By Lamin Cham
Months after the split in the former ruling party over its decision to work with President Barrow’s NPP, the APRC leadership has asked their former leader Yahya Jammeh who has been actively campaigning for GDC’s Mamma Kandeh to calm down.
The call was made on Sunday in Sanyang at an event where Fabakary Tombong Jatta (FTJ) and Fatoumata Jahumpa-Ceesay (FJC) where adopted as honorary father and mother by a local group.
Addressing the gathering, APRC leader Jatta said elements in the APRC opposed to APRC’s alliance with NPP are not helping the former president in his current predicament.
Jatta said Jammeh’s rabid statements delivered at GDC campaign rallies are also compounding issues for the former president.
He said despite the fallout, he is still personally committed to Jammeh and expressed his hope that with the “right advice and guidance” his fate can be positively resolved.
Jatta reiterated that at no time did he and his executive committee members “work behind the back or against the wishes” of Jammeh.
He argued that if he and his team ever wanted to abandon the APRC for selfish gains as it is being peddled, they would have done so during “the hard days when the new government was trying everything to kill the party”.
“We have always protected and propagated the right and interest of Jammeh to be able to come home and we found a man we can trust in Barrow who as the sitting president is capable of facilitating that just as it happened in Jawara’s case,” he said.
“I have said this and there are witnesses that we have informed Jammeh of all the steps we have taken in negotiating with parties and we consulted him on all the issues. In fact when we told Jammeh about our negotiations with parties, he himself told us that Mamma Kandeh and the GDC are worse than UDP,” FJC said.
Mr Jatta reminded his audience that during the 2016/2017 standoff over the election results, Kandeh has sided with the coalition validating the 2016 election results when APRC was contesting the results just because he wanted Jammeh out.
Jatta heralded Mrs Jahumpa-Ceesay for her current “indispensable role in helping the APRC” party. He thanked the people of Sanyang and urged them to vote for President Barrow who has all it takes to bring unity and reconciliation in The Gambia.
Addressing the gathering, the mother of the APRC Sanyang community, FJC, urged them to continue to trust the FTJ leadership which has sacrificed to keep the party alive when he was facing existentialist crisis after the ouster of Jammeh.
“Do not listen to people who only came to the APRC after Jammeh’s departure and those are the ones calling for No to Coalition [with NPP]. Where were they when things were tough?” she asked.
FJC said the FTJ leadership constitute “the true lovers of Jammeh”.
She thanked the community of Sanyang and assured them of the support of the party’ leadership to improve their lives and urged them vote for Adama Barrow “so that the APRC can continue to work for the development of the country”.
