By Omar Bah
The Gambia Action Party has for the first time explained the reason behind the departure of former top security official Tamsir Jasseh from the party.
Mr Jasseh announced he quit GAP shortly after joining it a few months ago. He has since gone ahead to declare that he will run for president on an independent ticket.
Recently, Mr Jasseh who was the national president of the party, told the For The People, By The People Show that unhappy executive members of GAP had asked the secretary general of the party Musa Batchily to resign but he refused. Jasseh further explained: “I joined the Gambia Action Party but it didn’t work because I didn’t like the direction that the party was going. So I decided to step aside and I was in the process of looking for another party that shares my views. GAP did on paper, but in practice, they didn’t.”
But according to GAP, Mr Tamsir Jasseh decided to leave the party only after he failed to impose himself as its flag-bearer.
In a statement responding to Mr Jasseh’s claims, GAP said: “We wish to clarify to the party surrogates and the entire nation that the recent statement by Tamsir Jasseh about his quitting was fallacious and aimed at misleading the general public as well as tarnishing the image of the party.”
The statement signed by GAP’s administrative secretary, Muhammed Kandoro Yaffa, further stated: “A few months ago Jasseh decided to join Gambia Action Party claiming that GAP is the only party that has national interest in his maiden media appearance at The Fatu Network, but little did we know that his primary focus was to be the party’s presidential candidate. Mr Jasseh along the way defected from the party after knowing that GAP operates on democratic principles and the rule of law which limited his chances to fulfill his selfish desire. The GAP administration approached him a few days later and he regretted and rescinded his decision which was published in Standard Newspaper.”
“We are disappointed with Mr Jasseh’s recent remarks, as he comported himself on a divide and rule tactics just to lead the party only to accomplish his last-ditch financial crisis. Despite all the efforts and obtrude he positioned himself, he frequently used abusive as well as derogatory remarks in almost all the executive meetings he attended and created violent scenes. That alone demonstrated his incompetence and lack of readiness to rule this great country. The GAP administration believes that with time and effort, Mr Jasseh will change attitudes towards national development initiative undertakings. He applied for the role of flag bearer and the party had in mind that since he took part in the 2006 Col Ndure Cham coup attempt which led to his conviction of treason and felony, the GAP administration questioned his qualification but he was claimed to have acquired presidential pardon,” GAP noted.
However, the party went on, a week later through the Ministry of Justice the party realised that Mr Jasseh’s pardon was just verbal as his name “did not appear in proclamation list accorded to convicts from 1990 to 2021 and that led to his disqualification from contesting in the December 04 and subsequent presidential elections.
