Halifa talks tough on Coalition split

By Lamin Cham & Istaou Jawara Halifa  Sallah of the People’s Democratic  Organization  For Independence and Socialism PDOIS, has  been speaking tough in the aftermath of the failed talks on a  tactical alliance by the Coalition, saying  he has been forced to take  a firm stand against  any  smear campaign against  PDOIS and his person. “I am now a changed Halifa—from the diplomatic type to the Politician now. What cannot be accepted now is any attempt to tarnish the image of PDOIS or my person over this coalition matter,” Mr Sallah stressed. According to Mr Sallah, it is regretful that the Coalition partners now have to go their own ways because they could not agree on the modalities on a tactical alliance, especially on how many seats each party should contest. ”As a result we have been forced under circumstance to put candidates on party lines much to the dislike of the supporters of the Coalition,” he said.  He admitted PDOIS has supported the proposal for every party to submit its list of candidates who would go through primaries to select a single candidate to represent the Coalition in in all 53 constituencies. “But the majority of the members, with our abstention, voted for a tactical alliance which could not work because of lack of agreement who gets how many seats to contest.” Mr Sallah however expressed hope that with the good will still existing among the partners some sort of agreement is possible before the elections. Speaking at a press conference called to update the public on the political reality soon after PDOIS nominated some 22 candidates across the country including himself, Sallah, who is also the Coalition spokesperson, gave a moving reflection on the formation of the Coalition, its objective, the post election crisis and asked if anyone could even dispute PDOIS’s sterling contributions to the change that emanated from the strategies that were used to effect it. “The freedom Gambia got now is not given on a silver platter. It was earned. For every twist in the impasse we had to use strategies to avert chaos and keep the focus on the enforcement of the will of the people,” Sallah said. This he said had impressed the international community from both the region and beyond to support the cause of the Gambian people’s struggle to get their will respected.  ‘Who can trivialize or ignore PDOIS’ contributions in all these?” he asked. The PDOIS Secretary General said his party had always been guided by the interest of the nation in all its policies and that will continue and that it is now the responsibility of the voters to know and recognize who has done what in the interest of the country. “But we have now come to a point where we will never allow anyone to distort the truth and write fiction. We shall challenge all attempts by anyone to replace the truth with fiction,” he said. He added; “Go and find out from President Barrow whether Halifa Sallah has betrayed him”. Mr Sallah disclosed that at this crucial time The Gambia is still battling for its destiny, and every citizen is a part of this. “We are moving into the second phase of the electoral cycle in the Gambia. We have duly been nominated and we are contesting as a political party,” he said. He continued: “We have brought the change that is necessary and we are now going to build a National Assembly that will ensure that, that change goes in the direction that the people aspired, to build one Gambia, one nation and one people whose destiny is in their hands”.]]>