By Omar Bah
Gambia Action Party leader Musa Batchilly has announced that he has dissolved the party’s executive committee which recently suspended him.
Mr Batchilly was suspended for endorsing President Barrow without approval from the executive.
But in a statement released yesterday, Batchilly announced: “In light of the difficult circumstances surrounding disgruntled members of GAP, and the seemingly pretentious attempt to instigate a leadership feud in the name of the executive, I hereby dissolve the entire executive of GAP and urge all my party followers to follow me to form a coalition government with NPP.”
He said an interim executive committee has been formed and its members will be announced shortly.
However, he declared one Badara Faal as acting administrative secretary.
“We urge all former executive members to settle all their liabilities with the party and surrender all party assets to the office under my supervision including handing over notes with immediate effect to avoid legal action. The party and its founding secretary general requests that all liabilities owed to anybody within the party be brought in writing to our acting administrative secretary for immediate settlement to protect the name and integrity of the party,” he said.
He said security forces will be used “to quell any attempt to instigate violence or use of force against the party and its officials in barbaric and deceitful acts of the former executive against its party founder and secretary general.”
When contacted for comments, GAP’s administrative secretary Muhammed Yaffa said Mr Batchilly has “no legal authority” to dissolve the party’s executive.
“Batchilly is a fool who doesn’t even understand the party’s constitution. How can he dissolve an executive elected by a congress? Batchilly is even under suspension based on his reason to endorse another political party without the executive’s approval. By doing that, he violated seven articles of the party’s constitution. You cannot be a member of GAP and at the same time be a member of another party because Article 10.2 of the party’s constitution only empowers the committee to suspend or expel an executive member,” Yaffa said.
