Dear editor,
Samba is a Gambian who is legible to vote, he has his vote and is looking forward to vote on the day of election. However, Samba is still undecided as to who he will vote for. In fact, he’s made up his mind on several occasions but keeps changing.
Samba is still undecided not because he doesn’t know what he wants to vote for, but because he wants his single vote to matter. He wants a change for a better and more progressive Gambia but he is met with so many choices of political parties and independent candidates that he’s at a loss as to which or who to choose.
The NPP/APRC alliance is a marriage of convenience which even its architects cannot predict where it would lead. For Samba, that lane seems too murky to hold what he really wants.
UDP is doing great, maintaining resilience, pulling large crowds and exude a lot of confidence.
However, Samba is wary of what it’s leadership may bear.
CA exudes youthful exuberance and it seems determined to bring that change but where giants and doyens like PDOIS have failed, how well can they really fair?
PDOIS has a track record of consistency of policy and stance but so too do they have consistency of failing to reach the pinnacle.
Will the veteran BB Dabo and his GFA be able to use the benefit of experience and hindsight to bring that difference or is it another chance at making a scoop from the national cake?
GDC has been around the block a while but their strength is no match for the current big boys. GAP has so many gaps that need filling and the promise of 90 days is too fancy for a levelheaded Samba to buy.
NUP sounds interesting but its offer is no different from the now obscure GMC, NRP, GPDP or the toddler GANU, DP, ANRD, APP ….. etc. etc.
The growing array of independent candidates is a treasure trove but who do you choose from the lot? Banky has great ideas that need to be put to test, but is Gambia radical enough to try a Rasta president? Essa Faal, the hotshot lawyer may strike the right cords but does he have the making for the leadership we require? Do Marie Sock, Kurang, Jasseh and the rest of the lone knights, have the right amour to salvage Gambia?
What Samba wants is so simple but all of these parties and candidates make it difficult for him. He is sure not going to vote for anyone because they seem likely to win but he definitely does not want to cast his vote to just anyone knowing they can’t win.
For Samba, the fact is that we have so lowered our standards that every Bamba, Kawsu, Burama and Penda think they can have a go at a most sacred office.
We seem to have turned our highest office into a lottery pot where anyone can dip a hand into for a possible scoop of a jackpot.
Samba is in a dilemma and wishes that before nominations, like-minded parties and independent candidates will come together, draw lessons from the 2016 coalition, present one very formidable candidate and make it easy for him to cast his vote.
PLAUDITS
David Kujabi
