By Omar Bah
Director of press and public relations at the Office of the President, Amie Bojang Sissoho has told journalists at a press conference yesterday that the President Barrow is still part of the Coalition 2016 and has not formed any political party of his own.
She was responding to questions about the recent spate of meetings at State House between Barrow and crowds from places across the country.
“The president’s meetings with people from different parts of the country are meant to avail them the opportunity to discuss issues that affect them and cannot be seen as political meetings or distraction. People have their opinions regarding issues, but as far as the president is concerned he will continue to welcome any group of people who want to call on him to discuss issues that are of concern to them as citizens,” she added.
Madam Sissoho said these are people who requested to meet him during working hours “but due to the number of people who requested to meet him it is not possible for him to accommodate all of them in his office and that is why these meetings are arranged during weekends to allow them to come in their numbers as they wish.”
Speaking on the president’s recent visit to his fans’ club headquarters, Madame Sissoho said that visit was personal because as far as the presidency is concerned, it was during the weekend.
She also highlighted that the presidency is very concern about the reported irregularities at the GPPA and it is working on it to uncover the truth.
Jammeh
Madame Sissoho also disclosed that the president has received a letter from the Crime and Corruption Reporting Project on the allegations of massive corruption they unearthed about Jammeh and has directed the Secretary General and Head of Civil Service to follow up with the sources of the report and refer the matter to the Janneh Commission.
She also disclosed that the Gambia government has received all the grants pledged at the Brussels donor conference.
“A survey has been done for the construction of the Sankandi-Karantaba road in Kiang and the 80 kilometer ‘Hakalang’ road in Niumi,” she revealed.
She said the president has urged the ministry of trade to engage the bakers’ association on the recent increase of price of bread.
Asked whether the president is now afraid of the press after failing to grant interviews to any independent media in the country in eight months, Madame Sissoho replied: “I will tell you if the President was afraid of the media, he would not have had almost 20 one-to-one interviews with both local, regional and international media. So your answer is no.”
