firstly, this was beside the point, as far as my response to Max was concerned. He made a specific claim (that UDP never agreed to any primary anywhere) and I was responding to that claim..
Secondly, whether NADD was viable or not is debatable, and as “outsiders”, looking at the whole NADD experience from a variety of perspectives, we will be justified to question the viability of NADD, but none of the participants to the discussions preceeding its formation, and signatories to the MOU, can do this without raising serious questions about sincerity, trust, integrity, reliability, motives, etc.
The MOU clearly stated in its preamble, for example, that the parties have agreed to form an alliance that transcends PARTISANSHIP…
It also clearly states that selection of flag bearer will be by concensus (of equal members), failing which, a primary will be held..It is also worth pointing out that further articles agreed in the same MOU, clearly place restrictions on the chosen flag bearer; like barring him/her from contesting subsequent elections or supporting any party or candidates, etc.
So if you are a party that does not agree with this arrangement, the right thing to do was to walk away and not sign the MOU..What you cannot do, without exposing yourself to serious scrutiny and creating doubts in people’s minds, is to do what the UDP had done : sign the MOU, withdraw from the arrangement and subsequently, question the rationale of the very things you signed up to, in the very next round of elections.
That is inexcusable; nor is it defensible, regardless of how hard you guys or anyone tries..
Continued…
(2)…Is holding a primary an attempt to force the UDP to loss its hard earned electoral strength…?
It would look so, on the surface, when parties are allocated equal number of voters, which would definitely disregard the UDP’s past electoral gains and political strength, but when we employ logic and reasoning, we will see the wisdom in, and advantage of, holding a successful primary for the opposition.
Firstly, the deficit that the collective opposition need to overturn, in order to defeat Jammeh ( as far as records show) cannot be acquired from opposition votes alone..The opposition “would be” candidate and chosen flag bearer therefore, must be someone who can win votes from across the opposition and be able to attract a considerable amount of votes from the APRC camp, as well as, entice the independent and election wary voting card holders..
So, a primary gives the nation the opportunity to test the opposition aspirants, to see who can get past the first huddle of winning votes from across the opposition votes, and hopefully once that test is passed, with an effective all party campaign, supported financially, logistically and materially by the diaspora, our chances would be far improved than at any other elections ..If an aspirant cannot win votes from even opposition voters, then how can they win enough votes from APRC to overturn that massive deficit..
Secondly, the exercise itself, if conducted maturely and under strict rules (and I have no doubt that this could be done), would generate the kind of attention, interest and perhaps, positive euphoria that can galvanise a wary electorate inro action, and reduce the curse of voter aparthy and other negative perceptions of elections in general, which affects the opposition more than the APRC.
Thirdly, the fact that an alternative selection method was employed in 2011 to select Hamat Bah, which used proportional representation that would have granted the UDP their entitled position as per their consistent electoral gains, emphatically dispels and rubbishes all insinuations and allegations of attempts to deprive the UDP their electoral gains..and why people still cling to this nonsensical claim is testimony to the insincerity, not only in the online discussions, but also in the alliance formation attempts on the ground too.
Continued…
Bax, please stop the foolishness. Nobody will bring to the table 50 times what you bring in and you want to be equal in delegates. That is crazy and Halifa will not accept that if PDOIS has the majority support. Each party based on their strength should be allocated number of delegates to vote in the primary and a compromise on the rest of the leadership campaign for the general election.
(3)…Are all parties equal, or is the concept misunderstood.. ?
One of the most common accusations thrown about is that those who claim that the parties should get together as equal partners, are delusional, dishonest and disingenuous because, in their view, the UDP is not equal to any of our parties; not even if they all come together against it (UDP).
One can straight away see the inherent misunderstanding of the concept in these people, and thus, when OJ (allegedly) makes the observation that parties should sit at the negotiating table as equal partners, he is accused of insincerity, dishonesty and being disingenuous.
The problem is the unsophisticated approach of these folks to issues under discussion, and the single dimensional nature of their understanding that prevents them from viewing issues other than from a single perspective, so that equality of parties is understood from the perspective of strength only, and nothing else.
