By Omar Bah

The First Secretary at the Gambian Embassy in France, Facuru Sillah has said, in his opinion, President Adama Barrow should not seek a third term.
Writing on his Facebook page, Facuru reflected on the NPP’s Congress in Soma which he compared to that of PPP in 1991 where former President Sir Dawda Jawara announced his intention to step down but later changed his mind.
“Learning from Jawara’s mistake, Barrow wouldn’t dare suggest his departure which will lead to some crevices in his party and disturb the rest of his second term. It’s wise for him to consolidate power to ease his administration for the rest of his second term, but if he would listen to me, he would find a way of not running for a third term,” Facuru said.
He further opined that Barrow could see to the successful introduction of the third Republic by seeing the draft constitution through, and rising above politics to sainthood.
”I’m sure, after one term of the next president after Barrow, the Gambia will have missed him so much that he can make a successful comeback and do another two terms as head of state. President John Mahama of Ghana who has just returned to power is a good reminder of that possibility, and Mahama has made a good point of his visit to the Gambia these days.
I’m just saying what’s on my mind. I know that the continuation of Barrow guarantees my employment as it is, but I’m thinking in the best interest of the Gambia. There are advisors and advisers. Who am I? A Facebook political commentator cum scholar diplomat,” Sillah said.
He added: “It can be argued that Barrow is very much like the late President Jawara. In fact, folks are tempted to call him Kairaba Barrow or praise him as Kairo, Heeno Barrow, which reminds one of the peaceful temperaments of Barrow. Jawara though was peace reincarnate. His name was great peace, and that name was given to him not as a praise but as his only name. That was the name whispered into his ears and announced to the public at his naming ceremony. He lived a peaceful life true to his name.
“Talking of likeness, I’m sure Barrow deliberately would like to be remembered as Jawara and therefore dresses like him sometimes. The likeness struck me at the NPP’s congress in Soma, and Soma being a stone’s throw from Mansakonko where Jawara held his last party congress was food for thought. Mansakonko was where Jawara announced his desire not to run anymore for the presidency, and his party fabric got into tartars which couldn’t be mended properly until he was ousted by Jammeh in a peaceful pusche.”
Facuru said in Mansakonko, Jawara showed the world that he had had enough, and he would have done well to have not been persuaded to go back on his words. “Anyway, a division in his PPP started and it was those who wanted him to continue versus those who wanted him to stop. That division weakened the party until the soldiers found themselves an opportunity to help him out of power. Some folks thought as much. The peaceful nature of the coup d’ état made some people believe that it was arranged. But in his autobiography Kairaba, it is clear that it wasn’t arranged.
“He was sent away into the estuary, to Dakar and further to London until a peaceful arrangement was made for him to return home as an elder statesman. He lived peacefully on Atlantic Boulevard and said his Friday prayers at the Pipeline Mosque on Kairaba Avenue until he was able to tell his story himself in the Smiling Coast, and naturally returned to nature. Perhaps, Barrow didn’t want to make any split in his party at Soma. By choosing Soma as the venue of the Congress, he fell short of doing as Jawara did in Mansakonko, but he provoked the likeness, nevertheless.”