THE BEGINNING OF THE END? RAMBO DEFECTS TO APRC.

KAYJATTA

The UDP stalwart, Ousman (Rambo) Jatta, also the councilor of Old Bakau  and president of the UDP youth wing has switched allegiance to the ruling party whose security operatives had arrested, detained and tortured him on numerous occasions in the past. Rambo's defection follows that of another UDP leader and a major critic of the military government, Lamin Waa Juwara who now serves as a regional governor in the APRC government.
Rambo, once described as an opposition "die hard" announced his defection last Monday at a "Traditional Medicine Celebration" by the Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh who also projects himself as a voodoo priest. In a dramatic handshake, the two previous arch enemies beamed in front of cameras in a new bond of friendship while Mayor Yankuba Colley, APRC campaign director and the main catalyst of Rambo's defection, looks on from the background.
Rambo's defection from the main opposition party, UDP to the ruling party, APRC has been received with shock although UDP officials and supporters continue to downplay its significance. The UDP leader, Lawyer Darboe, in an interview with the POINT newspaper appears to be in denial of the reality of Rambo's defection, and in a paternalistic and entitlement tone insisted that Rambo will still vote for him and the UDP in the upcoming 2011 presidential polls. Until recently, the UDP despite its alienation from the rest of the opposition parties, appeared very optimistic about the upcoming September elections perhaps because it is better financed and has a vibrant diaspora wing mainly in the U.K.
So far no reason has been given for Rambo's cross-carpeting to the APRC other than his own statement that "if you can't beat them, join them...". While this statement appears very shallow and simplistic, it could parhaps hold the truth about the Gambia's opposition today which remains fragmented and appears to be in a hostile standoff.
Notwithstanding, reports are emerging that Rambo's defection has been facilitated by a huge cash payout and a promise of a job appointment. Governments in the Gambia, past and present, have used cash and employment to attract and co-opt populist opposition figures into their fold.
Rambo's departure is a huge, if not a fatal, blow to the UDP particularly and the opposition in general considering his popularity and huge following in a very critical electoral district (Bakau) .
While it is too early to say whether Rambo's defection is the first major test of Waa Juwara's hypothesis that "the opposition is dead", it could possibly have a domino effect; the beginning of the end perhaps symbolizing the planned coronation of the King after 2011 polls...