By Omar Bah
UDP leader Ousainu Darboe has said God has ordained him president and that his victory in December presidential election is a certainty.
Addressing a mass rally in Brufut on Saturday, Mr Darboe said: “On the 5th of December – it’s God Himself who ordained it – Ousainu Darboe will be president of this country!”
“We want you to give us a chance to show you we are not like the others. The only choice is the UDP. Whether one likes it or not, UDP was there when everyone thought we were foolish. We were there when people thought we were committing suicide over what we were doing,” he told a cheering crowd.
The Brufut rally was organised to officially garland Aji Yamou Secka and Yamundow Yarboe as UDP’s national president and deputy secretary general. Darboe said the UDP is the first political party in The Gambia’s history to organise inauguration for the two positions. “This is meant to recognise the two brilliant ladies’ immense contribution to effect change in this country in 2016,” he said.
He told UDP militants not to take anything for granted and assume voters in the provinces are ignorant. “Nobody is ignorant. You cannot be condescending to those who have choices. That is the greatest ignorance to the electorate of this country. We must not allow that”.
He said the country is beset with problems but that a future UDP government would have the resolve to tackle them even though “no political party can fix [all] the problems in five years].
Corruption
Mr Darboe said the country is now awash with graft. “Corruption is now endemic in the country. There are allegations which I cannot substantiate that many government officials have shifted a lot of resources to Senegal and other countries. This is exactly why we were fighting to remove Jammeh.
“This is why we said you should give the UDP a chance to take this country where it should be. If I tell you the UDP can change the predicament of this country, you should believe because of our persistent track record in the 22-years under Jammeh; it is a clear demonstration that we are committed to save this country.
“This country cannot be saved by those who debate on social media but those in the field trying to convince people to vote wisely in December. But this doesn’t mean to say that our diaspora is not doing their part,” he said while assuring that a UDP government will look into the country’s controversial land tenure system. He called on his party supporters to remain united and law-abiding.
