By Alagie Manneh
Citizens’ Alliance (CA) leader Dr Ismaila Ceesay announced a break from “partisan politics” on Saturday.
He said he has not been a full-time politician and that he will be going back to his teaching job at the university.
His announcement on the online Giss Giss show on The Fatu Network came following internal wrangling bedeviling the party and the furore generated in the wake of accusations that he betrayed his party and left it in disarray following his decision to back President Barrow and even receive vehicles from him without the consent of his party.
Speaking as a panelist on the online show, Dr Ceesay did not expound on the issues engulfing his party, but stated: “Partisan politics for me is over. I’m not a full-time politician – like 12 months in a year. I’m a professional. I am going back to the university to teach because I am a professional. And because I am a professional, I cannot bring politics into the university. It will bring about a conflict of interest.”
At a point in time, Dr Ceesay, a political science lecturer, was a brazen critic of President Barrow and his government.
When asked by the interlocutor of the Giss Giss progamme if he still intends to criticise the government, Dr Ceesay replied: “Obviously, if I have the chance to tell them to do this and that, what is the purpose of me criticising? It’s better I call upon those in government and tell them that this and that is what I saw. That is better than criticising.”
Dr Ceesay also said that he has no “empirical evidence” to suggest that corruption in The Gambia is on the increase, contrary to what many believe.
“The perception out there is that corruption is on the increase. That is a perception. [But] for me as a social scientist, I don’t talk based on opinion that I cannot back [with evidence],” he said.
He said the Barrow government is serious about fighting corruption. Asked what should be done to tackle the corruption in The Gambia, he said that has remained a “perennial question” for governments around the world.
Chipping in, the editor of the Jamaano news site, Lamin Njie said Dr Ceesay’s decision to return to his university job is worthy of praise. “As a professional, that’s how it should be. I respect that. He cannot be in party politics and go to the university to teach. That wouldn’t make any sense.”
