By Omar Bah
A regional youth wing of the Gambia Moral Congress has expressed its “dismay” over the “misinterpretation” of its leader, Mai Fatty’s recent comments on President Barrow and his renegation on the 2016 coalition agreement.
Mr Fatty came under fire when he said President Adama Barrow should not be blamed for the break-up of the coalition because he was instigated to renege on his campaign promise by some “selfish politicians”.
However, Karamo Njie, a member of the UDP regional executive on Wednesday told The Standard it was “an open truth” that Fatty was referring to UDP leader Ousainu Darboe.
But in an attempt to deflect the blowback from the disparaging comments, Bakary Marong, the GMC spokesman for the GMC North Bank Region youth wing, told The Standard yesterday: “Throughout the entire history of the UDP, it has never had the unalloyed loyalty, solidarity and support of any political leader like Mai Fatty or the unadulterated support of a political party like GMC. Never, and it will never. [Mai Fatty] considers Darboe as his revered elder and in-law and will not be the one to throw jibes at him.
“Karamo Njie has done a great disservice to Darboe because Mr Fatty did not mention any name. Darboe is not the only leader of the coalition who supported Barrow on five years. Some are still serving in government and didn’t resign at the end of the three-years limit. Why must Karamo single out Darboe? Mai spoke about selfish politicians without mentioning names. How many politicians are in this country? Is Darboe a selfish politician? Karamo is unfair to Darboe. Was Darboe responsible for the break-up of the coalition?” Marong asked.
He said Njie’s suggestion that Mai was referring to Darboe is “unfortunate and unhelpful”.
“GMC and UDP alliances started in 2010 but the excellent relations between Mr Fatty and Mr Darboe is three-decades old. Mai accords the honour and respect of a father figure and role model to Darboe, and the entire country will testify to that. If Karamo had felt uncomfortable with his comments, he should have instead called him to advise him. That would have solved the situation. But by going to the media and misleading the public, he is promoting division, disunity and overheating the political atmosphere which is not good for national peace and stability,” he said.
He said some UDP executive members have openly castigated Mr Fatty but he never reacted or allowed his supporters to react.
“We have evidence that the persistent attacks by some influential persons with the UDP, close to the party leadership, including the UDP spokesperson are known to the party leadership. If you go to social media, you will find daily personal attacks against our party leader by UDP supporters, but you will hardly find a GMC supporter attacking or insulting UDP leaders. This has to stop,” Marong said.
Marong said even when Mai was dismissed as Minister for the Interior, it was UDP supporters who falsely accused him of accepting bribes in connection with passport and ID card contracts.
“But as far as we are concerned, Mai Fatty remains the undisputed future of this country. We recognise the great leadership and contributions of Darboe, and we always accord him nothing but the highest respect, highest honour and highest consideration. Where there are no issues, we will urge Mr Njie and those who think like him, not to invent issues,” he charged.
