By Omar Bah
Retired army general Momodou Alieu Bah and former State Guard Commander Lt Landing Sanneh have officially joined the National People’s Party.
The two former senior military officers accompanied by some youths of Busumbala officially declared their support for President Barrow’s party on Tuesday at a ceremony held at the NPP bureau.
MA Bah, the last Interior minister under the Jammeh administration decamped from the APRC and joined the UDP in October 2018 following a leadership tussle with Fabakary Tombong Jatta.
However a few months later, he announced that he was taking a sabbatical from party politics to “concentrate on supporting the government’s National Development Plan”.
But six months to the presidential election, Bah has publicly pledged his support for President Barrow’s bid for a fresh mandate.
Meanwhile, Lt Landing Sanneh, who was arrested, tried and sentenced to 16 years in imprisonment for allegedly conniving with late Lt Almamo Manneh to overthrow Jammeh in 2000, has also pledged his support to the president’s agenda.
Explaining why he chose the NPP, Sanneh, a native of Kanwally village in Foni Bondali district, said: “I believe President Barrow is the right person for this country. I know many people in Foni don’t like the idea of me joining Barrow but it is my choice and I urge the whole of Foni and The Gambia at large to rally behind the president.”
The NAM for Busumbala, Saikouba Jarju, who led the delegation, said the former soldiers will contribute “immensely” to get Barrow back to the State House in December. He said Gen Bah has assured the president of the support of his women’s groups.
Turning to Lt Sanneh, Jarju said Sanneh’s joining the NPP will give him more authority to talk to his people in Foni to convince them that the NPP is the only party that can save their integrity.
“It is clear that all the other political parties vying for the presidency do not have a good vision or respect for Foni and Yahya Jammeh. It is only Adama Barrow who has the fortitude to reconcile Gambians irrespective of tribes,” Jarju said.
He claimed the problems the people of Foni were facing after Jammeh’s departure were caused by “some individuals in government who do not like the exiled former president”.
Yesterday, The Point newspaper reported that notable Gambian diasporan, Sedia Bayo, also joined the NPP.
