By Lamin Cham
The Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, will today announce the formation of another new party, Gambia Alliance for National Unity, GANU, led by Sheikh Tijan Hydara, a legal practitioner and former attorney general.
Speaking to The Standard on the eve of the announcement of the birth of his party, Mr Hydara, a native of Brufut where his father the late Sheriff Kebba Hydara was caliph, said GANU will provide a people-driven leadership that has been lacking in the history of this country. “GANU is here to fix the ‘New Gambia’ project because the current project had collapsed even before it started. We are going to provide a leadership that will usher in true and real progress and totally eradicate anything that resembles the past. For far too long, the Gambian people have not had the opportunity to have a leadership that will, for example, balance the economic gap between the rural and urban parts of the country. GANU believes that time has come for that to change.”
Asked why Gambians should trust GANU, Hydara said: “The difference is simple. We want to inject a new sense of direction that the Gambian people deserve; that is a responsible government that will invest in the future of the people of The Gambia and remain in charge, and not a reactionary one that will go with the wind uncontrollably.”
Asked what would be the next step since GANU must do some catching-up with only 18 months before the elections, Hydara said:“GANU is not actually very new. We have been working on this project for the past two years, touring the country and talking to the people. This has helped us to be familiar with the problems and aspirations of the people and we are now prepared to go full circle into politics to change their lot for the better.”
Read more about GANU and and its leader in the Bantaba column.
