By Amadou Jadama
Dodou Jah, deputy spokesperson of the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction, has said the recent request by Gambia government to extend the mandate of West African troops to 2021 is for political reasons.
Mr Jah said: “I think government is planning to rig elections and I will repeat this until Election Day. I feel that the extension of the Ecomig in the county is a political and resource-wasting decision.
Just imagine and take into account the 800 million dalasis paid to Ecomig annually. If you allocate that to fix our heath sector, education and agriculture then all our tears would be wiped. Why then are we pumping such a huge amount of money into Ecomig?”
He added: “From their own mouths, the party of the government said they are going to score 70 percent of the votes in 2021. In fact, now they have raised that to 75 percent. Now, how can a single person be able to get 75 percent when a coalition of 7 political parties with one independent candidate could only manage 43 percent? What are they planning? Our eyes and ears are open and we are watching. We are no fools. What happened in 2016 will never be repeated.”
Mr Jah warned that anyone who puts their hopes on rigging elections will fail.
“We are ready for anything and we are ready to salvage this country. This country will end in the hands of Gambians and we are taking back our country. We don’t want this country to be in the hands of the Chinese, Europeans, or Senegalese,” he concluded.
