By Tabora Bojang
On his return to a huge welcome on Saturday, Ousainu Darboe leader of the main opposition UDP, called on political parties and actors who are not in alliance with Barrow “to destroy this country,” to join his party and rescue the country.
Speaking at the end of a long night of procession as tens of thousands thronged the road welcoming him from the airport, Darboe said with everybody working together, ‘we will rescue this country and put it on a right path, ensuring that economy grows. “There is no magic formula to it but discipline and we are going to instill discipline in every sector of the society,” he said.
He challenged UDP supporters to use their platforms on social media and other sectors to sell the agenda and good image of the party and its presidential candidate.
Corruption
The UDP leader renewed his attack on President Barrow and his government for their failure to tackle corruption that he said has deprived Gambians of accessing employment or quality of life.
“If the billions of dalasis that this incompetent government wasted were properly applied in creating jobs, advancing our fisheries sector, promoting agriculture and improving our health service delivery, the living condition of the people would have improved,” Darboe said.
He alleged that in just one year, the government misappropriated about D13 billion and no one could tell where that money went. “This is a useless government, only good at talking big. They only believe in cement and gravel because they think national development is all about roads,” Darboe said.
He pledged that under a UDP presidency, Gambians will have a government that is “disciplined and concerned about the pains of the people.”
The opposition leader revisited his allegations that a property allocated to President Barrow at Fajara South Atlantic was known to have been used as official residence of Chief Justice of The Gambia and was “unlawfully allocated” to the president.
Though the Ministry of Lands had dismissed the allegation stating that the land was unoccupied for decades and the Minister had the authority to allocate it to the president, Darboe insisted that the land belongs to the state and should be returned.