We are not blind to the obvious fact that parties are not equal in all respects…We are aware that the UDP is far ahead of other parties, in certain areas, like its electoral gains, outreach, organisation, resources, etc, but these considerations do not make it more of a party than the others, as far as the law is concerned .
When we talk about “equality”, we are only talking about equality in status before the law, and as far as the law is concerned, all parties are equal and should be treated equally ( mark you: This is different from how the regime implements the law: that is a completely different matter). Numerous examples abound to proof this, but just two will do the job…
(i)…registration fees : for presidential candidates, the fee of 1million Dalasis is applied across the board…why : because it is status as a political party, not strength, that is considered; the law (for example) doesn’t and couldn’t ask UDP to pay three times more than PDOIS and even Mama Kandeh, who had no previous records at the Presidential Elections, will pay the same fee…
Btw, I have not yet seen anyone putting forth the argument that UDP should pay more registration fees for its candidates because of its size..Why is that argument not being put forth, if size should determine everything..?
(ii)… representation at conferences or meetings : when parties are invited to conferences or meetings, whether at home or abroad, representation is equal across the board. No organiser or organisation will allocate representation based on electoral strength or resources. For example, UDP was not represented at a certain diaspora conference because their leader could not attend, due to sudden commitments on the ground, whilst the organisers claimed they could not fund the trip of his replacement. This proves that only one delegate was allocated to it, just as any other party. Why didn’t they get more delegates than any other, if size is the determinant of everything..?
So, it should be understood that references to equality is only in STATUS and not in strength, but if claims of sacrifice for the Gambia are sincere and genuine, then nothing should be beyond sacrifice to rescue the country from the misrule of Yaya Jammeh, except perhaps, lawfully established democratic principles and those human virtues of honesty, sincerity, selflessness etc, that are desired in every leader…
Not status, or strength or influence or what have you. We should be able to sacrifice all these for the sake of The Gambia..
End…
You haven’t treated the possibility that Sallah, Bah and Kandeh, should step into the forefront and work out a workable coalition formula. Which the udp would be free to join or sail on its own.
I doubt if primary will bring the unity we are craving for. In the contrary, it may even broaden the divide among aspirants who may cry foul play. Just read the foroyaa with Dr. Bojang of ncp, already putting up impossible hurdles among them rejecting primaries as proposed by sallah. Such infringe elements may give you some idea how such a primary among “equals” could turn into a nightmare.
I personally don’t think it is a good idea for Bah, Sallah, Kandeh and the rest to create their own arrangement and leave the UDP to decide whether to go along or go it alone, but it has to be stressed, this is entirely up to them. I think the UDP should be part of any negotiations until it becomes impossible to agree on a format. They would be justified, at that point, as would any of the others, to either go it alone or seek whatever arrangement they can get, to form an alliance of the willing (as some would call it) and the same goes for the rest.
I agree with you that the primary has the potential to widen the divide between the opposition, if it is not handled maturely, properly and sincerely, but the same can be said of any method or process, even a simple meeting to confer leadership on one can create misunderstanding and division. Nothing in life is straightforward and decision making in politics is no exception. The key, I think, is sincerity and a genuine desire to put the national interest first, rather than personal ambitions.
I have read Bah’s and Bojang’s interviews or statements in Foroyaa and listened to Mama Kandeh on youtube and my reaction is that of hope, because there is a general consensus to form an alliance. Of course, they each have differences on the “how”, but that is why the need to sit down, hold discussions and formulate a strategy for the opposition.
