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Message to the Independent Electoral Commission
Wednesday, 25 August 2010 13:48
By Yusupha Cham Even though I feel that recent remarks by IEC boss Mustapha Carayol, which seemingly suggests that the opposition parties should contribute to the funding of his office and programmes, have met sufficient and fitting responses from well meaning people, I think it would not be out of place to send some important messages to Mr Carayol as he sets out to preside over another important task, the general and presidential elections next year, especially because he seems to have kicked off on very biased footing.
For a start I would like the IEC to realize that the money that is allocated to it by the government of the Gambia belongs to all Gambians, whereas those donated by foreign nations and institutions are given for the benefit of all Gambians. These monies are not donations from APRC or Yahya Jammeh. Any money Jammeh claims to have given to your office is money from Gambians and the manner in which it is given suggests it is being used to tie your hands while you exercise your duties. I wonder how a seasoned senior servant like your very self, Mr Carayol, can fail to know that opposition parties do not collect monies from tax payers to run their interest. If you cannot be honest enough to know the difference between state funds and state responsibilities I wonder what you are doing at the IEC. And again, I am very disappointed that even after several years in your position, travelling and observing elections in many countries, you are still not willing to arbitrate fairly between the two political divides.
If you think that Gambians are lunatics who are not politically mature, think again. In fact, instead of disastrously showing your bias at this very early stage of the election process, you should take a firm stand against illegal and fraudulent registration practices that APRC orchestrates regularly using and abusing state machineries. Take a serious position and treat all politicians with equal respect rather than echoing Jammeh's misguided, nonsensical utterances that seem to belittle his opponents. Open your eyes to the open cheating by the APRC through importation of voters from abroad who are often camped at Brikama College and other security and police barracks across the country. Insist on counting the votes at the place of casting to ensure clarity and transparency.
Remove the sharing of Television and Radio air time from the obviously biased hands of Momodou Sanyang of GRTS who is the defector vice president of The Gambia. This would put a stop to the constant misuses of the TV by the APRC to send out tribal hatred instead of honest issues. If as Jammeh claims, the opposition uses foul language and tribal sentiments, then, simply put their rallies on air for people to judge it by themselves. I can swear you would discover that even the newest opposition militant is more mature and politically educated than Jammeh and his thugs. Remember, President Yahya Jammeh cannot win a free and fair election so any victory he got is obtained through conspiracy and connivance of people like you the IEC.
Finally and still on the ethics of the elections, I would advise you to prevail on Jammeh and the APRC to respect campaign schedules to avoid clashes. This is very common and it is a possible source of violence and in all cases is Jammeh who provokes the others by deliberately over staying his time at venues to intimidate opponents with possible violence. It happened in LRD and in Tallinding where Jammeh shamelessly had to hurriedly crawl back into his car and ordered the shooting of innocent people in order to negotiate his convoy from hostile crowds. That incident should teach him that no one has monopoly to violence. Anyone can become violent. His advantage is that he has our guns which he abused to shoot us instead of protecting us. But get this, those who carry the guns are humans not robots. The day they realize that they are being misused and come together, they will turn the gun towards the right direction.
If you are reading this and think I am unfairly treating Jammeh, you must be a stranger to Gambian politics. Everything an undemocratic is Jammeh induced and APRC orchestrated.
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Quote Yusupha “...no one has monopoly to violence. Anyone can become violent. His advantage is that he has our guns which he abused to shoot us instead of protecting us. But...those who carry the guns are humans not robots. The day they realize...they are being misused and come together, they will turn the gun towards the right direction...Everything an undemocratic is Jammeh induced and APRC orchestrated.”
Who else could put/say it better? Tyranny will be sent packing; just a matter of time NOT whether.
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