By Tabora Bojang
Banjulians have vowed to defend President Adama Barrow’s five-year constitutional mandate, warning that any means to remove the president from the capital will be faced with resistance.
The Banjulians made these remarks at the close of a three-week nationwide tour held at the Banjul Arch on Sunday.
Several speakers at the meeting pledged solidarity with President Adama Barrow and held banners reading “An attack on President Barrow is an attack on Banjul”.
Mbaye Gaye, a youth representative commended the President for bringing road, sewage and drainage projects to Banjul which he said were very much needed in the city.
He said Banjulians are happy with the leadership of President Barrow and that ”even if the members of the Operation 3 Years Jotna get a permit from the authorities, the youths of Banjul would not allow them to cross into the city.
“We don’t care if they get a permit or not but Banjul is not the right place for them, they should march elsewhere because the youths of Banjul are ready to die in the defense of the city.”
Basirou Ndow, a former BCC mayoral contestant said the three years agreement was only a tactical move by the coalition partners to get rid of former President Jammeh.
“Let the 3 Years Jotna people go and learn the constitution,” Ndow chastised.
He maintained that President Barrow will stay for 5 years and if others disagree and opt to resort to other means, they should “not dare cross the bridge.”
Ndow said opponents of the President are “jealous of his achievements” and want to use other ways to distract him from fulfilling his development agenda.
The works minister, Bai Lamin Jobe who hails from Banjul said the enemies of the country who were onetime rescued by President Barrow are the very ones plotting to distract his government’s development.
He said the Banjul roads and drainage project was a personal initiative of the President, describing Barrow as a dedicated, committed, and a visionary leader.
“The slogan right now in the Gambia should not be Three Years Jotna but Liguey Jotna,” Jobe said.
Minister Jobe, who claimed he hails from the same street as NAM Fatoumatta Touma Njie of Banjul South, commended the lawmaker for what he called her “bravery and resoluteness” in the strive for national development.
Madame Njie recently came under criticism for saying Government should revisit building mosques in public places.
Touma Njie is a brave and courageous woman and I want to urge her to continue the good work that she has been doing,” Minister Jobe said.
“I want to urge her to continue to express her conscience without fear, we are fully behind her,” he added.
James Gomez, fisheries minister, also a Banjulian, said the president’s development initiatives cannot be completed in three years, stating that Banjulians will not betray him.
He called on the people of Banjul to remain conscious and not allow others to carry them away because “education started in Banjul”
Muhammed Ndow, the PPP NAM for Banjul Central urged the youth of Banjul to be cautious and not allow politicians to drag them on selfish gains in destroying the country.
“Politicians will protect their families and ask others to go out to create discord. Nothing has started yet and the 3 Years Jotna thing has already affected the tourism industry and the business environment,” he said.
Hamat Bah, tourism minister, called on Banjulians to rally behind the president who is one of their own, saying they have supported Yahya Jammeh for 22 years and all he could do for them was to construct an “arch and a pavilion”.
