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IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO GO
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IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO GO
IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO GO
BY MUSA CAMARA
Political parties are meant to be institutions that provide alternative programs to one another as to which direction a country takes. They are constituted by citizens of a country who all see themselves as equals and compete amongst themselves for the various portfolios in their parties through the democratic process that sometimes serves as precedence as to how their governments will look like when they come to power. In most instances, they do not have any individuals that are synonymous to the parties even though they may have founding leaders or leaders at a particular period of time. The leaders are always replaceable when they become unpopular either within their parties or with the general populace. They are characterized with institutional stardom not individual stars whose exit means the demise of the parties. However, this is not case with the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction [APRC] or United Democratic party [UDP] or the National Reconciliation Party [NRP]. In these parties, the decisions of leaders are edits to be followed without questioning. There are very little if any democratic process or checks and balances in these parties.
With the APRC, the party leader Yaya Jammeh can end the membership of anyone including elected members of the National Assembly and as a result the end of their representations of their constituents. As the head of the government in power, he rules with iron fists without adherence to the rule of law, accountability, transparence, and social and political justice.
In the APRC, members of the party who are also citizens of The Gambia are hijacked for the sole purpose of the leader’s use and abuse. No one challenges his self-apportioned authority that also reaches the state level. The leader can bury anyone “six feet under the ground” for perceived insubordination. The leader is “divine” sent by God, who also happens to have a “World Bank” beyond the reach of citizens to make deposits or write checks to. The only way for the members of that party to be equal and the party to be democratic and respect the dignity of citizens is for Jammeh to go. Yes, indeed, it time for Jammeh to go.
With the UDP, it is not much different as the party itself is not democratic in its operation. It may have the best constitution a lawyer can write, but it is just a mere lip service without any credibility to it. There is no competition within the party. (Remember the Soviet Union was known for claiming to have the most democratic constitution that was in fact nothing but nonsense in practice.) There is no competition within the UDP. The leader of the party, Ousainou Darboe, is considered a “Messiah” prophesized generations ago to lead the nation. Consider what he said about his predestined leadership in an interview with the Independent Newspaper:
My great-great-grand father, Dobo Kemo was a man closer to God in the Spiritual sense. His history explained that he had asked God to bestow blessings on his family descendants. So before he died, he promised that within the seventh generation of his lineage would be born, learned, wealthy or a people of leadership or authority.
Isn’t this a backward way of thinking for a twenty-first century politician? The only way for such a party to be truly democratic and to be own by the people, it is for Darboe to go. Yes, indeed, it is time for Darboe to go, too.
To add insult to injury, considered the so-called Messiah’s arrogance when asked a question by a reporter of Radio Free Gambia:
We want to see the response of The Gambians to NADD and I think we want to use Njawo and Nyanija as a test case as to whether or not The Gambians really mean what they say.
He further went on to say that:
In fact, personally, I think [the election] will serve as the barometer for gauging the seriousness of The Gambians of their commitments to NADD.
Isn’t this insulting to The Gambian people? Notwithstanding, the people know what it means for him: it is time for Darboe to go.
What is worst for the UDP is the inability of the party’s leadership to handle simple truth. Its members constantly manufacture lies prelature by the leadership for cheap political propaganda and character assassination of their opponents. This is the party that is obsessed with lies and ran out of options but now manufactures that Mr. Halifa Sallah was a member of the Constitutional Review Commission. A machinery of falsehood now engineers their campaign, because their imaginative capacity that started faltering has now ground to a complete halt. To put it in a different paradigm, the party is suffering from chronic stage of impotency for sound ideas. The only hope of salvation for the UDP’s credibility reads: it is time for Darboe to go.
Things are equally worst for the NRP. Its leader, Hamat Bah, has arrogated himself the authority to sign “secret deals” on behalf of the country without any mandate to do so. He has apportioned himself disproportionate share of the national cake through “secret deals, but without any legitimacy to do so. He has done so many compromises that; he is now a compromised fellow himself. What is most insulting is the report that he was infuriated by the NRP representative who voted for the nomination of Mr. Omar Jallow to be NADD’s flag bearer. He was believed to have said that he did not instruct his party’s representative, for that matter, a Sovereign Gambian to vote for Mr. Jallow. Isn’t this abuse of democracy and insulting to the people of his own party? The only way for the NRP to be democratic is for its members to seize control of their party by getting rid of Mr. Bah. Yes, indeed, is it time for Bah to go, too.
To conclude, the political careers of Yaya Jammeh, Ousainou Darboe and Hamat Bah are consequences of a single historical accident. It is anger begotten from reaction after reaction after reaction without any sensible solutions for the nation. They were only parts of the problem, but they have now degenerated to be the problem. Their political careers are not good for The Gambia’s health to consume and they must be thrown to the tumbrels. For the sake of The Gambia, our dear motherland, it is time for them go. Vote NADD September 2006!
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Posted on Friday, August 11, 2006 (Archive on Tuesday, August 29, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI
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