By Lamin Cham
Veteran politician and former minister, Bala Garba Jahumpa, has said he intends to form a political party and run for president in 2026.
The son of pre- independence Banjul politician Garba Jahumpa, Bala, fondly called Action Man, said he would in consultation with the Gambian people introduce a manifesto that will take care of all the endless lingering and present hardships the country is facing.
According to Mr Jahumpa, his manifesto will bring back the absolute majority election system to replace the current one so that only the person who is supported by the majority can become president.
He said he does not feel it is necessary to replace the 1997 constitution with a new one but instead necessary amendments should be made and not the self-serving amendments done in the last few years. He said among the changes he would carry out is to insert a term limit in the constitution. “If elected, I will as fast as possible introduce the anti corruption bill because there is rampant corruption and suspicious things in this country. The GPA rate collection unit saga, the millions of battered notes allegedly deposited at Central Bank, the Central Bank again over paying people millions more than their earnings. The singling out of Dr Banja while others go scot-free at the same ministry. What happened to all the investigations into all these? Gone with the wind,” Mr Jahumpa said.
He further told The Standard if elected, he will ensure that the country gets value for money in all its infrastructure projects through constant checking on the quality of buildings and roads.
Mr Jahumpa urged the young people and all Gambians to join “this bandwagon so that the country can get better in terms of services, empowerment of women and employment of youths. What we are advocating is radical change, not cosmetic changes.”
