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Femi Peters, Henry Gomez Comment on Waa’s Defection

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

So much has been said and written about Mr. Lamin Waa Juwara’s apparent rapprochement with the ruling APRC party and his recent declaration of his preparedness to defect to the APRC party. Well, following Mr Juwara’s declaration of his readiness to join the ruling APRC party, this reporter sought out the views of Femi Peters, Campaign Manager of the main opposition United Democratic Party, and Henry Gomez, leader of Gambian Peoples’ Democratic Party (GPDP), on this latest development in Gambian politics.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with this reporter, Mr Peters asserted that Lamin Waa Juwara is a Gambian and, like any other Gambian, he has the every right to belong to any political party of his choice. According to the UDP Campaign Manager, people should respect Mr Juwara’s right no matter what. I want to put it very clear that Waa Juwara is a Gambian like anyone of us and he has the right to belong to any political party of his choice,” he said.

Lamin Waa Juwara, who has long held the reputation as one of the most insatiable and articulate critics of President Jammeh’s regime, served first as Propaganda Secretary of United Democratic Party (UDP) for years before forming NDAM.

For his part Mr Henry Gomez, leader of GPDP, had this to say: “I accepted Waa Juwara’s opinion. He has the constitutional right to belong to any political party of his choice. It is all about democracy and I believe that as Gambians, we all should accept one thing and that is to say that President Jammeh has brought progress in this country.”

According to the GPDP leader, Gambians should not see Waa Juwara as a betrayer because, in his view, all APRC militants are Gambians and that joining the ruling APRC for progress is nothing bad.

“If Waa Juwara should have joined a party in Senegal or elsewhere outside this country, then we should feel betrayed but joining the APRC has nothing bad in it. He has the right to join any party he feels like joining,” he said.

In Mr. Gomez’s view, the fact that Waa Juwara has joined APRC is a clear indication that there is real democracy because, according to him, Waa has not been forced to join APRC. “Though he has defected, this should not be seen as a blow to the opposition because every body is replaceable. We have good politicians that can replace him. Let us not be too hard on him,” Mr Gomez concluded.

The leader of the opposition National Democratic Alliance Movement (NDAM) party, Mr Lamin Waa Juwara, declared his preparedness to join the APRC party last Sunday at a mass political rally held in the village of Katamina, Niamina West, Central River Region, as part of President Jammeh’s Dialogue with the People tour

By Baboucarr Senghore

Picture: Lamin Waa-Juwara (1) Femi Peters (2) Henry Gomez (3)

Comments

bubacarr - Louisville, Kentucky

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:32 PM

I think Lamin Waa Juwara'S defection to APRC is taken to level that it doesn't deserve. Even in United State here, prominent party leaders do defect. Ronald Regan was previously a democrat and he later defected to the Republican Party. Defecting to the Republican Party doesn't make the Republicans right or wrong in in their policies. What it just meant was that he later agreed to the policies of the Republican Party.
Waa Juwara can be seen as some body who lately agree with the Jammeh administration policies. However, his defection is not in any a proof that Yaya Jammeh is in the right course when it comes to developing The Gambia. In fact Lamin Waa Juwara is a professional politician. He earn his living out of politics and the political climate in the Gambia now is monoplized by the APRC. If he doesn't defect, he won't be able make a living. This kind of politics in the Gambia were prominent opposition leaders find it difficult to find a job is wrong. Make no mistake about it, if Mr. Juwara could find a good job where he could make a living, he probably wouldn't have defected. This should be a wakeup call to future Gambian politicians that plitic is not a profession but it is a means of bieng a public servant. Once you become a professional politician, then you are likely to be manipulated and crupted. Get another maketable profession and later become a politician. In that case, you are most likely to stick to your principles, no what the outcome is going to be.
Let me reminds Lamin Waa Juwara what he once said in 2000 that I realy agreed upon to an extent that I will never forget it. When he was asked by a Daily Observer reporter what he(Juwara) could say about the fail coup deta that took place in 2000 in which corpral Dumbuya was killed? He replied by saying that, "no coup is good, whether that of 1994 or that of 2000." This is an undisputable truth, but it seems Lamin Waa Juwara has lost his bearings and endorsed a party that was born as a result of 1994 coup that he strongly condemned in 2000.