Unite or Perish! Unite or Diaspora Boycott!
Open Letter to the Opposition Parties from the Diaspora.
Fundamental Questions Remain Unanswered
By: Kaba Sallah
The recent Fass Njaga Choi Standoff, in April 2015, has opened a new chapter in Gambian politics. The UDP was able to force Dictator Jammeh and his forces to back down, and let the Freedom Caravan to proceed on a nationwide tour. From all indications, it was a very successful campaign tour of the country, with large and emboldened crowds, and community leaders, coming out openly to speak their mind. There are still plenty of people of conscience, and principle, who came out in droves to show their support for the UDP leader Lawyer Ousainou Dabo. Lawyer Ousainou Dabo is an honorable man, and Gambians do have a credible choice to free us from twenty years of Jammeh’s tyranny.
The UDP Freedom Tour followed on the heels of a successful rally at Brikama, in March, by the PPP and Hon. OJ Jallow. Now that the dust has settled and the euphoria has died down, the fundamental questions about real electoral reforms and a united Coalition remain unanswered. If anything, the recent opposition outings indicate that the people are yearning for leadership, in the face of a deepening and chronic unemployment, worsening economic situation, and hyperinflation, and mass exodus and death of the youth on the Mediterranean Sea. Coalition does not equate a membership drive; it is a temporary union of sovereign parties to accomplish a greater good of removing dictatorship. There will remain issues that need to be resolved. The Diaspora and the people living in tyranny need definitive, unambiguous answers from all opposition parties that they are ready to start the talks immediately, without grudge or preconditions. The opposition parties and leaders need to hold back their egos and look forward, not backwards, without any sense of entitlement.
Unity and Coalition must be part of the campaign slogans to engender a sense of hope in the people. Campaign crowds can be deceiving, and they are not a scientific method to poll voters, but strategy can win tough elections. Remember Nigeria elections 2015? All fair minded and suffering people are very conscious of the fact that elections only present a very slim chance to remove the Dictator from power. Dictators only accept elections after they have mastered the art of manipulating, controlling and cheating the system to win. Power is never surrendered without a demand, and a concerted and unified effort to remove an entrenched and cornered Dictator is a demand. Therefore, with that in mind, no single opposition party in the Gambia today has the resources, the people, the numbers & capability to win elections outright against Dictator Jammeh. The electoral laws almost make it impossible, in terms of the age limit and simple majority rule. Jammeh also has the state resources, machinery, GRTS, armed forces and secret police at his disposal.
We don’t need no heroes, we need unity of purpose. We in the Diaspora are demanding a coalition of the well-meaning opposition parties.We can all agree that, the Jammeh economy will collapse on its own incompetence without the largesse and huge infusion of money from the Diaspora to support our families. We also pay huge fees to the Gambia government in terms of services, including travel, phone connection, and import fees. We also voluntarily sustain and support, financially and morally, the limited opposition on the ground, so, it’s about time our concerns become part of the discussion in Banjul. Estimates are that the Diaspora remittances constitute a staggering 20% of Gambia’s GDP, therefore, we are indispensable to Gambia’s viability as a nation. Dictator Jammeh will never admit that we even exist, much less contribute anything, however, we expect the opposition to know better. It’s about time we place some minimum conditions and expectation on the opposition on the ground in The Gambia. We have reached the proverbial fork in the road in 2016, after 20 years of misrule and buffoonery from Kanilai.
Unite or Boycott – no donations!
We have leverage in the Diaspora, and I am encouraging all to make their voices heard, without ambiguity, for the opposition to work feverishly & and publicly towards creating a strong coalition. The moral and financial support of the Diaspora, for the maintenance & continuance of the opposition parties, is indispensable. The opposition parties cannot survive without the generosity of the citizens in the Diaspora; I think we can all agree on that fact! The question is, why should we, us in the Diaspora, continue to throw good money and resources at a losing or failed strategy? We should be demanding for the opposition parties to listen to us too, and we want a winning formula, and that can only come through a coalition, period
Coalitions are temporary, but a vital arrangement to achieve a positive outcome.
Our goal is to get rid of Dictatorship in the Gambia. Our suffering is universal, it is common, and so we will need a common effort. We are tired of Rambo style individual efforts that only leads nowhere. In short, we don’t need no heroes, we simply need teamwork so we can be winners. Politics is the art of compromise, negotiation, give-and-take, for a win-win outcome, In our current predicament, politics cannot be a zero sum game, ..no one should expect to win at the expense of the greater good. Salvation is a group experience and effort, it cannot be achieved in isolation, or disjointly. Politics also involves individuals with oversized egos, ambitions, which can be a good asset, but sometimes, egos and ambition can get in the way, and hurt the public interest and cause. We in the Diaspora, also demand that opposition leaders in the Gambia, actively seek out each other, and work together, to bring in the others to join a coalition. Their public utterances should not be about avoidance, or evasiveness, but instead, it should be about constructive engagement for the sake of country and future of our children.
Our remittances have exponentially increased due to inflation and the prohibitive cost of living since 1994 under the junta. We absolutely believe and know this bad state of affairs is not sustainable, because our pay is not increasing at the same rate. We need a regime change to usher in policies that consider the human side of development. A new government that will create the conducive environment for business to thrive again, especially small cottage industry businesses which reduces poverty and creates jobs. The Gambian state economy cannot compete against Jammeh, because he does not pay taxes and enjoys limitless forced, coerced, and free slave labor from civil servants being paid by the state. So Dictator Jammeh keeps milking the Gambian state cow for his own selfish aggrandizement.
State your position…Take a position, vis-à-vis a Coalition – Publicly.
History will not be kind on anybody who actively tries to ignore the cries of Gambians for an opposition coalition. Any opposition leader who Does Not support a coalition, and still believes in elections as a viable option, should come out publicly and say so, unequivocally and unambiguously, and lay out their plans. We also expect those who Do support a coalition, to publicly say so, without grudge or hesitation. As potential donors in the Diaspora, we can read between the lines, we are only interested in actions and results, and some of us will not hesitate or mince words against anyone who tries to sabotage the common goal. If there is a better strategy short of a coalition, but will guarantee victory against Jammeh in 2016, we would like to hear it. A coalition does not mean that you have to like the people you work with, you just have to tolerate them through the process, through negotiation. Also, a coalition does not mean a merger, and should not lead to one, so at the end of the process, no harm is done. The best example is next door in Senegal, where President Macky Sall overwhelmed and defeated incumbent President Wade.
The Unity Rally at the Buffer Zone and Brikama, in December of 2013 (partially supported by Diaspora funds) was very encouraging and Gambians responded positively. Since then we have not seen much in efforts to duplicate that success across the country. Great leaders are defined by how much they are willing to sacrifice for the greater good, and history will take care of the rest. It’s time to show some leadership across the political spectrum so the international community and donor organizations can take us seriously. Dictator Jammeh may ignore the Gambian citizens, but he cannot ignore international support, including food aid, technical support, and Balance of Payment Support (BOPS) coming from the Western countries and Japan. These elections will prove whether Gambians are made of jelly or steel. Some of us in the Diaspora will call on others to boycott financial support for any party avoiding or evading efforts to create a coalition. Why should we keep throwing good money at failure,. Why should we keep doing the same thing for 20 years and expect a different result?
By: Kaba Sallah