Bax said ” I agree with you that the primary has the potential to widen the divide between the oppositions, if it is not handled maturely , properly and sincerely …. Rest of the balabala balabala …., ”
I have been telling you and fellow confused disciples the same thing for over a year but you refused to get that in your indocrinated mind . Even in the most advance democracy , primary process can bring significant division and disunity in the political party and the country much more in The Gambia where we have military dictatorship . It is a very stupid idea from pdois to propose such a divisive strategy which is design to ensure that there would be no unity among the oppositions and to further aid Jammeh to entrench himself in power . Pdois is an agent of military dictatorship because they are not interested to fight to restore rule of law and democracy but they are in politics to legitimize dictatorship and in return their business interest is safeguard and secure . Where in Africa did we hear primary election among opposition parties even in countries with stable democracy like Senegal , South Africa , Bostwana or even Ghana ? The Gambia is not a democracy but a dictatorship which pdois leadership cowardly and dishonestly refused to acknowledge what it is . The mere fact these people refused to acknowledge jammeh’s regime as dictatorship is a clear indication they cannot be trusted and are dishonest political party bend on sabotaging any efforts to change the regime , whether that efforts is military interventions , peaceful demonstration for electoral reforms , any alliance or coalition , refusal to work with any decent Gambian or organizations or even diaspora . Halifa’s rigid mentality and political backwardness is completely responsible for any opposition unity. Everyone pulled out of Nadd for the same clear stupidity and he ended up representing himself in court and as presidential candidate . After all his pseudo political expertise , what is his goals if he continue to offer stupid and divisive proposal which has never been practiced or evidentially tested in anywhere in the world . let him have sensible ideas but unrealistic and rigid ideas will not work in our current political climate . In USA where there is advance democracy , we have seen how divisive primary process in this year presidential election has resulted to many presidential contestants in the Republican Party refused to endorse Donald Trump because of dirty politics involved and those contestants were all from the same political party whereas in the case of The Gambia , the would be contestants will be from different political parties which has not seen eye to eye for the past 22 years . I therefore urge pdois and Halifa sallah to come up with an intelligent proposal which is workable and can be accepted but their current dumb proposal should be discarded into dustbin where it belong .
Max….”I have been telling you and fellow confused disciples the same thing for over a year but you refused to get that in your indocrinated mind.”
Look, there is what is called, “pros” and “cons”, and every action or undertaking has got pros and cons. A primary is one of many ways of selecting candidates, and like every selection process, it has its pros and cons.
What intelligent people do is to maximise the pros and mitigate against the cons to achieve what they want. It is childish to think that I am not aware of the potentials for division in a primary, just because I agreed with Kinteh.
Political selection, by its very nature, has an inherent risk for division and conflict because it is a contest for position which can be competitive..
My advice to you is to change your strategy and desist from this futile attempt to drive a wedge between the opposition parties, especially PDOIS and UDP..I do not see what you are going to achieve.
Good luck. You are entitled to your optimism and good faith.
I just don’t know how the UDP leadership in jail, can spearhead a coalition while the parties poking on equal “veto”, limit themselves with throwing proposals, statements, interviews etc into the public domain.
We all need the luck…And thanks for wishing me the luck..
The situation at the UDP is obviously unhealthy and perhaps, a bit complicated but still, it should not cease to function as a party, if it is to be a national institution. If the party took the decision to continue engaging in politics, then it should be able to be involved in negotiations, if it wants to be part of any alliance..
Bax Don’t mind them (detractors, detached UDP surrogates and toothless disfranchise online cyber warriors)
Just last month July “Gambia: Freedom Radio Special Leral Show: “UDP Has Started Processing And Shortlisting Applications For A Possible Flag Bearer,” Dembo By-Force Declares.
In this special Leral Show Edition, two prominent leaders of Gambia’s main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP). UDP Deputy Leader Aji Yam Secka and UDP National President Dembo By-Force Bojang, have commented on a wide range of burning issues: The illegal jailing of Ousainou Darboe and co; the party’s ongoing efforts to identify a potential flag-bearer in the upcoming Presidential elections.
Both Aji Yam Secka and Dembo By-Force spoke eloquently during the hours long interview in Wollof and Mandinka respectively.
Mr. Dembo Bojang said the UDP has started receiving applications for the position of a UDP flag bearer. The party’s Central Committee has been tasked with the responsibility of determining the most outstanding and “sellable” candidate to represent the party at the ballot box come December, Mr. Bojang said. Notwithstanding, he said, Mr. Darboe, will continue to serve as the party’s Secretary General and leader.
While Ms. Aji Yam Secka could not make any public statement on the issue of the flag bearer, the UDP National President Mr. Dembo Bojang commented extensively on the matter. Bojang said any decision reached on the matter will reflect the wishes and aspirations of the party, its supporters, and partners both at home and overseas.”; reported by Freedom Newspaper.
