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Momodou
Denmark
11646 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Aug 2007 : 11:20:57
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FOCUS ON POLITICS
POLITICAL PARTIES REHEARSING FOR 1987 ELECTIONS
With Suwaibou Touray
We have been focusing on politics in general and Gambian politics in particular. We have also analyzed the economic situation as it influenced political decisions. We have stopped where we quoted the Torch as having written "Government in deciding to increase the salary of the few remaining civil servants after retrenching the vast majority of them means creating a society where few chop and plenty die, marathon."
Let us continue from where we stopped.
One could be correct to say that the rehearsal to the 1987 General and Parliamentary elections by political parties commenced in 1985. The Baddibus was the most troubling region for the ruling PPP. The actions of one of the PPP cabinet minister in the region, Mr. Momodou S K Manneh, had somewhat isolated the PPP from the ordinary people. The arrest of Hon. Foday Makalo, an opposition member of parliament for Lower Baddibu, also made it difficult for the PPP to have a listening ear in the region.
Hon. Makalo was arrested around the 17th of April 1985 when he was the minority leader of the House of Parliament and charged with five counts including incitement and damage to public property. According to The Gambia Times, the PPP Organ, the police charges were as a result of a political meeting in Lower Baddibu, which involved a village youth leader and village chairman of Saba village.
For the PPP to raise their head in Baddibu, something must be done to satisfy the people in the region. The president as a result dismissed Dr. Momodou S.K Manneh as Minister of Economic Planning and Industrial Development.
According to The Gambia Times, Mr. B.B Darbo, the then Vice President, was dispatched to the region to apologize to the people in what they called "A special political mission." The Vice President told the people that the PPP leadership had learnt that politics in the North Bank Division, particularly in the Baddibus, was a mud-slinging affair between the ruling PPP and some NCP militants; that PPP leaders did not approve this mud-slinging and what he called "Strong arm tactics"; that the party had rejected such politics as backward. According to the PPP organ, in his appeasement to the people of Baddibu, Mr. Darbo urged the PPP militants to stop the bickering and demagogy, as these would harm the image and interests of the PPP. The Vice President then tendered his apology on behalf of the leadership of the ruling party to the people who have been insulted and harassed by the PPP militants led by the former minister Momodou S.K Manneh. He also told the people that those militants had acted on their own and failed to abide by party guidelines.
On the Eastern front, the PPP had finally captured the most popular opposition member in parliament, Hon. Bubacarr Baldeh of Basse, who won his seat in a fierce battle under an independent ticket in the 1982 general elections. Mr. Baldeh finally got himself entangled in the PPP web. Despite his acceptance to join the PPP, the PPP leadership vowed to teach a lesson, not only to him but all those who want to be part of the ruling party for one interest or the other. Hence the selection committee refused to select him as their candidate. They instead selected Mr. Omar Sey of Basse, the former Director of Youths, Sports and Culture. This did not go down well with many people in the constituency. The NCP decided to file a candidate against the PPP in the by-election that ensued. The candidate was Mr. Ousainou Baldeh of Mansajang.
Despite the struggle that followed as a result, the PPP came out with the seat, largely because Bubacarr Baldeh who hailed from the same community with Ousainu had to also appeal to the same community as a way of showing his loyalty to the P .P P. This eventually paid off.
Apparently, the PPP appeared to be uncomfortable even after retrieving the seat. Rumours were rife that the former Vice President before the 1982 cabinet reshuffle, Hon. Assan Musa Camara, could no longer accept to stay at the backbench. He was said to have engaged himself in an underground campaign, which the PPP considered, as an "Anti-PPP scheming."
This was one of the reasons why president Jawara had to go on a six-day tour of the provinces, which included the Upper River Division.
During this tour, the PPP militants who usually posed as farmers' representatives could not hide the biting economic difficulties encountered by the people. Speaker upon speaker questioned the rising cost of prices of all commodities and appealed to the president to look into it.
According to The Gambia Times, Sir Dawda's answer was the same everywhere; that there was no easy answer to this problem; that we lived in times of global inflation and acute economic problems affecting all countries and everybody and asserted that there was no way that The Gambia could be insulated from world problems.
According to the PPP organ, Sir Dawda said as far as the prices of food, especially cereals, was concerned; there was no alternative to the country other than producing its own food for consumption. The president was said to have always called on the people to tighten their belts through "Tesito," and work harder to produce more food for export, to bring in the required foreign exchange to strengthen the Dalasi.
By May 1986, Hon. Assan Musa Camara announced the formation of the Gambia People's Party (GPP). This was the third time a sidelined or dismissed cabinet minister established a party to challenge his former party leader in a presidential race.
This was the time when it became clear to the people why Mr. Camara was maneuvering in the URD and CRD areas.
Mr. Camara, like Mr. Sheriff Dibba, had joined politics in the late 1950s. He was a former member of the United Party before cross carpeting to the ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP), and became a cabinet minister from the 60s up to 1982 when he was sidelined. The question that people always asked at the time was "how long could he stay at the backbench?"
Reports, however, indicated that the GPP leader who hails from the southernmost tip of the country in Kantora in the URD was said to be popular within the locals. It remained to be seen as to whether he could deprive the ruling party the majority of votes in the ensuing 1987 elections, in the area.
According to critics, Mr. Camara's message was no different from that of the NCP leader; that both leaders were making pronouncements on the rising cost of living and the general economic difficulties. The only noticeable difference was his slogan "Jawara Jippo" (Jawara come down), whilst the NCP's popular slogan was "Soosolasoo" (We are all inclusive), which means that the economic difficulties in the country was biting everyone, whether opposition or ruling party supporter.
See next edition of Focus as we review the happenings of the late 1980s and the ensuing general elections.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 100/2007, 27 - 28 August 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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