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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Mar 2012 : 18:42:16
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THE DAILY NEWS REPORTS;
"Monday, March 26, 2012
The Gambia’s president, YahyaJammeh, said the opposition who boycotted the country’s forthcoming March 29 parliamentary polls are ‘barking dogs’ that does not worth his reaction.
“When dogs bark I don’t bark because I am not a dog. I don’t listen to dogs,” Jammeh said in an exclusive interview with the state-owned Gambia Radio and Television Services, GRTS, at State House on Friday March 23.
Jammeh, 47, ascended to power in 1994 through a military coup that abruptly ended the democratically elected government of the country’s founding leader, Sir DawdaJawara’s 30-year reign.
On November 24, the military-turned-civilian president won his fourth five-year mandate at the presidential polls, bagging 72 % of votes cast, albeit the opposition rejected election result as bogus.
However, earlier this year - March 8 - six of the seven active opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary polls because there was “no level field for a genuine multi-party election”.
Opposition pointed to a number of electoral irregularities. Chief among them, is abuse incumbency – excessive use of state media, government offices as campaign centers, state vehicles, and the involvement of local government authorities and security forces in partisan politics even when the law obliges them to be neutral.
“Is it now that I am using government resources? If they [opposition] think that the resources I am using are government resources, what do they mean by government resources? You know they are never specific? They are here to serve foreign interest and I don’t care,” Jammeh told his interviewer.
He said denied using state resources in elections, noting that if takes back what he owns at the state institutions, they will not function. Even the state broadcaster, GRTS, he claimed, is using his cameras and that The Gambia government last purchased a vehicle for him in 1995.
“Since then I have been buying my own vehicles. I designed the type of vehicles I want and they do it the way I wanted them to,” said Jammeh.
Jammeh said his government will not respond to what he calls, opposition-backed foreign election observers hence his government has not invited them to observe the election. He noted that his government repudiated foreign election observers’ report because they should have been on the grounds two months prior to the election.
“The general trend is that if their agents do not win election, it is not deemed free and fair. What I care about is the verdict of the Gambian people. I don’t care what they (observers) say”, Jammeh stated.
Jammeh went on to launch a personal attack on an opposition leader cum lawyer, who is defending an Australian mining company, Carnegie Minerals at the court of Arbitration in London.
“A good opposition leader will not defend foreign interest against the interest of his country,” he said apparently referring to revered lawyer cum leader of main opposition-UDP, MrOusainouDarboe, who is helping Carnegie pursue a claim of willful damages against Gambia government for the premature revoking of their mining licenses.
Jammeh stepped forward, then leaned back in his lush chair and said: “These people have stolen 8 million dollars from the Gambian people, a big opposition leader bailed him and the guy absconded.
“They took Gambia government to the arbitration court for breach of contract, which was not true. And the so-called opposition leader is defending Carnegie minerals in London.
“You want to be president and you are supporting a thief who stole from the government. Is that the type of opposition we need?”
Author: SaikouCeesay"
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Edited by - kobo on 27 Mar 2012 00:41:09 |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2012 : 17:01:51
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| Jammeh deserves no respect from anyone as he does not hold it for others. |
Karamba |
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Momodou
Denmark
11644 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 16:54:34
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HALIFA RESPONDS TO JAMMEH Challenges Him To A Debate On National TV
By Publisher
27-03-12
Foroyaa: As the spokesperson of the Group of six parties, what is your reaction to President Jammeh’s television interview?
Halifa: It is important to inform the public that I had an interview with GRTS which clarifies our position but it has not been broadcast. This is enough to confirm the unconstitutional censorship being perpetrated by the National media. I challenge President Jammeh to a National Debate on TV on the subject. If he fails to accept then any claims he makes that we are not clear on our position in the National Assembly elections should be honoured with disregard. If the GRTS is not under the grip of the APRC then my interview should be broadcast and I should be given the right to reply.
Foroyaa: What are you going to do about it?
Halifa: I wanted to contact the Minister of Information but I came to discover that there is no Minister of Information at the moment .The portfolio is still in the hands of the president. I will write to the GRTS and copy it to the IEC and the Secretary General, Office of the President to demand for my interview to be broadcast and the right to reply to President Jammeh. I do not think it would require going to court but these are all options in legal political battles. They are means of focusing the public eye on issues of national Interest. My honest opinion is that it is victory if your opponent is afraid for your views to be aired. Sometimes refusal to air an interview is not due to discrimination but fear of the supremacy of the power of the arguments of one’s opponents. The people should therefore know that the truth belongs to us once they are afraid to broadcast our views.
