The ruling NPP-led Alliance has come out strongly against the United Democratic Party’s announced plan to take to the streets in protest against the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, describing the move as a deliberate provocation and a manufactured crisis 50 days to a presidential election.
In a statement issued through its National Coordinator, Mai Ahmad Fatty, the Alliance warned that The Gambia cannot be dragged into unrest on flimsy pretexts.
“The Gambia is not at a stage for manufactured crisis,” the Alliance declared.
The Alliance said it followed UDP’s announcement with grave concern, stressing that campaigns are on the road, markets are open, and families are planning their lives around a peaceful season.
“We say this with the calm of a movement that has nothing to fear from the people’s verdict: a protest, at this hour, is not an option. It is a provocation,” it stated.
According to the Alliance, no responsible political leader tests the nation’s patience when polling day is so near. Statesmanship, it said, is measured by what a leader declines to do when the temperature is high, not by what he is able to ignite.
The Alliance noted that UDP itself has announced a court route and its lawyers are already before the revising courts over voter data — the proper forum with rules of evidence, a bench to decide and a record history can be read.
“A party confident in its case needs no crowd to argue it. When a matter is already before the judges, a march adds no law. It adds only noise, and fear,” the statement said.
The Alliance recalled that not long ago the UDP leadership told the nation it was “not alleging fraud or wrongdoing,” that its aim was “confidence building,” and that it would remain peaceful. “Those words were welcomed.
Gambians are entitled to ask what has changed, and why a promise of calm now comes with a threat of confrontation,” it added.
The Alliance further stressed: “Why threaten streets when courts are open? Why raise political temperature when the campaign calendar demands calm? Why does language of grievance grow louder as language of programme and policy falls silent?
“Gambians are not fools. They understand that a party sure of its message speaks to voters about the future. A party unsure of it is tempted to speak about everything but the future. They provoke crises to mask prospective failure,” the Alliance said.
The NPP Alliance also cautioned against creating a circumstance of one’s own making where protest is staged, tension rises, incident follows, and blame is laid at another’s door to cry foul before a single ballot is counted.
“We do not accuse. We simply say that no Gambian should be asked to pay the price of a narrative prepared in advance. Whoever puts a crowd on the road at such a time must answer, before the nation, for whatever follows,” the statement warned.
The Alliance said livelihoods of traders and drivers, safety of women and children, studies of young people and investor confidence economy needs would be the first casualties of unrest.
“They are not abstractions, and they will not be sacrificed on the altar of political positioning.”
The Alliance said it will not answer provocation with provocation.
“We will campaign on our record, programme and vision. We will go to the people, not to the barricades, and we will respect the verdict of the ballot box and of courts alike.”
The alliance argued that UDP’s threat of street action is only pretext and evidence that they had already given up and accepted defeat in advance.
“Their final losing plan is to disrupt peaceful campaigns and electioneering. Pursue your case in court, where it belongs. If UDP is confident then they should keep campaigning in a contest of ideas, not a contest of disruption. We call on all Gambians to remain calm, reject provocation, and let your vote be your voice. The Gambia has come too far to be gambled with. Elections are won by persuasion and settled by law. They are not won by pressure, nor by manufacture of chaos,” it concluded.
