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Momodou
Denmark
11821 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Oct 2009 : 14:46:42
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Halifa Sallah's Letter to Umaru Fofana of the BBC
By Halifa Sallah
Please find attached information concerning governance in the Gambia and the sub-region which may be useful to you. I appreciate your perception of PDOIS and me as a political figure. You have read the cover of the book. In your future trips I hope you will be able to go beyond the cover to read the content in order to know the facts behind what, to you, appeared like historical and philosophical escapades. Facts may appear like fiction if they are not backed by sufficient research. You came to write an article and not a book. Let’s take your first article as the preface. I am convinced that history will prove that we belong to a generation of African personalities who see leadership not as status but as a selfless service to the people.
History will also confirm that we are slow in taking charge not because of the lack of political viability but because of our determination to combat the politics of patronage which stifles the sovereignty of the person and plunges him or her into political servitude while nurturing the politics of enlightenment which empowers and enables the person to be an equal partner in shaping our collective destiny. We have promised to give Africa an example of the type of governance which is fit for a sovereign people and we will give that example. We certainly would like to take the back seat. We however cannot afford to give up before we achieve our mission. I have been offered Ministerial posts by Jammeh twice but declined his offer. I therefore hope that you will come to understand that we belong to a generation of political activists who are not hungry for power and who have the unenviable task of clearing the ground so that a genuine multi party system could emerge in our countries.
We started as public servants and went into the arena of political representation when we discovered that implementing the wrong policies with honesty would never lead to the eradication of poverty, We had no patron when we established a party and had no money to patronize anyone. We worked to maintain the party like a family man and woman works to maintain a home. A public servant who wanted to contest for elections in the first Republic had to resign from his or her post and forfeit all entitlements. We had to trek the countryside like bare foot political activists. We used carts to reach certain remote areas. We started to educate a peasantry who never went to school and knew nothing about the role of the executive, parliament, the judiciary, taxation and public services to know the sources of public wealth and its function in the delivery of public services. We concentrated on giving civic education without any patronage. It is important for you to understand that from 1987 up to 1994 PDOIS played the role of a civic educator and most Gambians who became exposed to constitutional and Human Rights matters owe their exposure to the party. Some even used to joke that we should turn the party into an NGO.I remember an incident out of the many incidents when a village head took a cutlass and insisted that we will not be allowed o hold a meeting in his village in Sambang. It created a big upheaval. We went ahead and started our civic education approach to politics. The whole village was as silent as a grave yard until the end of our meeting. The only way I knew that the village head was resting at the village meeting point known as the Bantaba to listen when I asked a villager to lead me to his residence so that I could apologise to him. He pretended to be infuriated when i approached him only to be sending greetings later after our departure. This ground breaking experiences continued in places like Fass saho where we had difficulty in conducting political education at the beginning only to earn so much support now that the people attempted to lift our transport when we launched our campaign in 2006. Those who were capable of the highest level of sacrifices were encouraged to handle position of leadership through elections at periodic congresses. Since no privilege was attached to such positions we have never experienced a power struggle. In terms of determining candidature for National Assembly elections the party members in the Constituency had full authority to select their candidates by consensus or voting.
After seven years of existence the coup d’etat of 1994 came. We were offered two Ministerial posts but we rejected both and called for movement towards a Democratic and Constitutional mode of governance. There is no sign of any hunger for power. PDOIS and all other parties were banned. PDOIS resisted the ban and its leaders went through arrests, detention and trial. Its leaders refused for their voices to be silent despite the ban. Instead of spending the two years of the ban to save money and prepare for campaign once the ban was lifted they continued to conduct civic education on all the transitional instruments such as the draft constitution, the elections decrees and the rights of sovereign citizens. One does not have to be a political scientist to be able to explain what happened in 1996, after the transition. The coup makers established their own party and their own system of patronage which relied on the granting of posts and economic privileges to consolidate political support. Many young people also felt that a revolution has taking place and that our rejection of the ministerial posts did tantamount to betrayal of the revolution because of intellectual pomposity. On the other hand, the banning of the former ruling party and the main opposition party of the first Republic gave birth to the alliance of their members into a new political party. The former ruling party had its money, resources and linkages based on patronage. The former opposition party had its links and structures. The un-banning of party political activity took place in less than a month before elections. Hence it favoured the new ruling party which attracted members from all the political parties and the alliance of the former ruling party and the former major opposition party. The PDOIS continued to enlighten the people and build its branches between 1997 and 2002 having lost most of its youthful support base to the new ruling party that again offered ministerial post after it won the 1997 election with the objective of forming an AFPC –PDOIS coalition Government. The offer was again rejected which is another proof that we were not power hungry but wanted a genuine democratic start for the country. I wanted you to see very clearly that PDOIS was a strong political force which had more influence in shaping political minds in the country than any political party but had not been able to muster resources to display enough political clout to convince the people that it could take over the country in an election. Hence the party remained as a strong civil rights organisation which comes to the defence of all in distress. This sounds very philosophical or apologetic but it is the truth. PDOIS’ importance is recognised every where but it has not been able to transform it into votes until the 2002 National Assembly elections when it took over leadership of the parliamentary opposition in the National Assembly. I told you that as of 2002 we had the resources and the influence to build the party into a major one which could win elections. Plans were made to hold a country wide tour after the rains in 2003 and then a Congress December in order to prepare the ground for the Giant leap forward.
