By Omar Bah
Diehard PDOIS supporter and rights activist, Pa Samba Jow, has come to the defence his political mentor Sidia Jatta who is seeking reelection as NAM of Wuli West.
Mr Jatta was recently attacked by President Adama Barrow who said the veteran politician should retire just as his contemporaries have done. Addressing a meeting in Gunjur, Wuli West, Barrow said the likes of OJ, Ousainu Darboe and Bakary Dabo have all retired and Sidia should follow suit and give chance to the youths.
Reacting to the president’s comments in an audio sent to The Standard, Pa Samba Jow said Barrow’s call for Sidia Jatta to retire from politics is “disrespectful”.
“But this doesn’t come to me as a surprise because if one follows President Barrow’s political career since becoming an accidental president, one would see that he has done nothing but disrespecting those on whose backs he climbed to become president. It is really interesting and ironical that Adama Barrow, who was elected for the promise he made to serve as an interim president for three years but failed to keep that promise, could now turn around and tell somebody to retire to give chance to others,” Mr Jow said.
He said if President Barrow was honest and truthful to the Gambian people, by now the country would have had a fourth president.
“Even after failing his promise to serve for three years claiming that constitutionally he can serve for five years, he could still respect the agreement to give the country a chance to end self-perpetuating rule. But instead, he did not only refuse to stop at five years but went on to seek for another term and in his selfish ways decided to undermine the aspirations of Gambians when he orchestrated the rejection of the draft constitution that would have ensured that no Gambian president would stay for more than ten years,” Jow said.
He added that Gambians must be very careful of President Barrow’s use of age and tribalism to instill fear in people.
“He would stop at nothing when it comes to serving his political interest because this is the same Adama Barrow who had no problem with ridiculing victims whose plight led to his presidency. This is a guy who had reneged on all his promises to the Gambian people,” he said.
“When Sidia Jatta came into politics, he had all the opportunity to earn resources beyond imagination anywhere in the world as one of the most qualified linguists in Africa. But he chose country over self and when he got into politics, he shunned personal wealth for the liberation of his people. This is a man who, when elected into the National Assembly, did what nobody has ever done in the history of this country by using his salary to establish the Wuli Fund that benefited the people of Wuli. Now what has Adama Barrow done personally to benefit the Gambian people?” Jow asked.
