By Omar Bah
A former vanguard of the opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, APRC Omar Beyai has called on the party’s new leadership to expeditiously apologise to Gambians on behalf of former President Jammeh.
He said if the APRC wants the country to heal quickly they should stop beating about the bush and apologise to Gambians for the alleged heinous crimes committed by their former leader.
“If APRC really wants the country to reconcile they should start showing the political will to apologise for the wrongs the party did to Gambians. They have to stop hurting us more with their rhetorics because they know better that it would not be easy for Gambians especially victims of Jammeh to forget all his crimes over night,” he said.
He said if the APRC new leadership were interested in healing they would not have thought of celebrating 22 July in the first place, “I think the government deserves to be commended for not allowing APRC to commemorate the day, because to me it would have been a monumental error if they were given a permit.”
On whether the APRC should banned, Beyai added: “Given the fact that we are in a democratic state I will not agree with the banning of the APRC, but I will recommend that their new leadership focus on bringing the country together in these critical times of ours.”
“You see I was a supporter of the APRC before, but there is no way I can choose Jammeh or the APRC over the Gambia and I believe all other supporters should have the same mentality,” he said.
Beyai, who claims he is currently working on registering his own political party further stressed that the APRC should forget all related activities of the party and focus on reconciliation, “because the political situation in the country is very fragile.”
Mr Beyai also took time to criticize the new administration over their handling of certain issues, especially the Bakoteh dumpsite saga saying he was disappointed that the new administration could not act maturely to solve the problem. “The use of tear gas was way too far and I condemn it.”
He called on the new government not to compromise the country’s security.
