By Alagie Manneh
Former independent presidential aspirant Ebrima Tabora Manneh yesterday declared that he and his supporters will not be endorsing any candidate for the December 4 presidential election.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Kotu, Mr Manneh said aligning himself with any other party will diminish his base.
“The reason we formed this party was because the government of the day has failed,” he said. “It has failed the Gambian people as lack of employment, and earning a decent living have become more difficult. We have detailed all these difficulties to the Gambian people and since then, nothing has changed. I am not one of those who vomit, only to eat their vomit. I believe as a human being, you should be loyal and nothing can buy my loyalty, not politics or even [the promise of a] position.”
He explained how the party reached its decision of not endorsing any party: “When I had discussions with my people, some of them said we support NPP, others said UDP but there are those who said no, there is no need for us to back any party. And I seem to subscribe to the latter because if we support any party, our party will be divided, and we want this party to remain united. What we ended up deciding is that we will not endorse any party. We will not nominate any party.”
He said he has held talks with all the parties greenlighted by the IEC.
“They all want me to endorse them. I am sure you have all heard regarding my meeting with Barrow at State House. It’s true I met him, but I did not meet him alone, I met the leaders of all the other parties. I now have to meet with Essa Faal.”
Mr Manneh said it doesn’t mean to say his supporters should not vote in the election.
“They are Gambians and should go out and vote for any party of their choice. That is their right. Myself, I know I have a candidate that I will vote for in December,” he said.
Flanked by his loyalists, Mr Manneh said the decision of the IEC to reject his nomination papers was the right decision.
“We agreed that what the IEC said is true; the logo we presented on it was written People’s Alliance Party. It was a mistake. It should have been Independent Ebrima Manneh. But the setback did not shake my faith. It did not even make me sad. I thank God Who knows what’s best for me. That is why I was never sad. They [IEC] did their job.”
In an unrelated development, GDC second national women’s president Aji Ndey Njie and former MA Bah of Lamin have decamped to President Barrow’s NPP.