The party (UDP) has benefited sponsored to organise a sham coalition/alliance rally (under auspices of Gambia United For Change Coalition For The wiling) from GDAG and defunct failed divisive/partisan CORDEG in Nov/Dec 2013, Gambia (United) Democratic (Party) Fund since Fass stand-off and nationwide caravan tour, widely campaigning towards its congress and held a controversial congress (without addressing its leadership crises and clear resolutions on its position on Coalition and December 2016); before April 14 & 16 tragic events unfortunately happen, so no other opposition is responsible for any setback the party is undergoing. The blame game, scapegoating and smearing campaign on PDOIS must stop because PDOIS presented a well documented strategy (Agenda 2016 blueprint) well over 4 years now. PDOIS sensistized on it over and over on it and not relenting till recently Halifa Sallah was interviewed and he stated that “This is our proposal and we have sent it to all the political parties 2 months back in order to get their response.”
Note that “It is only the PDOIS that has stated in black and white what its position is regarding an opposition alliance and how to go about it. They even stated that their proposal is not an imposition but an approach they are putting on the table for consideration by other opposition parties or interested independent aspirants and for them to either endorse or to propose some adjustments or bring something that is more realistic and credible in achieving our common objective of bringing about change”
Latest update from Foroyaa report that “Opposition leaders have been responding to the calls of some young people to unite and form a coalition in order to defeat the Opposition leaders ruling APRC at the December 1st presidential poll.
Foroyaa has so far interviewed Halifa Sallah of PDOIS, Hamat N K Bah of NRP and Dr Lamin Bojang of NCP on the issue.
The UDP Deputy Secretary General has indicated that members of the executive committee are consulting each other and will get back to Foroyaa by today.
Mr Bafulo Manneh, a representative of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), said he will facilitate an interview with Mr. Mai Fatty as soon as he returns to town by 20 August.
Mr Henry Gomez of Gambia People’s Democratic Party (GPDP) promised to get back to Foroyaa before the end of the day when contacted yesterday.
Mr Omar Jallow is understood to be out of the country but efforts are being made to reach him.
As soon as Foroyaa receives a response from any of the remaining leaders it will be published.”
“We have no hindrance anywhere and we are ready to consider what they have. Let them produce what they have so that we put it before the people because the people are going to be the voters. This will allow people to make comparisons of the agendas and know what they should support. We are willing to listen and are open because we just want suggestions. We should not be closed minded,” Sallah concluded.”
Damn! This kinf of remark is quite promising of our entrusted in office, in the future, to be talking like ‘nothing in life is straight forward and decision making in politics is no exception’. Isn’t it? Damn! remark like that is a vote of no confidence in any sophisticated field of politics. You shouldn’t say,’shut up’. I hereby by plead you to do that;.S-H-U-T U-P! Not to shut you down but to pat you up. It is even a much more surprise indeed that you guys prove to be the most outdated politician of our contemporary in not Gambia alone but the whole of Africa.
The more you open your garb, the more irrelevant you sound…Sorry to say, but some of you are becoming a WASTE OF SPACE…
Quote : “Nothing in life is straightforward and political decision making is no exception .”
Damn it…! This statement is getting Ggapm all too excited, and for all the wrong reasons too, thus leading him to all sorts of erroneous conclusions…What’s wrong with this guy..?
Man, it’s not what you’re thinking pal…All it means is that you can’t take anything for granted in life : Like driving; catching the bus or train to work or boarding a flight, etc..It’s not a given (certainty) that you will get there…You may never get to work or to your destiny because there are so many risks and factors involved..
Even putting food in your mouth, may seem straightforward, but it isn’t…There is the risk of choking or food poisoning, etc..So, nothing in life is straightforward …It’s that simple to understand, if you have a clear head…(that is.. )
This is what should be referred to as pure pessimism and backwardness in public space.
@Bax, it is politics and we don’t necessarily have to write or say INSHALLAH though you might be a signatory for the ‘Islamic republic’. Guys! you really need a refresher. You are not in touch with current global democracy standards. You need a breeze outside Gambia just for some days, man! That is a good therapy for you guy’s defused intellects.
