Editorial

The political apathy, is a  rejection of  Jammeh's one-man government

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By Mathew K Jallow

It was not quite the re-play of the tragic PPP Mansa Konko Congress, of many years ago, yet the reelection of Ousainou Darboe as head of UDP is bound to have consequences for his party and The Gambia for years to come. For one thing, logical inference dictates that Ousainou Darboe might just have accepted his last nomination and reelection as leader of the UDP; secondly, the certainty of a continuous political future for him as UDP leader is bound up with the outcome of the 2011 elections.

UDP's Ousainou Darboe on the campaign trail

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This duality, and the rank and file supporters’ temerity to impose accountability on the UDP political leadership, has the potential to achieve for The Gambia what PPP had an opportunity to do, but fail to, at that ill-fated Mansa Konko Congress so many moons ago. The upcoming elections will determine whether Ousainou Darboe will occupy the State House as our first democratically elected president over the past decade and half, or if he will be compelled to step down after the elections to allow a new leadership to assume the reins of power and rebuild the party to their image ahead of the elections of 2015. The criticality of the political situation and the dire and urgent need for change combine to cast the UDP as a potentially transformational party that can usher in new parameters for political leadership selection.

PPP's Omar Jallow (OJ) reflecting

Any democratic change of leadership at the UDP soon after the elections of 2011, will become a precedent and the gold standard that the other political parties will be compelled to abide by. In this context, a voluntary or party imposed term limit, which could result in Ousainou Darboe’s replacement soon after the elections will be a crucial measure of the kind of democratic tradition we will embrace both for our political parties and in our post-Jammeh governance. As the opposition with the largest following, UDP has a unique opportunity to set the stage for the future of our political landscape, and it is an obligation, which requires UDP to reject the old notions of personality politics and the attendant cult cultivation that goes with it. The enduring challenges to the success of our politics has been the lack of vision and wisdom to surrender party leaderships to other obvious capable replacements, primarily because like elsewhere across Africa, self centeredness and egotism has been the driving force behind the cunning and mischievous calculations of some of our political party leaders.

NRP'S Hamat Bah making a point

If our future democracy is to succeed at the national level, the cultures in our political parties, which have impeded and held the development of our politics merely to personalities, must be rejected and jettisoned once and for all. The political paradigms are changing around us, and we must refuse to remain the political Neanderthals in our part of Africa.

The UDP and other political parties in our country, must be cognizent of the fact that the winds of change are fanning across our beleaguered and drugs infested West African sub-region. The recently concluded elections in Guinea last week and the overthrow on President of Mamadou Tandja of Niger mark a new beginning in West African politics. In terms of the democratic tradition, Guinea is the new kid on the block, yet by any standard, they have pulled off a stunning first round electoral success. Guinea’s long history of civilian and military dictatorship, beginning with the genocidal and misanthropic Sekou Touray, to his successor, Lansana Konteh, notwithstanding, the peaceful democratic transition about to take place there is worthy of Africa’s pride and adulation.

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PDOIS's Halifa Sallah deep in thought

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And until their elections last week, Guinean’s notion of democracy was entirely a theoretical one, but the pride with which the elections were conducted there, proves that the spirit of democracy and the yearning for freedom is etched in our souls; the heritage of our humanity, and no matter how long a people remain oppressed, that spirit, and the yearning for freedom can never die. Gambians have a lesson to learn from Guinea; a lesson in optimism that one day soon, five or more political parties will roam the length and breadth of our country, campaigning, unhindered and unafraid, in the effort to once again put The Gambia back on the rail tracks, and lumber away towards a new dawn in political development. In our sub region, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, experienced peaceful power transitions, some for several elections cycles, and in those countries, there is no turning back the clock of political maturity. It is our solemn obligation to aspire to follow their example by adamantly rejecting the cult politics of Yahya Jammeh, and there is no better place to begin than at the grassroot and political party levels. Apart from the politics of self-interest that Jammeh has so successfully established in our country, the failed state that Guinea-Bissau has become, is in large part attributable to Jammeh’s meddling in that country’s politics.

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AFPRC's Yahya Jammeh thinking evil

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The covert and stealth activities Jammeh has used to undermine the successive governments in Guinea-Bissau, have contributed in making that country delinquent and ungovernable over many years. And this all began when in the early days of the coup in The Gambia, Jammeh was inspired to create the great Jola hegemony, stretching from The Gambia, across Casamance to Guinea Bissau, only to realize that in Guinea-Bissau too, the Jolas are minisculous in their numbers to sustain such a reckless, adventurous, and ambitious lunacy. And today, like Guinea-Bissau, our country is one of the few countries in Africa still under virtual military and police-state rule, but we deserve better, and more importantly, we must reject the continued imposition of a police-state and military rule, by among other things, repudiating the sham elections held intermittently in our country merely to white-wash the dictatorship in our politics.

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Fishing canoes rest on placcid River Gambia

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As we enter the electioneering season again, the deck is infinitely stacked against our political parties, for whom these elections have become a useless ritual; an exercise in futility, because the chance of winning an election against the determination of an evil tyrant, is not impossible, but it is highly unlikely, particularly under an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, state resources monopolization by Jammeh's criminal AFPRC, and the self censorships that opposition parties have imposed on themselves out of fear of  Yahya Jammeh’s retribution.

The Gambia: have donkey cart; will travel

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But, the political apathy that our people have demonstrated over the past two election cycles, is a clear rejection of the one-man government Yahya Jammeh has instituted in our country, and the fact that a mere third of eligible voters cast their ballots in the last elections, is an opportunity that the opposition parties can exploit to advantage, if they want to hit a home-run and achieve the impossible and the improbable. Otherwise, this election like the past three, will be deja vous all over again. The same sham elections, with nothing changing. No one knows this more than the party leaders themselves; Ousainou Darboe, Omar Jallow, Hamat Bah, and Halifa Sallah. Let us, therefore, pray that God or Allah or Budda, or whatever his name is; will HELP US this time around.

In the interest of full disclosure, the author, Mathew K Jallow, is a member of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP).

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