Foroyaa: The President said that he would not answer to barking dogs because he is not a dog; that if monkeys leave a farm the farmer should celebrate. Does this not mean that he is unconcerned about your lack of participation and is even glad to say good riddance?
Halifa: This is what you call psychological warfare in politics. If he was unconcerned about our decision he would not mention it and give his own side of the story. I am not bothered by the name calling by the President which has made headlines in some newspapers. If we focus on name calling rather than substance we will descend into the bottomless pit of gutter politics. I guess the name calling is for the dogs and the explanation for the opposition. In a word, the president did explain that we said that he utilise state resources for his campaign and further argued that the GRTS camera and the transports he operates are not state properties but are bought by him. His allegation is that we are not clear about our grounds for taking the position we took on the elections.
Let me make it quite clear that we have engaged the government for 15 years in contesting elections. What we have said is that opposition candidates are not conceived by ordinary Gambians to be contesting against APRC candidates but against the state. We have argued that if Alkalolu and Chiefs are allowed by law to provide documents for a person to get a voter’s card such people should be independent and impartial when it comes to party affiliation just like the members of the Independent Electoral Commission. Municipal and Area councils should not host any political party. We have argued that if a convoy comprising Ministers, Governors, Chiefs, Alkalolu, Area Council Chairpersons, green boys and girls and soldiers enter a village with state vehicles and fuel in support of an APRC candidate the ground is not made level for multiparty contest and the National Assembly will continue to have three four or five opposition National Assembly members who cannot prevent the constitution from being amended or a bill from being passed or vice versa.
In the same vein we have argued that the APRC receives illegal campaign funding such as the “1.5 Million Dalasis worth of Campaign Materials provided by a Mauritanian businessman by the name of Ahmed El Mealy, the main dealer of El Hella brand of Chinese green tea in the country, in violation of the Constitution and the Elections Act. The business community did not hesitate to provide transports, T shirts, football gears and other campaign materials to the youth wing of the party which constantly went on tour and was given support by regional governors and district chiefs, thus giving them an air of official recognition.
We are of the view that the Opposition should now live up to expectation by taking a stand to ensure that the ground is level for multi party contest so that when the results are out no one will hesitate to concede defeat and congratulate the victor.
Foroyaa: It is claimed that you boycotted the elections, any explanation?
Halifa: We did not boycott the elections. We started negotiating with the IEC to make the political landscape level. The negotiation lasted up to 7th March 2012, a day before nomination. We wanted the IEC to consult with all stake holders and call a meeting to transform our agreement into a memorandum of understanding which shall be signed by a member of the executive, provincial authority, security chiefs, and paramount chief and political parties that would be broadcast so that we speak with one voice on how elections should be conducted according to law in order to start a new page. We knew that that could not be achieved on the day of nomination. Hence we requested in good faith for the IEC to postpone the elections. The IEC refused to bend over backward to accommodate us and we were therefore pushed out of the process as we continue to resort to new measures to achieve our goal of leveling the ground for genuine contest.
Foroyaa: Is the President aware of this?
Halifa : He has all the details. I wrote the following letter to him:
President of the Republic/Party Leader APRC
State House
The Quadrangle
9 March 2012
Re: OPPOSITION PARTIES AND THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Today is the day when prospective PDOIS candidates should go for nomination. However that has not happened. As the head of state and party leader, it is absolutely necessary for you to be fully informed what has transpired between the opposition and the Independent Electoral Commission to serve as raw material for policy making.
Attached under the cover of this memorandum are copies of PDOIS’ correspondence with the IEC and copies of Declarations emanating from opposition political parties.
It is essential to bring to your notice that since 10 January we have sought to influence the IEC to convene a meeting of political parties to discuss our concerns.This request was honoured with disregard.
When the IEC was already prepared to hold the National Assembly Elections it invited all the political parties to a meeting on 28th February 2012. We responded to their invitation and issued a Declaration signed by 7 opposition political parties for their consideration. We did not hear from them until 6 March 2012 when we received their letter dated 5 March 2012. We met the IEC Chairman and Vice Chairman on the 7 March to review the content of their memorandum. After exhaustive deliberations we drew conclusion that all the remedies promised would require a postponement of the National Assembly Elections. We requested for a postponement of the elections pending the initiation of an Inter-party dialogue which will culminate in the signing of a memorandum of understanding that would be transmitted Nationally and internationally as material evidence of the commitment of all stakeholders to the principles and practices that would create a level ground for multi party contest.