@ this dude Max stating this false allegation that;
“Dawda , you are indeed mentally retarded because you failed to realize that you have small mind and you cannot comprehend sensible discussion. Now that udp leadership are in mile two central prison , pdois and other political parties begin to flex their political muscle thinking that imprisonment of udp leadership will only give them political gain. ”
YOU KNEW FULLY WELL THAT IS NOT ACCURATE AND A FALSE MALICIOUS STATEMENT!
On your charges of “flexing muscles” why do you always maliciously pick on PDOIS with frivolous allegations, malicious slanders and smearing campaign? Haven’t we seen the political activities on the ground for UDP? We can allege that UDP is always flexing its muscles because they are campaigning for December 2016 more than any other registered opposition party. When tragic events happen, PDOIS suspended its political activities after a successful Congress, as sign of solidarity and dictates of good conscience or morally to show empathy; whilst newly formed GDC decided to launch the party and did some tours for political rallies and UDP held two already, as PDOIS kept low profile observing trends and developments.
“The PDOIS Presidential Candidate said they had scaled down their open political activities because of the incidents involving Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, the party leader of the UDP, and his party militants. ”
“He said he is still convinced that the members of the UDP should be released. He said, however, that since the UDP has now taken a stance that they will continue with their political activities, PDOIS will again send the proposal to all the parties for their reactions. He expressed confidence that a coalition can make a change in the 2016 presidential election if the primaries could take place in September followed by an effective series of campaign activities in the months of October and November.”
With all the craftiness as Prophets of doom against PDOIS/Halifa Sallah/Foroyaa (among other arrogant bigots peddling bigotry, hate speech and malicious slanders) PDOIS/Foroyaa and its dynamic statesmen are addressing the issues that matters.
Foroyaa Editorial as example what PDOIS/Foroyaa/Halifa Sallah among other PDOIS dynamic leaders BURNING ISSUES they focus on whilst they are being undermine by petty politics;
“QUESTION OF THE DAY
WHAT TYPE OF COMMITTEE HAS BEEN SET UP TO INQUIRE INTO SANDENG’S DEATH AND WHO ARE THE MEMBERS
The court was told that a committee/commission of inquiry has been charged with the responsibility of investigating into Sandeng’s death. The law provides for a Coroner’s Inquest. Why the state has departed from the dictates of the law is a matter of concern.
The media is yet to be invited to any inquiry being done into the death. If any process is ongoing at the moment, the media should be involved so that the public will be aware of developments. Moreover those incarcerated for inquiring whether Solo Sandeng was dead or alive should be released. We will follow the authorities to find out whether there has been any development on this matter.”
Dawda , you should stop reproducing the nonsense from foroyaa or pdois . The lies you spreading here will eventually catch up with you . Foroyaa just made a general analysis and posted a foolish question which they already knew the answer . The editorial of foroyaa is a sham editorial from Halifa and his fellow confused disciples . At the end of foolish contradiction , they indicated that they are going to find out . Find out what . These people are operating as if Jammeh cares about the laws .
MORE WITH FOROYAA: COALITION OR NO COALITION THIS IS THE QUESTION
The burning issue of the day in political circles is the debate on coalition among the opposition. Many people are giving the impression that the vast majority of voters who are ready to vote for the opposition are calling for a coalition.
The media is engaging the leaders so that they could explain their parties’ position on coalition building. So far the NCP and PDOIS have taken concrete position on how to build a coalition. The NRP has promised to send its proposal to the alliance formed by the opposition. The UDP is engaged in consultation and the rest of the parties are also getting ready to put their position across. Foroyaa will continue to publish the views as they are made.
September will be a decisive month and it is important that the views of the political parties on how to build a coalition are known to everyone. The only way to prevent the public from being caught by surprise is for each to make its position public so that the voters will be able to determine the best option for the opposition.
