By Omar Bah
The Chairperson of the Coalition media team in West Coast Region, Essa Dampha has called on the leaders and militants of the opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction to stop blackmailing Gambians with unfounded allegations against the new government.
He said if the APRC are wiser they should concentrate on restructuring and reforming themselves so as to stand a chance in regaining their status as a responsible political party that will be able to hold government to account.
“But at the moment all what interim leader Fabakary Tombong Jatta and his cohorts are spending their energy on is spreading nonsense and waking up sleeping dogs instead of speaking the language of reconciliation from a disastrous regime that they themselves helped and abated,” Dampha said.
He further challenged the APRC leader to explain the fuss surrounding the death of Haruna Jatta when he himself was mute and silent as soldiers shot and killed 14 students in 2000.
“I am not trying to justify or down play the regrettable death of Haruna and must say the death is highly regretted. However APRC is trying to black mail the nation by making it a propaganda tool by equating with the mass killings that occurred under the Jammeh tyranny,” Dampha said.
The Coalition man said President Barrow is committed to safeguarding the wellbeing of every Gambian, adding that the APRC’s arguments about Kanilai being militarised is nonsensical because for the past 22-years, according to hi, the place has always been militarised by Jammeh.
He also rejected the APRC’s claims of a witch-hunt against them. “We want to assure the family of Haruna Jatta that his case will be investigated to ensure there is no reoccurrence of such cases simply because it’s not desirable in this new democracy,” he added.
On the court’s freezing of Jammeh’s asserts, Dampha said that is a judicial matter and government is merely trying to ensure that justice is done for the interest of national reconciliation.
