By Omar Bah
The opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) has accused Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou of acting illegal in forfeiting the assets of their leader and former president Yahya Jammeh.
Speaking to The Standard, the APRC deputy spokesperson, Dodou Jah, said his party leadership sees the decision as hasty, given the fact that the Janneh Commission’s report is still ongoing.
“We believe until government issues its white paper any decision taken to that effect is illegal. We feel it could have been delayed to allow the government to exhaust its reviewing of the report,” Jah told The Standard on Wednesday.
He continued: “We also feel as a party the Justice Minister’s decision is malicious and based on personal sentiments.
We feel the attorney general has a grudge against the former president because many people were mentioned at the Janneh Commission but only handpicked Jammeh and Mohamed Bazzi.
What happened to the others? It is like they are scot-free. So based on these analyses we feel justice has not been done.
There are lots of things that happened in this country and the attorney general has been mute; without uttering a single statement. Is he only focusing on Jammeh and his assets?”
Mr Jah said the decision from the Justice Minister has not also come as a surprise to the party.
“We saw it coming because the moment the Janneh Commission started, they started selling his properties and even properties belonging to his family”, Jah said.
Asked about the fate of the APRC’s assets, Jah replied: “As of now we are compiling assets owned by the party and after that we will contact the right authorities to recover them in due course”.
Jah added that until the continuous caricaturing of Jammeh and the APRC ends, the country will find it very difficult to reconcile.
In a separate development, Jah said the APRC is preparing for election in December, 2019 even though it doesn’t look likely that elections will be held.
“As an executive we have meetings constantly to look at ways that will strengthen our party. We are working in strengthening ourselves in NBR and LRR because we know we have supporters in these regions and there is a need to work on consolidating.
“A taskforce has already been set up and in a week or so we will be visiting these areas as part of our rebranding efforts,” Jah added.
Reacting to Hamat Bah’s comments on Gambian opposition, Jah said the NRP’s leader should be more responsible when giving statements in public “but again Mr Bah should answer the question whether he was doing what he is asking us to do now when he was in the position.
“As far the APRC is concerned, we are a political party with a difference. We will not be castigating.”
He said contrary to what many Gambians believe, the APRC is not happy with Barrow because he has never spoken without attacking the APRC former leader or the party.
“Our fans have even gone to the extent of telling us if we have any alliance with President Barrow they will not vote for us because they believe he has robbed the party of all its rightful belongings including our vehicles and bank accounts.
So really to say we have or plans to align with Barrow is a misguided thought,” Jah concluded.