It is at this point that I was appointed Coordinator of an Alliance of all the opposition parties which were not allied to the ruling party. We could not reject the position without being accused of political opportunism in wanting to go it alone because of the advantages we were enjoying. Two proposals were made to the opposition leaders. One featured the possibility of forming an alliance six months before the holding of Presidential election that will allow the party which appears to be having the greatest popularity to provide the flag bearer of the alliance. The second was to form an umbrella party which will select its own presidential candidate and oversee a transitional programme of five years and stand dissolved leaving a level ground for all political parties to seek the mandate of the people under a free and fair voting system. The National Alliance for Democracy and Development emerged from the dialogue as the umbrella party. It swallowed PDOIS and the other opposition parties and became a viable opposition front which won many by- elections and was leading in the popular vote in all the by -elections held before the 2006 Presidential elections.
The Alliance had to select its Presidential candidate through the principle of unanimity or a primary. Before the selection or election of a candidate two parties left the alliance. The three other parties met barely three months before the presidential election to select a Presidential Candidate through the Principle of Unanimity. Time was already against NADD This was the first time I could not reject the candidature. I requested to be allowed to negotiate with the other side so that one candidate would emerge. The permission was given. However after almost a month of dialogue it became apparent that we were just wasting valuable time. Hence two months before elections we went to the drawing board to plan our campaign. The Campaign Chairperson proposed that he should first lead a campaign around the country without the flag bearer. The Campaign chairperson of NADD was the mobiliser of the UDP in 2001 and fell out with them. Hence in his tour of the country he devoted most of his time in exposing the UDP/ NRP coalition as betrayers. The UDP/NRP campaign team also spent time accusing him of insincerity. I as flag bearer of NADD was only able to tour the country within a period of two weeks leading to the elections. My original decision was to withdraw and allow the Presidential election to be a two way race if the reception during the Campaign was poor. Unfortunately for me the people turned out in their numbers. However, after the UDP/NRP Alliance followed our campaign trail it became clear to many that the opposition parties were at each other’s throat. Hence many abstained from voting.
I did not hide the truth when I said that at the time of your coming the most important issue the country was confronting is the incarceration of the 6 journalists. I emphasised that in terms of intra party democracy PDOIS had planned to hold a Congress in March but it was interrupted by my arrest in connection with my campaign to put an end to the abduction of our people by so called witch doctors. I added that we pushed it to July and it was again interrupted by the trial of our journalists and their eventual incarceration.
I made it clear that since the party of the Campaign Chairman of NADD, that is NDAM, has also left the Alliance PDOIS has to hold a congress to put its house in order. I made it clear that in order to move to the campaign of issues I am proposing a non partisan alliance of the people for change in 2011. I did emphasise that the Omnipotence of the executive in the exercise of power without scrutiny or restraint by parliament, the judiciary, civil society or the population at large could only be demystified by a credible opposition force. It is my duty to help build such a credible political force which will help to establish a genuine multi party democracy which will guarantee genuine intra-party democracy.
Allow me to mention to you in passing that at the moment, no civil servant could even hold an office in a political party without resigning one’s post in government service. No public servant could contest elections without going on leave without pay for one year. Many people are interested in contesting for political leadership of parties or participate as candidates but are discouraged by such draconian legislation.
In my view you should come back and take time to listen to any one who has a history to tell. I am sure you will end up indicting, not only the political parties in the Gambia but also the system for not providing an environment conducive enough to ensure the development of multi party democracy. You should then find out what each political party is doing to build intra- party and multi party democracy in the Gambia.