Dawda , NCP and PDoIs are more of the same because they are both agents of dictatorship . Dr Bojang is a political prostitute who is looking for his selfish opportunity while pdois is only in this game to safeguard their business interest . NCP is not a credible party because it’s leadership has openly contributed to dictatorship , Dr Bojang was for Jammeh before he became aganist him. In fact if these leaders are truly concerned about The Gambia , why did they refused to stand up since day one and fight for democracy , rule of law and constitutionalism which udp has been fighting for in every step of the way . Udp has scars and victims to show for while majority of these small parties are in alliance with Jammeh either openly or secretly in their tactics or strategy . The problem we have is simply lack of honesty , complete lies and deception which are so prevalent in our politics and daily lives in dealing with issues of national concern . Lack of decency and hypocrisy are hallmark of some of these politicians . They are not geniune and they do not have decency in their characters . Innocent citizens are currently locked up while some are killed but these leaders kept quite and never bothered to step up to fight for their release or electoral reforms. Solo Sanderg was killed on the behalf of The Gambia and they never bothered to even say a word about that then they come with their foolish and selfish idea to revive or formed a new party for their selfish interest knowing fully well that without electoral reforms , they stand little Chance to win the election .
No substance, incoherent diatribe or empty rhetoric and rubbish!
Time waster.
Borne…
(1)…If the area where you live define “major party”, as the one with the most delegates, that is their problem, but it is not a universal definition for the concept (of major party). There is more to that concept than just number of delegates to whatever..
(2)…What do you mean by, “Respect constitutional votes “…? Can you explain that a bit..?
As far as I know, constitutionality of the votes in The Gambia is restricted to the period for which they were meant and for the purpose specified..
And yes, in that case, they (the votes) should not only be respected, but it becomes obligatory and mandatory on all to accept them as constitutional entitlements to political represention : office or position.
However, “respect” should not be confused with “obligation”, but unfortunately, that is what many are doing with regards to alliance building efforts…
What many argue is that it is obligatory and mandatory for the UDP to lead any alliance due to their electoral records, but this is not true..They deserve respect for their achievements, but no one is under any obligation to accept that as entitlement to position, for ALL times and ALL periods…
Borne, You seem to be new to me in the forum and I don’t don’t know why you have your name spelled like this. As usual I don’t hesitate to pick up trash strewn around no matter how difficult to recycle.
I consider all opposition votes and votings within opposition coalitions, united front or however nerds call it, as constitutional votes in a state of impunity. This might be the invincible Borne’s view too.
“I consider all opposition votes and votings within opposition coalitions, united front or however nerds call it, as constitutional votes in a state of impunity.”
Well, if you had made that clear from the start, I will have no issue with it because now, it sounds like a personal viewpoint. In your earlier comment, it came across as a statement of fact that others must respect and act in accordance with…
That was why I responded but if you had presented it as your personal opinion, I would not have bothered. We are all entitled to view the votes anyhow we want and that will not be a problem, unless we also make the claim that others must not only respect that view point, but act accordingly..
NOTE!
These points below can help the records straight and citizenry understand the various opposition party positions as we (citizenry especially dissidents) are keenly disappointed on the procrastination, failures and impasse to UNITE (through coalition or alliance and build UNITED NATIONAL FRONT)!
1. PDOIS is only opposition party with clear coalition strategy and well written Agenda 2016 blue, resolutions and proposals on the table advocating for Grand Coalition (and all opposition front uniting under one umbrella as UNITED NATIONAL FRONT), propagating it over 4 years now.
2. I can declare that these other opposition parties including NRP, NCP, PPP, GPDP and newly formed GDC; ALL have effectively endorsed UNITED NATIONAL FRONT (of Grand Coalition) for December 2016 (except UDP & GMC)!
3. GMC rallied behind UDP under its “Party led”coalition or alliance strategy in 2011 and advocating for (UN-ACHIEVABLE BY DECEMBER 2016) “NO ELECTIONS WITHOUT REFORMS AND WITHOUT YAYA JAMMEH December 2016” but maintaining still committed to its special relationship with UDP.
4. UDP is on its own pursuing “Party led” coalition or alliance agenda, waiting other opposition parties to rally behind them. Isn’t it interesting?
5. To date there is no well organise all opposition parties meeting for serious formal DIALOGUE to address the contentious issues and strategise for December 2016; as PDOIS awaits to hear from them.
Scary 2016 end of year for all dissidents against Yaya jammeh/APRC for last 100 days!
Mr. Halifa Sallah, the Presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Organisation Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), said the solution is for each of the opposition parties to identify its presidential candidate and then for them to jointly conduct a nationwide primary for people to select the best person who should be the coalition flag bearer.
