By Lamin Cham
Former president Yahya Jammeh has once again made it clear that he is in no mood to cede control of his APRC party to anyone, nor will he accept changes to its existing structures.
Speaking to his supporters in October in an audio, which only got leaked this week, Jammeh further said anyone looking to be flag bearer of the APRC should go somewhere else. “Not inside my APRC,” the former Gambian leader stressed.
He further warned that APRC emblems and symbols shall never change “because it’s through these symbols that we developed this country”.
The former president also announced that henceforth, the APRC will have a council of elders and chairmen who will supervise the national executive committee and will be the sole representative of him and the only line of communications from him on party matters.
“I also want to make it clear that when the council of elders calls meetings they should chair these meetings and control it and at all times, they must not comprise with discipline.”
Turning to the party structures, Jammeh said the position of Mobiliser General is unheard of in the APRC and should be abolished. “We have never had such a nomenclature in the party. What we have is a national mobiliser and women’s mobiliser and that is what should remain,” Jammeh said.
Jammeh’s leaked audio came at the same time that several executive members of his faction are reported to have been removed. He made no reference to this, even though he said people who are not functioning in their positions should be removed to give way to those who can deliver. He equally did not mention the faction of his party led by current National Assembly Speaker Fabakary Tombong Jatta, whose faction is the one officially recognsied as APRC by the Gambian authorities, since the party split over whether to back President Adama Barrow’s ruling NPP.
A large chunk of the party also calling itself APRC, however remains loyal to Jammeh and currently holds five National Assembly seats.
