By Amadou Jadama
The former honorary consul general of The Gambia in Spain, Kassim Njie, has joined United Democratic Party. Njie, who hailed from Noo Kunda in Upper Baddibu was accompanied by his family and friends to meet the UDP leadership at the party’s bureau in Manjai Kunda Wednesday.
He told The Standard: “I decided myself to come and join the UDP. If you look at my history, I was a member of NCP and after that I travelled to Europe, worked and finally retired. Then I said let me come home and join the party, that is the UDP, to share my experiences with them in developing the country.
“I have come to contribute my quota and my advice. I have seen that the UDP is the future of this country. The supporters are increasingly everyday and it is the only party that suffered alot and the members never relented. It is the party that is on the right path and they are fighting in the right way and I know the party very well.
“I joined the UDP not to look for positions. I’m a retired civil servant and many people know me. I spent a lot of my life in Europe and thousands of people are behind me both in Europe and The Gambia and they have all come to join UDP. They have not only joined, but they will give their votes to the UDP. By the grace of Almighty Allah, in 2021, UDP will rule this country.
“UDP is a party of committed people and that convinced me to join the party. I have given my clean heart to the party. I cannot join a party that cannot govern the country, and that is why I chose the UDP,” Njie stated.
Ousainu Darboe, the UDP leader, welcomed Mr Njie and tasked him to recruit more people to join the party. “We don’t need anything but what will increase our votes. I don’t say we are not interested in a coalition, but let us work hard and get more than 51 percent. If that happens there will be no coalition. Let us make this our target and mission. So if we go to election, the UDP will score more than 51 percent so that there will be no second round. If we conduct an election today, we will get more than this 51 percent they are talking. [Nonetheless] let us bring more people into UDP,”he urged.
Darboe said the UDP is not a trigger-happy party. “What we normally do is if we give our trusted positions to you and you fail to deliver as we expected from you, we take it from you. I can only say that we sacked only the National Assembly Members, because for them, we cannot seize their positions, only to sack them.”
Mr Darboe called on his supporters to respect themselves and not engage in trading invectives.”
