By Tabora Bojang
The United Democratic Party’s regional spokesperson for the North Bank has responded to NRP leader Hamat Bah’s claims that despite their solid support UDP doesn’t grow.
Speaking to his party delegates at the NRP congress in Sare Bojo, the tourism minister urged them to continue rallying behind president Adama Barrow and warned that anytime there is a division between the NRP and the NPP, the opposition UDP will take over leadership, and ‘that will be unfortunate for the Gambia’
Also, in an apparent reference to the recent arrest of UDP campaign manager Momodou Sabally, Hamat said there is no super person in The Gambia that is above police arrest.
Reacting to these comments in an audio shared with The Standard, Karamo Njie accused the tourism minister of cheap talk only intended to please the president and maintain his position in government.
“Hamat Bah established his party because he wanted to become a president, not a minister. He now said he has shelved that ambition as long as Barrow is interested in power and that apart from Barrow, they would not forgo their ambition for anybody. I am tempted to ask but will any sane Gambian ever trust Hamat who has misled his supporters into thinking that they have relevance even though he is the only one eating the cake? We in the UDP are mature enough not to put the law into our hands but we are also known to resist any unlawfulness by the state against any innocent Gambian,” Njie said in his audio.
He further said government acted unlawfully in arresting Sabally and detaining him for days without charge and then releasing him unconditionally.
“How would Hamat Bah feel if he was in Sabally’s position? I want to remind Hamat Bah that we are ready and will not sit by and watch anyone govern this country lawlessly. The ideals of democracy and good governance that Gambians worked so hard to implant in this country are here to stay. This democracy was not given to us by Barrow, it was the efforts of Gambians and they entrusted the leadership to Barrow,” Njie said.
“So, I think all what Hamat Bah is doing is threatening his own supporters about Barrow’s dictatorial tendency because he or nobody else can threaten the UDP,” Njie said.
