The argument has been made that the democratic path to change in The Gambia will have to be through democratic means; such has been the line of those political leaders who have opted to take the path of the ballot box. Under the normal cause of events that would have been the right and just cause, however, these are not normal times in The Gambia. These are desperate times, desperate democratic measures have to be employed, to guarantee a swift return to a normal and customary democracy that the rest of Africa have enjoyed today. Those political leaders who have insisted to march on to election with these repressive military brutes of The Gambia should at this point be categorized as negligent leaders, negligent by the following five facts:
- ENTRENCHED INTIMIDATION MACHINE: This far half-way into the year before the next election, opposition parties have found themselves fighting tooth and nail just for the simple right to congregate and address their supporters. Case in point, O.J. Jallow Brikama incident and Osinue Darbo Fass Njaggas incident; these leaders are not the usual Tom Dick and Harry in the street, these are among the most prominent political leaders in the country. Therefore, when leaders of such caliber have found themselves grappling with mountains of obstacles, one can only imagine the level of intimidation that their political nobody supporters have and will face from the well-entrenched Gambian intimidation machine.
- ACCESS TO GAMBIA NATIONAL MASS MEDIA: At this point so close to the next election cycle, absolute guarantee of equal access to the Gambian air waves should be readily and easily available to all major political party leaders. Assuming the hypnotical ,mass media access is made readily available as of today, June 9th 2015, such a gesture would be considered too little too late. Therefore, it is fair to deduce that failure to make a favorable decision to grant opposition mass media access, is the same as a decision made to deny access to mass media .
- URGENCY OF NOW FOR THE PRESERVATION OF RESOURCES AND INSTITUTIONS: The pace of systemic decay and destruction of the various governmental institutions is much too rapid to ignore, calls and preparation for the usual rigged and shammed election have become more and more prominent, meanwhile a basic fundamental pillars of Gambia’s democracy ,such as one man one vote has been grossly compromised, denial to a quarter of eligible voting Gambian citizen within the diasporas, the right to vote, is a civil and political miscalculation, amounting to a political neglect of all diasporas and their basic voting rights. Conservative estimates puts diasporas Gambians between 200 -300,000. Wholesale disenfranchisement of these Gambian citizens, presents a solid ground to argue that, any efforts at election will render illegitimate results that cannot be accepted by all.
- THE BIG GAMBIAN WHITE ELEPHANT: The big white elephant in the political equation of The Gambia has been continuously ignored and avoided within the narrow halls of West Africa. ECOWAS states by their geographical proximity are neighbors as well as political and government peers in the day to day affairs of governing the people of West Africa. The Gambia cannot exclude itself from this regional body nor can the oppositional parties and their leaders do likewise. During the last elections in 2012, ECOWAS had officially questioned the validity of that election citing events running up to the election was a process marred with intimidation, repression, hanky-panky, and skullduggery. Based upon such a simple deduction, it will be fair to argue all those political parties and leaders marching towards the ballot box have chosen to ignore the BIG GAMBIAN ELEPHANT IN THE POLITICAL ROOM OF THE GAMBIA. They have chosen to minimize the professional opinion of their West African peers, while they bury their heads in the sandy red soils of the Gambia, coupled with their failure to show conclusive evidence to vindicate their rejection of pear reviews, these opposition leaders have neglected the advice of their pears and are marching head on into a political trap put in place by the A.P.R.C intimidators.
- CIVIL UNREST IS A LEGITIMATE DEMOCRATIC OPTION: Civil unrest within The Gambia as soon as possible must not be discounted. This is a political option that has been employed and practiced by all democracy since the beginning of time. Just as those calling for election have been preparing to march on towards a rigged elections, so too must those calling for civil unrest be granted the space and support. Not only should they make the preparation to march towards organized civil unrest, they must also be fully involved in fundraising activities for a civil unrest within a set time frame on the grounds within The Gambia. If elections have an end date, civil unrest equally deserve an end date. Gambian politicians on the path to elections are poised to repeat the same mistake all over again. In this political fight for The Gambia, Babili Mansa is coming in with his political guns while the opposition will be going with their political knives. The outcome of such a showdown is obvious. Precedence for civil unrest as a political tool has already been set in place. The Gambia will not be setting a precedent, Mighty USSR had civil unrest, China had civil unrest, and even the Mighty U.S.A. had civil unrest. Gambians therefore are within their political and democratic rights to call and prepare for civil unrest sooner than later.
In the absence of a free and fair pre- election conditions, then logically under these conditions civil unrest is the other democratic option that we must employ. Gambians must first understand that these two approach in a democracy are very incompatible, it should be expected that politician will do what they do best, that is to go in whatever direction the wind of change blows, political activists will do what they must do, that is to agitate and make these politician cross over to the side of the activist. Hence these two opposite approach will have to operate concurrently within the same geographical space of the Gambia. Ultimately power belongs to the people of Gambia.
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