By Omar Bah
Omar Beyai, the self styled opposition leader of so-far unregistered All People’s Party, APP, has called on President Adama Barrow to immediately declare a state of emergency to ensure the country’s fragile security situation is brought to order.
“I know many will say a state of emergency can only be declared during disasters or major civil unrest, but as far as I am concerned, the current security situation should warrant the president to announce a state of emergency,” he said.
Beyai said since the president is aware that the country’s security situation has been declared stable but not irreversible, he should ensure that the current hitches do not go out of hand.
“I am just afraid that things might turn nasty if nothing is done. I would have thought now that the country’s political maturity would have been at another level, but unfortunately we have a long way to go,” he said.
Mr Beyai said during this time, the president should facilitate a meeting between all the political parties to prevail on them to foster unity among themselves to avoid the re-occurrences of the recent incidents involving supporters of rival parties.
“President Barrow and his administration should not take advantage of Jammeh to hide their lapses and miss promises they made to Gambians during the presidential campaign. “They should do all which is necessary to ensure that the peace and stability the Gambia is known for is regained to the maximum. Otherwise they might fall victim to Jammeh. If they want to consolidate the democracy they have all fought so hard for, they must not be bothered by what APRC does or gains in terms of support. They must rather focus their attentions towards providing the needs of the people,” he said.
Revocation of permits
Mr Beyai said he totally supports the decision by the police to revoke all the permits, adding that the police should withhold all permits until the campaign starts for the local government elections.
“We need to exercise political tolerance because the country is not very stable security wise…we are not secured. The president should recollect and make an inventory of all the missing weapons and put everything in custody,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Beyai also implored on supporters of the different political parties to give space to one another for the interest of peace and stability.
