By Omar Bah
The National Assembly Member for Wuli West, Sidia Jatta, has said that the Coalition agreement died since 2017.
“Let us not be hypocritical about things. It was dead since 2017. Nobody talked about it when it was being killed. When it was being assassinated, they were clapping. And when things went the other way round, they were crying. What is your problem? Development is not about hypocrisy. Development is about thinking strategically and be ready to sacrifice,” he said during the NA adjournment debate.
He continued: “When I jokingly made a proposition here, the next day they wanted to cut my throat. You are indebted to your neck. Anything you do for this country you have to borrow or beg. I say okay; for 2020, let us all sacrifice all our allowances every month for 2020 and then we address the problem of the deficit. And say every month, D180,000,000. You would have made over seven billion dalasis. They said I am mad.”
“What is wrong with the people in this country? When are we going to start thinking not for ourselves but for our people who entrusted us with this responsibility? We come here, we start insulting each other. What is the problem?”
The Wuli NAM reminded his fellow parliamentarians that the Assembly is not meant to settle scores.
“We must now focus on the development of this country. The president said he is going for five years. You cannot do anything about that. That is what the law permits him to do in section 63. Section 65 only says he can resign. And also on the basis of that we agreed none of us was ignorant of the constitution. No one can teach me the constitution of this republic. We brought Constitution into politics in this country, my party (PDOIS). You cannot deny that,” he added.
Jatta continued: “So, it was not out of ignorance that we said just three years; it was a tactical move to solve a problem, nothing else, not ignorance. We don’t need five years. Coalition doesn’t need five years to do what we have programmed then to do. Just reforms – amending the constitution, reforming the institutions – we could do this in three because it is just clearing the field for a multi-party contest in a decent situation. That was all we wanted to do and the tactic worked well. What people thought was impossible happened and the whole world was amazed. Nothing like this had ever happened anywhere in the world of politics. Do you know that? Everybody said it in the world.”
“It was just on the way, somebody came and destroyed everything. We know. And people don’t want to say that. You want to hold me responsible. Somebody spoke here, he was insulting. That we are going to be held responsible. Who is going to hold me responsible? Let them come and hold me responsible. Come and hold me responsible and see what I will do to you. Who can hold me responsible? No one. I am very proud for what I have done,” he said.
“Let us prepare ourselves for the contest. That is what we need to do, stop talking. Stop talking emptily; it will never serve you any purpose. Others are getting ready,” he added.
