By Omar Bah
The United Democratic Party leader has criticised President Adama Barrow for failing to lead by example “in this difficult time of the country’s history.”
During a meeting with the country’s traditional rulers on Saturday at State House, President Barrow accused his former vice president of engaging in political intimidation.
“You are not a president yet you are intimidating. If such a person becomes a president, you will see what he will do to us. We will all be witnesses to it. But [we have to know that ultimately] power resides in the people,” Barrow had said.
Reacting to the president’s comments against him at a rally in Farato on Sunday evening, Darboe said the Gambian leader has acted “irresponsibly” in his comments.
“It is disappointing to hear the president talking about senseless issues at a time when the country and its people badly need his leadership. I would have expected him to talk about the incident in Jamburr where top official of his party nearly beat up a police officer and the incidents in Manduar and Kanilai,” Darboe said.
He said these incidents “can cause violence and yet you do not say anything to make it clear such things should not happen in the country; you speak to the nation and never condemned it”.
He added: “You are not talking and at the same time want us not to talk. We will talk because it is thanks to our talking that you are at the State House today. We will continue talking until we have The Gambia we want,” the UDP leader asserted. He said the president’s comments reflect “great incompetence”.
Darboe said the president’s claim that the UDP was not organising press conferences during Jammeh’ era was false.
“The day we were going out in 2016, you were at that press conference. So if you say we were not organising press conferences, it is either you are a liar or you are not aware of what is going on in this country,” he said.
He accused the Barrow camp of stoking the flames of violence “so that they can announce a state of emergency”.
“I want to urge all Gambians and UDP supporters to be law-abiding and avoid being forced into violence,” the veteran lawyer-cum-politician concluded.
