By Omar Bah
For the first since mass resignations from his party led by deputy leader Yusupha Jaiteh, the GDC leader Mamma Kandeh has commented on the development saying the party is still intact despite the resignations.
Jaiteh and others quit the GDC, saying they will form a new party that would be headed by “a leader not a boss” which many interpreted as a mild criticism of Kandeh’s leadership style.
In his reaction, Kandeh said contrary to what those left believe, the GDC will not fall apart even if he, Kandeh himself leaves the party.
“We have thousands of people in the party who can lead it,” he told a rally in Katakorr Village, Foni Bondali.
Kandeh said anyone who thinks the GDC will die after he or she leaves, the person is gravely mistaking.
He said the few people who have left the GDC because they were not satisfied with the way the party is run, have all the right to belong to any party of their choice, “but let them not think that the party will not move without them.”
“They said they would form a party. I am encouraging them to form their party quickly because that will just increase the number of parties who want to develop the country. I am saying thank you and wishing them well,” he said.
Kandeh then turned to critics who are forecasting the doom of the GDC due to the recent resignations, saying they are dead wrong because if it is that simple, a party like UDP would have been dead now because everyday people are leaving the UDP to join the GDC.
“I or any other person does not own the party. It is a Gambian party that is here to stay,” he added.
Kandeh said despite what he heard in an audio by Yusupha Jaiteh, he is still forgiving his former deputy for all the things he said about him.
Coalition gov’t
The GDC leader also heaped criticism on the Coalition Government, calling it a sorry government that has “persistently kept on making avoidable mistakes just to come back and say they are sorry or they did not mean any harm.”
“President Barrow is going around the country telling people even the rats will feel the development that would be brought by his government, whiles hospitals are faced with serious scarcity of drugs,” he said.
He said the steering in the Coalition was broken immediately after Ousainu Darboe was released from prison “because immediately he (Darboe) left prison, he insisted that Barrow serves five years as provided by the Constitution, forgetting that without that Coalition agreement of three years there would not have been any Coalition in the first place.”
Kandeh also made reference to a reaction from Darboe when the GDC questioned his eligibility as vice President.
“Uncle Darboe said I should not be entrusted with the country’s leadership because I do not understand the constitution. But I also want to tell Gambians not to vote for him because he is ignorant of the law,” Kandeh charged.
The GDC leader accused Darboe and Barrow of staging a civilised coup by turning the Coalition Government into a UDP government.
He said President Barrow should remember when things were tough it was Omar Jallow, Halifa Sallah and Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang who stood beside him.