I have the honest opinion that you left the Gambia with an incomplete picture of the state of politics in the country. The comments made at the final stage of your broadcast on the Gambia gave the wrong image of mainstream Gambian politics. You captured the old trend but failed to capture or register the new trend. You thought I was philosophizing when I insinuated that the old trend was disintegrating and dying while the new trend is arising and developing, that a new political force must be created to give the new trend focus and vitality. Many analysts of African Politics do not distinguish political parties from political forces. Look at South Africa. The opposition parties are indeed very weak but who would deny the strength of the political forces which seek to shape government policy on a daily basis. Is there a need for a new opposition force to consolidate the will of such people into a political bloc? I indicated that in the Gambia there are many people in the ruling party and other opposition parties who are no longer satisfied with the existing state of things. I emphasised that there is crisis of credibility in Gambian politics and that all leaders who are worth the salt should do something to address that. I told you that I have moved away from looking at partisan issues and was trying to build a grand alliance of the people for change that would go above partisan consideration and work towards the idea of putting in place a transitional agenda and government which will ensure the consolidation of standards for multiparty democracy and establish standards and code of conduct for intra party democracy. I did not try to evade your question. I gave you a diagnostic view of the politics which failed to work because of the absence of a climate for multi party democracy. You took the diagnosis as a confession rather than a sign of realism and candor. I also proposed a solution which will be put before the Gambian people. I suggested that Gambia would need a Toumani Touray type of Candidate who will be campaigned for regardless of party affiliation and whose mandate would be to establish a transitional government which will be in office from two to five years. This period will witness the establishment of an executive that could be scrutinised and restrained by instruments like constitutions, institutions like the judiciary and Parliament, Civil society like the media and other rights oriented associations and the sovereign people at large whose freedom of expression will be respected to the full. I indicated that the transitional government will address the problems of public servants including judges and magistrates to guarantee security of tenure as well as ensure fair remuneration for services, work with Trade Unions and Employer Associations to protect the rights of workers and guarantee fairer remuneration, Work with the Chamber of Commerce to ensure a fairer taxation system for Companies, Work with farmers Associations and Marketing associations to ensure the timely purchase of farmers produce at fairer prices, make farm inputs affordable and accessible on time to farmers; Manage public enterprises so that they pay dividend to government to increase revenue and public employment, reduce government borrowing from financial institutions and direct private finance to the productive base of the national economy so that more tax revenue could be generated from new sources rather than through excessive taxation. The transition government will pursue matters to increase youth employment through public, private, public /private and cooperative ventures and through promotion of bilateral, sub-regional, Continental and International trade on fairer basis. It will provide land to those in the Diaspora and encourage investment possibilities so that they could come home in an organised fashion. It would address the issue of corruption by encouraging self exposure in exchange for leniency which should include protection of source of earnings to take care of immediate families and conversion of loot into productive enterprises and the granting of shares as concession. The government will work with the international Community so that Gambia service persons will go on international duty and allow the country to maintain a small professional force to protect the lives, rights and properties of the sovereign people. During the transition all political parties will have free access to the media and will have full opportunity to take part in establishing standards of intra –party democracy which would be transformed into a code of conduct. The Media and all oversight institutions would come up with their own mechanisms for self regulation to ensure democratic, transparent and accountable conduct.
Finally the person selected would only serve one term and would not seek another mandate or support any other presidential Candidate. I emphasised to you that I will be floating this agenda as a sovereign Gambian to show that politics starts with the sovereign citizen. I told you of my intention to pioneer a Nation-wide debate on the Agenda I refer to as Agenda 2011 and leave the Gambian people to decide to accept, reject or improve on it. I have also emphasised that I do not have to be a Presidential candidate in 2011 and would support any electable person who could earn the trust of those committed to the implementation of Agenda 2011, regardless of whether the person has been involved in partisan politics or not.
I hope this will serve as a reminder that the situation in the Gambia is not hopeless and that there are genuine thinkers in the Gambia who are trying to pave a democratic way forward for the country.
You would agree with me that the day is not far when the last chains of mental slavery shall be broken and the people shall exercise the unrestrained authority to determine their manner of government, unhindered by inducement, intimidation or prejudices based on tribe, language, place of origin, gender, blood ties or class. Some of us are not waiting for that day to come .We are working day and night not to become Presidents for life but to put an end to that monarchical tradition. This is why Agenda 2011 calls for one term for the head of the transitional Government and the establishment of constitutional guarantee of two terms for the executive after the transition.
My mission in life is to consolidate the sovereignty of the people and put an end to all forms of self perpetuating rule. I stood for elections as a Presidential candidate only once and I am willing never to stand again if credible people would emerge who would be ready to lead Gambia’s transition to genuine democracy. I would also like to assure you that if the people ever decide that I should handle the office of President I will do so for only one term with the following conviction: What cannot be done, when one serves one term and leaves others to continue to build upon one’s contribution, can surely not be done even if one is a leader of a country for a hundred years.
I hope I have put the record straight.
Source: Foroyaa Online
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