By Omar Bah
Former president Yahya Jammeh last night addressed a campaign meeting in Sare Bojo in Central River Region of the GDC and his APRC faction.
Jammeh addressed the meeting through a telephone call from his exile home in Equatorial Guinea a day after President Adama Barrow warned GDC leader Mamma Kandeh from allowing the former president to use his [Kandeh’s] political platform to meddle in political matters in the country. The president threatened that if Kandeh allowed Jammeh to do so, he will show them that the country has laws.
In a swift riposte, Kandeh said he will continue to allow Jammeh to address his meetings and dared the president to come good on his “bluff”.
Kandeh said President Barrow is simply upset with Jammeh because he refused the seal of approval for the APRC to back Barrow’s bid for re-election to the presidency.
Speaking at a rally in Kerr Sait Maram in CRR, Kandeh contended: “I have heard Barrow’s statement and I agree that no one is above the law and that he is the president. But my response is that Yahya Jammeh will be speaking at our meetings and since Adama Barrow said if that happens again he will invoke the law against me, then we are waiting for that law… We are prepared for anything. We know each other very well. I am not somebody he can threaten and in this case I have nothing to do with him because if the GDC does anything wrong during this campaign that is between us and the IEC and not Adama Barrow. If he doesn’t understand the law, let him ask his justice minister,” Kandeh said.
“He knows he has lost the election and that is why he is desperate. Why didn’t he talk when Jammeh spoke at Kanilai and Gunjur meetings? I want to tell Barrow that his threats have not moved me an inch; it is just like watching a cat beat its chest. If he wants peace, let him allow us to do our campaign in peace but if he dares us we will react in the strongest way. We have all seen Barrow going to Kanilai to convince Jammeh’s family to talk to him to support him.
“I want to call on Barrow to join me because he is going to lose this election. He doesn’t need to be paranoid; he can come to GDC. We will give him all the respect he deserves. I hereby extend a hand of peace to him but if he refuses to take it then let it be,” Kandeh teased.
Meanwhile in his address to the Sare Bojo meeting, Jammeh claimed the 2016 election that ousted him was rigged and brought to power Barrow and his cohorts who destroyed the country in just four years.
He stated: “I have heard many times Adama Barrow trying to fool you Gambians telling you that he brought the projects I have implemented. That is not true. You people know that I started the Lamin Koto-Passimas road project up to 40 kilometres and there was a delay and the reason for the delay was that they wanted to stop that project – end it at 40km and then they will complete it in Phase 2. I told them I don’t want an incomplete project it has to be completed and then they agreed and brought in more and they started to continue the project and that is how it continued to the end. Now Adama Barrow is claiming he owns the project. I have one question for Adama Barrow and I want him to answer my question. I want him to tell me how many stages are in a project before the project is completed? With regard to the Lamin Koto-Passimas, I want him to tell me who was the first consultant on the project? Let him answer these two questions. Secondly he claims to have built the Farafenni Bridge. I want him to tell me when the project commenced, the cost and who was the first engineer? The Farafenni Bridge started and there was a delay. Let him tell me why it was delayed? I will tell you the truth because I never lied to you and I will never lie to you because if I do I will go to hell. I participated in the design of the Farafenni Bridge and because the contractor refused to adhere to my advice they had to stop work and start all over again. Adama Barrow is calling that Bridge Senegambia Bridge. That bridge will never be called Senegambia Bridge when I come back. I have done everything to bring development to CRR and all other parts of the country because my plans were and still are to make Gambia a city state whether Adama Barrow likes it or not. We will make sure both the Kombos and the provinces share the same opportunity and there will be free education and medical care. By the grace of God this will happen. My heart bleeds for the people of Gambia especially for the women and children who are so dear to me. The young people are not enjoying quality education and women have lost their gardens. The Barrow administration has destroyed all I have built, especially in the health sector. They have destroyed the health sector to the point that Gambian women are scared to go to the hospital to deliver.”
