July 17, 2007 

Gambia People's Democratic Party and Hendry Gomez

National Alliance for Democracy and Development and Halifa Sallah

National Democratic Action Movement and Lamin Waa Juwara

National Reconciliation Party and Hamat Bah

People's Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism and Sedia Jatta

United Democratic Party and Ousainou Darbo 

Dear Colleagues  

State of Opposition Political Parties – Matching-Forward Together 

I'm one Gambian concerned over the unchecked unlimited excesses of the APRC government. I'm not an authority in Gambian Party Politics but I have followed its developments since 1977 when National Convention Party (NCP) first came out. This was followed by the emergence of other political parties all of which has enriched and/or supposed to enrich the civil society exchange on alternatives. However none has ever come closed to assuming office through the ballot. The reasons may be numerous but the most important are structural problems such as no-separation between ruling party and state, the electoral laws, Divisional Commissioner's as Returning Officers, local government functionaries as ruling party politicians, just to name a few. 

This situation was overridden by the military's illegal take over in 1994. The government produced is not what we desire. We have already made several attempts to remove them through the ballot without success. There is no reason to believe that we will succeed in this direction without changes to structural problems affecting electoral processes. Should this be a cause for despair and give-up? I don't think so, instead we should use it as a learning experience to enable us match-forward together. 

Before the last elections we (opposition parties and their supporters) made a noble attempt to put our efforts together to challenge the common opponent but failed. Yet still this is no end of our strengths, resources and intelligence. We had all the good reasons for a union in the preamble of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) but not realistic on how to address those problems. We focused our efforts on challenging APRC at the polls when the electoral laws are/is a decree imposed by that government. We promised to effect desired changes when voted into office instead of demand desired changes from outside. We called for a single-union candidate that does not seem to interest all and above all there is no statistic to support that a single opposition candidate can/will win. We further unnecessarily overburden such person by a 5-year term limit that is not required by the constitution. The end was arguments, accusations, finger pointing and eventually we were on our separate paths.

Today we are all weaker than ever before in our short or long existence. This situation is not helping our people or the purpose of our organizations. We need a change of the status quo. That change cannot and will not come from outside, it has to come from within.  Political party (ies) maybe initiated/formed by an individual and/or a group but they are civil society organizations that are to operate as a democratic institution and participate in the democratization process.   We should endeavor to uphold that roles/functions of the parties we head.  

"Abraham Lincoln and I quote – if we know where we are and something about how we got there, we might see where we are trending – and if the outcomes which lie naturally in our course are unacceptable, to make timely change".  

I called upon you as individual citizens and leaders of these important democratic civil society groups to come together to the service of the people of The Gambia. This time the agenda and the formula of our joint efforts are not to hold on for change to when we go to office, no single opposition candidate at elections and no self imposed term limited. The new agenda and direction is to employ our civil society responsibilities collectively to demand democracy, legal adherence, moral and ethic conducts on all public matters. Upon ensuring the above Gambian people are capable of telling us who they want at State House and for what period regardless to the number of candidates. This is break away from contesting elections to participating in democracy. Among others the following are relevant for democracy to work:- 

1. Demand/ensure the protection of citizens against government harassment for the display of their political affiliation to any political group
2. Demand the removal of decrees in a republican constitution especially the electoral decree
3. Demand for the separation of state and party
4. Demand a better formation and organization of the body responsible of conducting elections across the country with a view to ensure independence
5. Demand for better documentation/accounting of citizens so that only citizens can participate in important national decision making activities.
6. Demand independence of the judiciary; demand the application of the due process of the law on all people regardless for the alleged crime
7. Demand decentralization/autonomy of the local government functionaries such as Divisional Commissioner's, District Chiefs and Alkalis.
8. Demand for freedom of association and speech
9. Demand for uncensored access to public media
10. Demand for uncontrolled/uncensored civil education such as rights, due processes, governance, etc.
11. Demand for undemocratic restriction on the private media and freedom of speech/association
12. Demand for reform of local government administrative structure and roles/functions

It is important to note that most if not all these items cannot be fully addressed in the short term. They would require a long term serious commitment maybe not for ourselves but our children.  Influencing change does not have to wait for anyone to be voted into office. It is our civil right to demand for our rights. The last three elections suggest that we have about 200,000 voters behind the combined opposition camps. This is enough to tell any government of Gambia how serious we are on our demands. We will work within the law but would not hesitate to defend our God given right to life if provoked or attacked either from within or outside. Also these efforts have nothing to do with individuals/parties electoral prospect. Our effort is to ensure a level playing field for all Gambians. 

This will require some institutional changes and/or arrangements. We would need a permanent body to work on whatever we agreed to take on. This body can be the existing inter-party secretariat, NADD or a totally new formed group. All employees of this organization will be on monthly paid salary for the duration of their service. For these costs and other operational costs, we will lunch an aggressive cause marketing and fund raising both within and outside. We already have more than enough cause to ask for funding all around the world. All we do is to present the case and ensure world class accounting of such funds to ourselves and donors.  

As a concerned citizen and true for the hundreds of thousands of your supporters we urge you to match-forward for a democratic Gambia. A democratic Gambia will be a credit to all Gambians and no single party or parties. We would like to stress that we do not have much time to go to work. 

"Confucius and I quote – if a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand. He who will not worry about what is far off will soon find something worse than worry" 

Thank you in advance for your consideration. 

Yours in the service of people of The Gambia 
 
 

Signed: Burama FL Jammeh  
 

Cc: allgambian.net

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