By Omar Bah
Lands minister Hamat Bah has given a broadside to leading opposition leader Ousainu Darboe, asking him to hang up his gloves and bow out of politics now.
Addressing a meeting during President Barrow’s just-concluded Meet The People Tour in Ebo Town, Bah himself a veteran politician and leader of the National Reconciliation Party, stated: “He [Darboe] has no energy left to continue this fight. He might have the heart but the energy is not there. And I want to ask President Barrow to appeal to him to retire and enjoy the rest of his life in dignity. Darboe has done a lot for this country. He has gone to jail and lost his profession just to rescue this country but it is time now for him to retire.”
He said the government is committed to accord Mr Darboe all his entitlements as an elder statesman and former vice president.
In an apparent riposte to this statement, Mr Darboe who is on a national tour with his UDP party vanguards, told a meeting in Janjangbureh that he entered politics to salvage the country and that unless Gambians regain their dignity he will not quit.
Mr Darboe had criticised the president’s tour as an exercise in vanity and waste and blamed the current government for failing to guarantee the basic fundamental right to education.
Reacting to these comments, Minister Bah said the UDP leader should remember that it was President Barrow who sanctioned government bursaries for thousands of UTG students.
“Darboe said the students are striking because we didn’t pay their tuition fees but our intelligence informed us about what has been brewing underground for a long time. We are not sleeping. Our people are within them day and night. We know what they are up to but they will fail miserably. They cannot and they will not succeed,” he added.
He said the government has been paying for those students over the past years, arguing that the delay was as a result of the nature of government budgeting.
“I heard him [Darboe] talking about the strike but he should remember when the teachers wanted to strike in 2018, he threatened to sack all of them. He is on record. We are not sacking anybody. We are negotiating with them and hopefully we will come to an agreement,” he said.
“We should stop the politics of deception because Gambians are very aware now to be fooled by mere rhetoric,” Bah added.
