By Omar Bah
A respected Catholic priest, Fr. Peter Steven Lopez, has appealed to Gambians to vote for a God-fearing president in December.
The respected Christian cleric who is also the director of The Gambia Pastoral Institute GPI made these remarks on a radio programme.
Reverend Lopez went on: “We have our voter cards all to ourselves and it is left to us to use our commonsense when we go out to vote in December. I hope and pray that we will vote for someone who would be able to move this country forward and not someone who decides to work with evil.
Quoring the bible, Father Lopez added: “If someone tell you ‘yes’ today and tomorrow tells you ‘no’, you should not trust that person because that person doesn’t live up to his words. And if you don’t live up to your words to the extent of joining someone who has been accused of being a witch and is generally believed to be so, then you are doing it for your own interest and not for the interest of the general public.”
Reverend Lopez said people can sometimes be selfish to the extent of doing anything that keeps them longer in power. “They will prioritise things that will keep them in power over the country’s interest, but as the bible said everything in this world will come to pass,” he warned.
Fr. Lopez further argued: “All the countries that were behind The Gambia are now ahead of us and we are last now because this country is not moving forward. So, we should sit and rethink as we head for a very important election this December. We should vote for a God-fearing candidate and it doesn’t matter whether you share the same religion or tribe with the person. All these [religion and tribe] things are accidental. I was born in a Catholic home; I cannot be anything other than a Catholic because that was what was shown to me. This is why whenever I preach, I say that God is not a Catholic; God is just God and this is why in some other discussions you don’t hear about religion, all we look at is humanity and the behavior of the person and character.
“Now you have someone who decides to work with an evil who has killed people here and committed other serious crimes. If I decide to work with evil, then I will consider myself evil and whosoever works with evil should be considered evil. We should open our eyes and look for what is good for us. We should be able to know what is good or bad for us. We should be able to vote for someone who fears God and doesn’t work with evil and somebody who when you listen to him, you will be able to know whether he loves you or not. We should observe all the people asking for leadership and those they intend to work with to be able to decide wisely.”
Reverend Lopez further stressed: “What defines you is not what you eat or what you wear but the things that come out of you. Let us look at the countries that surround us and decide wisely. Gambians are doing great things around the world and more especially the UN but if they decide to come back, they will be hassled and called names. The situation in this country is quite disappointing. I pray to God to help us but again we should be able to help ourselves because God will never come down to build this country for us. I wish that we vote for someone in December who has not given his words to evil, someone who will sacrifice to ensure that this country moves out of these predicaments. You are at the top enjoying everything but you don’t care about those who are down and yet, you want to continue staying in power to the extent that you have decided to work with evil. I pray to God to remove for us those who, out of selfishness, decided to work with evil and bring us those who have the interest of this country.”