Sallah said this in an exclusive interview with this reporter at the PDOIS office in Churchill Town on Tuesday, August 09, 2016.
However Halifa Sallah calls for a primary to select the best Candidate!
Ggapm…
I responded to a view point that Mr Sallah, Mr Jallow & Mr Bah are “irrelevant” because “they were nowhere to be found when it mattered”..
My response, intended to expose the foolishness and shallowness of such thinking (because opposition cannot be defined by 14/16th events alone), was that 99.99% of Gambians do not matter then, because they too, were nowhere to be seen when it mattered…(notice that there was no distinction between the voters for PDOIS, UDP,etc)
Your response was that Mr Sallah should show the 99.99% of Gambians “how”, and not the other way…and that the UDP Leadership has done that..(notice here that you too made no distinction, and there is no reason why I should see a distinction).
My subsequent response was to ask you to forget Mr Sallah and only consider relevance of voters from the angle of the UDP Leadership, since according to you, they have showed the 99.99% “how”. (Again no distinction made ). So why are you accusing me of lying…?
If you have always been thinking of PDOIS voters alone, in relation to Mr Sallah, why didn’t you say so from the start…? Is it obvious from your response that you were making a distinction between UDP and PDOIS voters within the 99.99%..? Definitely, not to me…
Now, it seems that you have shifted the bar by making a distinction between the voters for the different parties, but you still have not solved the problem.
My response will be : forget about Mr Sallah; forget about PDOIS voters; Let’s assume that they are all “irrelevant”. Let’s think about UDP voters alone…Let’s remind ourselves that at the last presidential, around 10, 000 voted for the UDP camp..
Are they relevant …? By your standard, they are, if they were seen when it mattered.. They aren’t, if they were not seen when it mattered. Let’s see how you deal with that problem…(just leave Mr Sallah and his PDOIS voters out of the equation for a sec.)
Also : Did Mr Sallah promise those PDOIS voters, on any political platforms he graced, that he will be holding demonstrations if they voted for PDOIS..? Mr Sallah can only show the way if he remained committed to what he promised on his political platforms. Anything else, is entirely up to his discretion…
For the records, I do not hold the view that relevance in Gambian politics is defined by the events of 14/16th April, and don’t think any who is actively involved is irrelevant..Just to clarify, least I get accused of saying that UDP voters are irrelevant. Not sure what some people on this forum are “on”..
Bax, surely to yourself, nothing is straight forward in life and decision making in politics except what comes from your mouth and what will go down it.
If you did not hold the view that relevance in Gambian politics is not defined by the 14/16th april, you could have objected to whosoever does in the unfolding debates but arrogance might have been the reason for some folks failures in reacting to others comments at the right time. I don’t think there are any irrelavant voters in general being it Udp’s, Pdois, or any other opposition political party’s voters whether sophisticated or not in political affairs.
The biggest dictators known on earth have first of all, bit by bit, condemned opposition votes and opinions to be irrelevant and gradually elections itself before imposing themselves life long rulers, as Jammeh presently is trying to play at, with the enabling minds of Pdois and likes, in the hope that a king may appoint them president without consulting the ordinary citizenry. You didn’t say someone’s got be a dreamer for nothing.
Bax, say that to General Buhari and Abdulai Wadda that they cannot be electable. After four attempts, they were able to win the election as president. No more lies and short-cuts The person with support all over the country and obtaining 36% of the votes or more and somebody with 2% and no support in 75% of the country. Who has a better chance of wining the elections. You folks need to face the reality and accept that PDIOS is a smaller party and they have to work with the UDP if they are serious about removing Yaya Jammeh from power. It is irrelevant who formed and joined the UDP because after all it is a diverse party that is accommodating to all Gambians regardless where they are from. PDOIS is a two-man party and not welcoming to others to join. Absolutely, you cannot compare the two or any other party in the country with UDP.
Janjanbureh, pdois is little party of three people. For me it is fun to have discussion with these people and I tried my best to educate them but they are out of their mind.
For Dawda, he never think for himself because he keep reproducing what Halifa has written. Yero Ba also did the same thing, so there is no independent thinking in their characters.
Jangjanbureh, I’ve never said anything about “electable” or “unelectable”, so why are you addressing your response to me..?
