“The day after the former alkalo died, the district head chief, Sheriff Ajeh Janneh sent a delegation to collect his staff. This did not go down well with the bereaved family and tempers flared up resulting in the exchange of profanities. But before that Jobe Touray was the one temporarily put in charge of alkaloship when the alkalo was sick and a segment of the community wanted him to stay on but the chief has other ideas,” the sourced added.
When contacted for comments, the local government minister, Momodou Aki Bayo, himself a Gunjur native, referred The Standard to his permanent secretary Saikou Sanyang.
Asked for comments on the crisis, Saikou Sanyang, said: “Please, I am not the one to contact for such issues. You have to contact the governor of the region concerned if you have such questions in the future. In this case you have to contact the governor of West Coast Region Aminata Sifai Hydara. She will be able to tell you something about it.” But Governor Hydara could not be reached for immediate comment.
Ebrima Janneh, a Gunjurian based in the UK lamented that the situation has the potential to reverse the gains made in achieving communal cohesion: “The giant leaps made by the Gunjur Village Development Committee towards community cohesion and understanding was widely welcome. These successes in harmony buttressed by the leadership of the late alkalo is being undermined by divisive power struggle for alkaloship among different factions in Gunjur. Undoubtedly, this development has potentials to diminish the harmony achieved by different stakeholders in recent years. It is lugubrious that the power struggle started when the late Alkali was alive on his sick bed. Those trying periods for the old man and for many people in Gunjur did not trigger a shred of sympathy in some people. Instead, the sickness of the former alkalo energised elements in Gunjur to position themselves in order to line up as potential replacement for him.
“Some people were promised to be definite replacements, while others were lobbying to higher authorities to be the chosen vessel to the much-desire throne. Nevertheless, Pa Sulayman before his death transferred his alkaloship to somebody to run the mantle for him albeit temporarily. Whether he was aware of the political squabbles clamouring for his replacement even before his death is not clear to me. But how callous can this be? While the former alkalo was fighting for his life, factions in Gunjur were bogged down toiling, tussling and plotting to replace him through all kinds of manoeuvres. It was sad that all these were happening under the nose of a sick and defenceless leader who served his people to the best of his abilities.”
]]>
