By Alagie Manneh
The pressure group, Coalition of Progressive Gambians, CoPG has been deregistered by the Registrar of Companies. The decision came little over a month before its much talked about planned protest slated for November 11.
Disclosing this in a press release yesterday, CoPG said it has learned with dismay the revocation of the registration of its certificate.
“We were told that the action was necessitated due to an order from ‘the top’ which suggests an official pressure, likely from the executive branch of the government, the very people who have sworn to carry out their duties without fear or favor. And the reason they gave was that we are deregistered because we are a pressure group,” the release stated.
According to the group’s president Seedy Cham, CoPG was legally registered as an association on the 28th day of September, 2022 at the AG Chambers, and this was achieved after the association fulfilled all the requirements for registration.
”We came into being in order to operate a functional office with the cardinal objective to raise awareness amongst Gambians and unite the people to fight against the “dangerously pervasive corruption and tribal politics in the country. That would enable Gambians to make informed decisions about the direction of the country without resorting to violence, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion and political affiliation”.
CoPG described the decision to revoke its registration as yet another clear manifestation of the arbitrary use of state powers, injustice and corruption.
“Similarly, this should make every Gambian know that that dictatorship is back in The Gambia,” the release signed by Seedy Cham, the president of CoPG, added.
CoPG also added that the decision to revoke their registration made their faith in the government of The Gambia as the legitimate protector of constitutionality and the rule of law shaken from the core of its foundation.
“In view of this unjust use of state powers, we are hereby registering our total disappointment and condemnation of the Barrow administration over this blatant violation of our rights as bona fide citizens of The Gambia,” the group said, adding they will not be intimidated from exercising their rights.
