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Interview: LAMIN WAA JUWARA
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 17:20
Lamin Waa Juwara is the leader of an opposition party NDAM. Prior to forming this party about eight years ago, he was Propagand and Organising Secretary of the United
Democratic Party (UDP). His political career started during the First Republic when at its climax, he succeeded in winning on an independent ticket against the then ruling People's Progressive Party candidate to become member of Parliament for his area called Niamina.In this interview with Sanna Camara, Juwara speaks on diverse issues, among them his relationship with ex-President Jawara, the marriage of his party with the APRC when he used to be the ruling party's most vocal critic landing him in jail on two occasions.
What is the fate of NDAM today since you have made your point clear about any presidential ambitions?
NDAM is still a registered political party and there are people who support the party... And since I will not be running for President, I will tell them all to vote for the governing APRC Party because of the record of achievements of President Jammeh's government. And I think we should give him a clear cut mandate from the people of The Gambia so that sceptics at home and abroad will know that 2011 elections reflects the wishes of The Gambian people. Nobody should decide for us what we want - we would decide for ourselves!
Some oppostion aprties are lready gearing up for the race to Statehouse come 2011, even though you don't want to join this race?
Some opposition leaderships have only personal ambitions - they aspire to leadership and they behave as if it's a divine right for them to lead. I don't think it's politically prudent for somebody who have been rejected over and over and over to still offer himself as a candidate. It doesn't make sense to me. For the UDP trying to accept Ousainou for the fourth time as their presidential candidate and still hope he could win.... I don't think any good politician's ambitions should be personal. I will not be surprised if the UDP ofers him and he gets his deposit. He for example, is now engaged in a apolitics of foolishness that is translated into a personality cult. and yet some of his supporters are demanding for presidential term limit in The Gambia.
If an always-looser can demand to stand, how acn he demand for a winner to step down? This is what is happening. Jammeh has always been winning and Ousainou has always been loosing.
Could you explain how the name "Mbarodi" came about?
That name means Lion in Fula and it denotes strength, stronger support. In Niamina, there are a lot of Fulas and the majority of them supported me as an independent candidate in the former regime - and it was justified because we won the PPP candidate.
What is your relationship with ex-President Jawara; and how did you come to oppose his regime when you contested against his party as an independent candidate?
Sir Dawda is an uncle but ideologically, we were poles apart. Despite the fact that personally, I had lot of respect for him, I did not feel things were going the way they should. He had allowed a lot of sycophants to control him and direct his administration for personal ends. His achievemnts could have been much more than he had recorded. They made a fanfare about his democratic credentials and a mockery of his development agenda. Some very major important projects failed , and if they had succeeded, would have lifted Gambians out of poverty - like the Commercial and Development Bank, Rural Development Project (RDP), Small Scale Water Control Project, and many others failed.
And there were sacred cows in this country who could get away with economic crimes... and they became untouchables despite the fact of their dismal performances. These were some of the problems that created a lot of of economic difficulties for the Gambia. He [Sir Dawda] is clean as an individual, but his administration was not clean. And I think that is one reason why President Jammeh allowed him back into the country from his exile; accorded him all the respects that an elder statesman requires.
Can you tell us how your appointment as Governor of LRR came about?
I think, like I said, my involvement in politics is to serve the people. President Jammeh being a genuine man who is interested in the development of this country, allowed me to make my modest contribution, which I am proud to say, I have been doing genuinely and honestly. So the credit doesn't go to me but to President Jammeh who appointed me as Governor. I first served as a nominated Councillor, Brikama Area Council and would be willing to serve in any other capacity.
Jarra - the area you are currently serving as Governor - used to be an opposition strong hold. Is that the reality today?
I don't think that is the reality today. Jarra is no longer an opposition stronghold - confrontational politics that used to exist there does no longer exist. People tolerate each other and if President Jammeh's last Meet-the-people-tour can serve as an indicator, I have no doubt that APRC has the upper hand in LRR.
We reckoned that it was during your imprisonment in the transition days that you pledged support to the then newly-fromed United Democratic Party (UDP). How did you do that?
I am a very committed democrat, and I was an independent Member of Parliament representing the people of Niamina. I won that seat thgrough defeeating the PPP govering party candidate. And despite the fact that the governing party that I opposed and defeated were over thrown in military coup, I did not initially support the coup on the 22nd July 1994. With hindsight, I have seen coups degenerated in the sub-region to destruction. Typical examples are Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d' Voire, etc. So I feared the Gambia might slip the same way and decided to oppose the coup because of my love for The Gambia. This is despite the fact that I was opposed to the government that was toppled - and it landed me in prison which is normal and unusual during the period of the transition.
Ans I had my reservations about the first elections [that the same military leadership organised and won]. I threw my weight behind the UDP [after my release from prison] and virtually revived it after their first defeat - because of the way Ousainou behaved by abandoning the fight and running into the Senegalese Embassy. We struggled though, but the APRC won the second elections with a clear majority in a free and fair elections which I accepted. And which Ousainou, as leader of the UDP rejected despite the fact tha I was the Propaganda and Organising Secretary on the ground... I think the rejection of the results was dishonest and unjustified.
How would you view the conviction of Femi Peters?
What you gauge a conviction depends on the independence of the judiciary. And I candidly would not want to see Femi Peters in jail. But if the dictates of the law demands that he is guilty of an offence, then the law takes it course. And they had all the options to appeal, and his party leader who doubles as a lawyer, defended him. So, that is fait-accompli. I hafd gone to jail and accepted it in good faith - I hope he would have the courage to honorably serve his sentence. It's not President Jammeh who sent him to jail, it's the law courts who are mandated by the constitution to determine who is guilty and who is not, if charged for committing an offence.
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