The IEC raised constitutional issues. They were informed that since January 2012 we approached them to convene a meeting to discuss such issues but to no avail. We argued that four months after the Presidential Elections should be 24 March 2012 and not 29 March 2012. We conveyed to them that the Constitution has already been violated. We argued that postponement of the elections would satisfy all parties and the Gambian political leadership would have displayed a maturity that would have been applauded internationally and the National Assembly elections would have witnessed a large turnout. The IEC however insisted on holding elections after making all its preparation without our involvement and want us to join the band wagon to legitimise its disregard for our own preparation. This is why the prospective Candidates of PDOIS have not appeared for nomination. They are excluded by the IEC’s determination to hold an election without addressing the concerns of 6 stakeholders.
We still stand by our position that if the Elections are postponed and negotiations done in the public eye to agree on standards we will participate fully in the National Assembly Elections.
White anticipating that your government and party will take a position on this issue of national importance in line with the enlightened interest of the Gambian Nation and people
We remain,
Yours in the service of the Nation
For the Central Committee of PDOIS
Foroyaa: Some Independent Candidates are going about saying that you put them up, Is that the case?
Halifa: I have said that we did not boycott the elections. We are working to make the ground level. We believe that this should not be left to us alone. All the Independent and opposition candidates should have joined us to work to make the ground level so that the people would make the right choices without ignorance, intimidation or inducement. If they go on their own they have every right to do so but should not use our name to promote an agenda which is not ours. In fact the type of propaganda against the opposition and the Independent candidates by the executive on TV right before the eyes of the IEC without a single word from them is a clear testimony that the ground is not level for genuine multi party contest. The major battle is not to win few seats in the National Assembly but to create a level ground for multi party contest. This is the trend in the 21st Century and The Gambia cannot continue to postpone this genuine demand. We need term limit, second round of voting and level ground for multi party contest. These are the demands of the 21st Century and are irrevocable .The sooner President Jammeh realises this, the better for our country, the continent and the world. There is no glory in being a President for life.
Source: Foroyaa |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11644 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 16:57:21
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Femi Rebukes Jammeh For Labeling Opposition As Dogs
By Adama Jobe
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
 Femi Peters, the main opposition UDP’s external affairs secretary has expressed a strong disapproval of President Yahya Jammeh’s slanderous attack on Gambian opposition, The Daily News reports.
In a recent interview on GRTS, President Jammeh labeled Gambian opposition as barking dogs when asked about his opinion on the opposition boycott of the March 29 parliamentary polls.
For Mr Peters however a responsible leader would not make such utterances, noting that Gambian opposition deserves a degree of respect from President Jammeh.
“I can recall that the former Nigerian president, OlusegunObasanjo, who was at onetime on an AU mission in The Gambia has called his [Jammeh] attention to the utterances he makes when it comes to the opposition,” Mr Peters told The Daily News in an exclusive interview yesterday.
He quoted Obasanjo as telling President Jammeh: “When you call the opposition names, and they in turn call you a dog, there is absolutely nothing you can do about that.”
According to Mr Peters, President labeling of opposition as dogs is un-called for, adding that such statements on radio and television have no room in any civilised country.
The former chief propagandist of UDP went on to defend his party leader, OusainouDarboe, a revered lawyer who was personally attacked by President Jammeh in the same interview for defending an Australian mining company against Gambia government.
‘’Discussing openly about matters that are already before the courts tantamount to the President Jammeh’s lack of respect for the rule of law,” Mr Peters said.
Femi, who served a one-year jail term after his party held a mass political rally without police permit added: “In my own experience, the records for my appeal is being prepared and in my letter of appreciation when I came out of jail in December 10, 2010, I strongly refused to make any mention of the case as it was and still sub judicial.
“I strongly believe that the legal brains in the Attorney General’s chambers or ministry of Justice should be bold enough to guide him [Jammeh] accordingly.”
Source: Daily News |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11644 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 16:59:38
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And from The Point
Halifa takes issues with Jammeh over TV interview
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Secretary General of the opposition Peoples Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), Halifa Sallah, has made arguably the strongest reaction yet to a GRTS interview by President Yahya Jammeh, in which Jammeh attempted to run down the opposition, stressing that Jammeh’s comments in the interview “are a mere reflection of the very obstacles that the opposition exposed to the IEC”.
More Details » |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 21:40:02
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| To call Jammeh arrogant is an under statement. He totally lacks respect. |
Karamba |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 31 Mar 2012 : 06:04:41
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MAAFANTA.COM WITH INTERESTING COMMENTARIES;
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Edited by - kobo on 31 Mar 2012 06:07:15 |
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