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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 00:45:23
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NADD’S FLAGBEARER’S STATEMENT
Continued from Last issue
Now one may ask: What are the prospects for unity and how is it to be achieved?
The proposals continue to come. NADD has responded to Dr. Saine’s proposal. As flag-bearer I am inspired by the fact that the people themselves have become the mediators.
A day hardly passes without men women, and young people approaching me to express their concerns. From these encounters it is incontrovertible that people are interested in an alliance and not individual party politics. If I am wrong I stand to be corrected. In no where do we find people promoting the principles, policies, programmes and practices of their individual parties. If this was the case there would not have been any need for consultation. In short, it is the right of each individual to support the party of his/her choice. On the other hand, individual parties may consider it necessary to forge an alliance. An alliance may be done out of necessity or convenience.
In an alliance of convenience the partners can go their separate ways without any impact on each others support base. For example, if the APRC/NCP were to split today each is likely to retain its previous support base before their Alliance.
Conversely, in an alliance of necessity the partners separate to their mutual detriment. This has been the case of the opposition in Togo.
In my view, it is the situation on the ground which should determine whether an Alliance is necessary or not. In some situation an Independent candidate can even sweep the polls if the masses decides to turn their backs against the existing opposition and ruling parties as had happened in Mali, in the case of Tumani Touray and Guinea Bissau in the case of Vierra. UDP in the Gambia is even an example of how an alliance can be forged on the basis of necessity. In short, it is the member of the parties who were banned who decided to establish the UDP and then select someone to lead who never stood as a candidate. The wave enable him to gain 34% of the votes. This confirms that finding the right type of alliance is not an arithmetic or academic exercise. It requires appreciation of the general political mood of the population in a country.
To cut a long story short, at this very juncture one can traverse the length and breath of the country without noticing any encouragement for any individual opposition party to contest the forthcoming Presidential elections. The clarion call is for an Alliance to be forged.
Since time is against the opposition what is important is gauge what the two alliances are offering The Gambian people as the basis of unity and express their preference of the best way forward before the end of July.
In this regard, it is important to note that the UDP/NRP alliance advocates for a Mr. Darboe/Mr. Bah Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket. According Mr. Hamat Bah the Alliance will empower Mr. Darboe to appoint his own cabinet. There is no indication that Mr. Darboe as the UDP/NRP flag bearer will be restricted to a one term limit.
On the other hand, NADD stands for the candidates of the alliance to be determined by consensus or primary. In any subsequent negotiation such a method can still be applicable. Furthermore, NADD calls for a cabinet derived from representatives of member parties and civil society. Thirdly, the flag-bearer shall be restricted to one term to create precedence for subsequent holders of the office of president to accept a two five year term limit.
The NADD also calls for a National Assembly that can check the powers of the president so that he/she shall not violate his/her mandate.
The UDP/NRP alliance has not spelt out how the National Assembly will be constituted under their alliance.
How are these differences to be narrowed? These are the fundamental questions we need to address with immediacy.
Conscious of the situation in the country, I wish to reiterate again that we are going through the most decisive phase of our history. This is all the more so when it is acknowledged that the regime is determined to cling on to power by relying on all desperate means. The revelation that 94, 000 persons have been registered in a supplementary registration of voters marked with controversy confirms the state of crisis of the electoral system. Registration has been suspended and is likely to be resumed while presidential election is scheduled to take place on 22 September. The IEC Chairman was subjected to such a high degree of pressure by APRC party operatives who were given access to national TV to denounce his administration that he had to show open bias by consulting the APRC leader without consulting opposition leaders. The outrageously corrupt registration practices are naked to all eyes, yet some APRC chairwomen are in fact using Rambo’s case to threaten some members of the opposition who may not know their rights. The opposition is facing an electoral emergency. The lesson to draw is that the opposition is urged by the dictates of circumstances to unite. Five years under a united opposition which enables any aspirant to prepare the ground to seek a future mandate is better than five more years under APRC regime.
As far as I am concerned, I accepted to be considered to be flag-bearer not because I thought I had a larger constituency than anyone but because I thought that I will be accepted as a tool by all the political constituencies which form the alliance. When I saw messages from some constituencies I declared that I will be willing to handover my role to anyone who can be promoted and accepted by all the political constituencies. This is my stand. However, where we fail to find such a consensus I will not betray the people.
To conclude, allow me to take exception to any notion that I had stood for elections and gain only 20%. I have never been a presidential candidate. I had 8500 to UDP’s 8000 votes in the 1997 parliamentary elections. I won my seat without any alliance in 2002. I retain the seat under an alliance in 2005 by elections. In my view, all votes are important and those who are really interested in change will not be saying tings that will antagonize others. They will say things that will unite. Each of us has a duty to perform. History will be the judge of us all. The future doe not lie in the hands of leaders. It lies in the hands of those who make leaders. It is for the leader to propose. It is for the people to decide. There is still hope.
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Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
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