By Omar Bah
The leader of the opposition Gambia Democratic Congress said he has no doubt that Gambians will vote President Adama Barrow out in 2021.
“One thing is for sure, Adama Barrow will be disappointed come next election in 2021. Gambians will remove him just like they removed Yahya Jammeh in 2016 and I can assure you that his defeat will be more humiliating because he will be alone after his defeat,” he told The Standard recently.
The former National Assembly member for Jimara said the Gambian leader should be wary of the aftermath of his presidency.
“I want to remind him that Gambians have now seen the way and they will never allow anybody to perpetuate him/herself in power. That will never happen in this country,” he said.
He continued: “We all wanted a change but unfortunately the change we managed to achieve has been a disappointing one to all Gambians. The Barrow-administration is not the type of administration Gambians were sacrificing their lives for to remove Jammeh. But it has not come as a surprise, because if Barrow can disappoint the UDP I see no reason why he cannot disappoint the entire country”.
“This brings me to the question of when are we going to begin holding our leaders accountable to the promises, they make to us? It is only in Africa that a politician will fail his campaign promise and yet you have some crop of corrupt people who stand by you and defend you even if they know you are lying. I am afraid but the truth is that I personally do not see any way out for this country if we continue to elect people like Adama Barrow as our president,” he queried.
Kandeh said the GDC has contributed immensely to the political climate of the country since its inception and continues to play its role in fostering unity and national cohesion.
Covid-19
The GDC leader said: “Despite all the noise we have not seen a serious response from the government towards the fight against Covid-19. They failed miserably. I believe the virus has exposed the weakness of the president and his government. This is why I believe the government should listen to Gambians more especially the opposition because that is the only way we can together build a better Gambia”.
He said immediately when the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Senegal, he had written a press release urging President Barrow to mobilise national efforts and start preparing “but unfortunately my call was never responded to”.
“Despite the government’s continuous slumber, I want to encourage my fellow opposition to put politics aside and help the government to fight the pandemic. The GDC’s first gesture was to buy lot of materials and send them to the medical store at Kotu and we have also paid radio programs for sensitisation,” he added.
Draft constitution
Speaking on the draft constitution, Kandeh said his party is in full support of the presidential term-limit enshrined in the draft constitution.
He also welcomes the powers allocated to the National Assembly by the new draft constitution.
“But the only shocking thing that made me uncomfortable are the rumours that the Constitution was copied from the Kenyan Constitution despite all the millions they spent. I would have expected a constitution that of Gambian,” he said.
The former parliamentarian said he cannot tell whether the GDC will vote for or against the draft constitution.
