By Tabora Bojang
The leader of the Gambia Democratic Congress, Mamma Kandeh, yesterday received a huge welcome in Kalagi, the entrance of Foni where his new ally, the APRC faction loyal to former president Yahya Jammeh, commands massive following. A long convoy of vehicles fully loaded with supporters from all parts of Foni could be seen approaching the Kalagi bridge, the border between LRR and West Coast Region.
The supporters gathered to form an anthill of human columns drumming and dancing as Kandeh’s car drove at a snail’s pace.
Lamin Tamba, one of the Jammeh-backed APRC prominent supporters, said the welcoming carnival at Kalagi was just a rehearsal.
“More is expected. We are going to State House,” he wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Kandeh has once again reacted to a supposed complaint by the NPP over former president Jammeh’s addressing of his rallies. President Barrow has himself complained about Jammeh’s ‘interference’ while his NPP formally filed a complaint to the IEC to stop Kandeh from using Jammeh at his rallies.
The Standard understood that the IEC had written to the GDC suggesting that ‘for the sake of peace’ let the party stop Jammeh from addressing their rallies. Neither the GDC nor the IEC has disclosed or confirmed the existence of this letter.
But in his latest reaction to the matter, the GDC leader seemed to be directly addressing the supposed letter from the IEC. He challenged Election House to show him any legal reasons that can bar Jammeh from speaking at political campaign rallies.
“Yahya Jammeh is still a citizen of this country and I did not hear anywhere that he was convicted. We are waiting for the IEC to show us a provision in the electoral law that stops any citizen from speaking and taking part in the elections wherever you are in this world,” Kandeh said at one of his rallies.
According to the GDC leader, Jammeh will only stop addressing rallies if the IEC provides him proof about its illegality, “but to threaten to suspend my campaign is a non-starter,” he said.
Kandeh also registered disappointments with the IEC chairman Alieu Momarr Njai, accusing him of making avoidable mistakes which have the potential to set the country ablaze.
“The election disputes that engulfed this country in 2016 were all created by Alieu Momarr Njai. I have been very patient with his actions but let him and the IEC know that everything has a limit. We are not going to take this issue lightly and nobody can stop us”, Kandeh warned.
He charged that if the NPP claims that Jammeh’s involvement is disturbing people, the GDC equally would like to submit the disturbances caused by Hamat Bah in the ongoing campaign.
Kandeh said the IEC should not get itself involved into APRC’s internal matters, because NPP is complaining about Jammeh simply because he did support them. “Is it a force to support President Barrow? Let the IEC put its house in order and not serve as a willing tool for anyone. I have no control over anybody as to what you put on, where and when. The APRC faction led on the ground by Yaya Tamba wish to join Kandeh and others wish to join Barrow. So what is the IEC’s problem in this matter?” the GDC leader quizzed. He accused the IEC of overlooking President Barrow’s violation of the campaign rules by giving out money to poor people to get their votes.
“We see President Barrow sharing money amongst citizens everyday which is a violation of the electoral laws. I am so disappointed with the IEC. They cannot say they haven’t seen videos or listened to audios where Barrow and his party are bribing people on their campaign trail. The IEC ignored that blatant violations by Barrow and now wants to control who I give access to speak at my meetings. Who are you?”, Kandeh asked.