Well, Buhari was not anointed as leader of the new party they created through a merger..He contested a convention that did not give him any special status or position…He had equal opportunity of being elected as leader, as any of the other aspirants…
Wade….! It’s good that you mentioned him because now, from their experience, we know what can happen when the major opposition party is allowed to lead, without a clearly defined transitional programme.
Didn’t we see the fallout of the SOPI coalition partners, after they got into government …?
Didn’t we see the same political, economic and social problems afflicting the Senegalese population, much the same way as under Joof…?
Didn’t we see the SOPI alliance metamorphosing into a ruling party PDS “dictatorship”…?
Didn’t we see attempts to entrench the PDS so that it can dominate Senegalese politics, much more than the PS ever desired…?
The reality is that no party can get into government by themselves, no matter how well they performed as 2nd best, because there is no place for 2nd best under our system…Therefore, there is no justification for any party to demand to lead, as the dominant partner, whilst others should be content with just tagging along, like trailers being drawn by a truck..
Good luck but I don’t think any serious party would agree to that because the outcome is quite obvious…
POINTS AND STATEMENTS OF FACT!
1. There is nothing that can make UDP Leader eligible to contest 5th time in December 2016 elections and UDP had the chance to address its leadership crises at the congress.
2. PDOIS is a major opposition party with dynamic political leaders.
3. PPP (progeny or parent political party of UDP) is greater than UDP!
WHEN WILL UDP MILITANTS AND PARTY SURROGATES LEARN (BE WELL INFORM OF NATURE OF GAMBIAN POLITICS)?
Max I agree with you but these three have managed to play the role of spoilers for over a decade. Give the devil its due. Together with their disciplines they think they are more educated and more aware than the average Gambian.
PDOIS has power in Gambian politics. The just say hell no policy and it is our way or the highway is working if you take a critical look at the cult like organization.
The Gambia owes you for the role you have taken to expose PDOIS.
NOTE! UDP CAN HELD HOSTAGE OPPOSITION FRONT IN COALITION BUILDING BUT AM DECLARING THAT;
1. UDP WILL NEVER DEFEAT APRC!
2.A UDP PRESIDENT AND UDP GOVERNMENT IS NOT LIKELY DECEMBER 2016! NEVER CAN UDP DEFEAT APRC IN ELECTIONS UNLESS ALL OPPOSITION PARTIES FORM A GRAND COALITION UNDER UNITED NATIONAL FRONT UDP WILL NOT TASTE POWER!
3. THOSE FRANCHISE (ELECTORATES) WILL DECIDE DESTINY OF THE NATION DECEMBER 2016!
Please let the people (citizenry) understand that in the Gambia we have multiparty democratic system and a single majority not second round of voting.
Where there is a second round of voting then a bigger party with the higher percentage will lead as president or prime minister.
All those points above have been well studied and addressed by PDOIS. PDOIS made proper sound pragmatic resolutions on them, considered challenges opposition front is faced with tyrannical government of Jammeh/APRC, produce Agenda 2016 blueprint and sensitise on it; whilst UDP have not done nothing to address its leadership crises and strategy to woo other registered political parties on a coalition/alliance (under a UNITED NATIONAL FRONT); as December 2016 election approaching 3 months away!
To avoid any self perpetuation rule and leap frog of democracy, any flag bearer and potential Presidential candidate is not hand picked (or done through back door deals) but nominated, granted consensus and popular mandate through democratic process, why PDOIS Primaries proposed matters? It is feasible and fair for all contestants (from party flag bearers and any credible Independent candidate) under multiparty system.
Unity is the KEY for December 2016, so opposition parties should have been or must be ready for proper decisive decisions against time constraint. By now with all the abusive buffoonery of arrogant failed leader and monster, persecutions by mob rule, bad governance, poor economy and suffering of the masses we (especially UDP militants) should have stop the partisan politics. There’s only one Gambia and national unity, compatriotism, solidarity and esprit de corps (among other common or mutual political fraternity).
HOWEVER NO OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTY WILL RALLY BEHIND ANOTHER UNDER A MULTIPARTY SYSTEM! IN EFFECT THERE MUST BE A DIALOGUE FOR CONSENSUS!