By Amadou Jadama
The National Assembly Member for Bundungka Kunda Constituency, Bakary Njie, has said that he believed President Adama Barrow will accept to step down when the three-year agreed transitional period elapses.
Njie says President Barrow is “not hungry for power and he is very contented”. However, all signs coming from State House seem to indicate that Barrow will not step down. His special adviser, Henry Gomez, leader of GPDP last week told this paper in no uncertain terms that “President Barrow will rule this country for five years”.
But speaking to The Standard yesterday, the UDP parliamentarian contended: “I think it is premature to say President Barrow will go for more than three years. He is his own man and I know that the promise he made to the Gambians, he is going to keep and fulfil.
“When he was selected as the coalition flag bearer, the agreement was three years and that is in the record and President Barrow is someone who is not greedy, he is financially strong and he is not hungry for power. I myself was listening to him when he was speaking and I strongly believe that he is a man who will fulfil his promise. It was the UDP who were appealing for him to go for five years which is the constitutional requirement, but the agreement was three years and President Barrow himself wants to go for three years,” he noted.
Njie said the president came to deliver a nation better than The Gambia of Jammeh’s 22 years and create a level playing field for all political operators.
“As a leader, if you want people to trust you, your words mean a lot. We have trust in him and he is a trustworthy man, and I believe he will stick to the three-year agreement. UDP has not selected anyone yet as its flag bearer. If President Barrow wants to be a flag bearer, he can apply for it. If he gets it, we rally behind him in the next presidential election,” the NAM concluded.
