By Lamin Cham and Omar Bah
Former vice president now leader of Gambia For All (GFA) party has said the eight coalition parties tasked to deliver a new Gambia after the 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s “misrule”, have failed in their endeavour.
Speaking at the inaugural rally of the GFA in Brikama on Saturday, Mr Bakary Dabo said there is a need for a new solution to address the hopes and aspirations of Gambians.
He said the coalition members have broken their vows and with it, the hopes of Gambians who trusted them with their future in 2016.
“Their own idea was to provide the country with a transitional government of three years. They have not only failed that promise but today they have even made the topic of three years, a taboo. Equally, they have failed in the areas of reforms and the streamlining of socio-economic needs of the peasants. The coalition has not also been able to provide a Gambia where nationalism will reign over tribal or friendship interests. They have all either been tainted by betrayal of their vows or incapable of freeing the country from the clutches of poverty and ‘isms’,” Mr Dabo charged.
He told the gathering that it is against this background that he and his people felt they needed to provide the Gambian people with an alternative and an opportunity to regain the past glories of a country which was most respected and admired around the world.
“This is the mission of GFA. We have not seen any party that we think Gambians can rely on to guide the nation to the desired destination. So we have decided to come together to give an alternative to Gambians in the GFA,”Mr Dabo, who studied law and is also fluent in French, said.
He spoke of the warm welcome GFA received in Brikama calling the politically strategic town, the home of GFA. He described the people of Brikama Mansaring-su as the guardians of GFA. Mr Dabo also revealed that GFA will henceforth not relent in spreading its message across the country and urged members to work hard as “time is not on hand”, a phrase the party translated into all local languages on T-shirts worn by thousands of supporters at the meeting.
Ebrima Samateh, one of the people at the rally said the GFA is “a blessing” that Gambians should not let go. “There are abundance of governance experience, professionalism, integrity and purposefulness in GFA for the country to tap from,” he said.
