By Momodou Jawo
Mamma Kandeh, leader of opposition Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) has called on President Adama Barrow to resign and accused the current administration of “woefully failing the Gambian people”.
“Nothing is working in The Gambia.
This is a government without a sense of direction. The country is struggling with electricity outages and water shortage among others,” Kandeh said while addressing thousands of his party supporters who turned out at Talinding Buffer Zone to welcome him upon his return from a European tour Wednesday.
He challenged the Barrow government to explain to Gambians how they spent the US$25 million given by the Islamic Development Bank to support farmers with groundnut seeds and fertilisers for the just-ended 2017 planting season.
“We at the GDC have no problem in helping Barrow to rule this country. We will be more than glad to help steer the affairs of this country if availed the opportunity. I do not think that this is the promised government for The Gambia,” he posited.
The GDC leader also called on the police to rise above the fray and resist the pressure to become partisan in politics. “Let the police know that all Gambians are equal. Let them know that there was a government here and it is gone, and this government will also go. The Gambia belongs to all of us,” he noted.
Euro-success
Kandeh said his tour of Europe was “a big success”. He called on the National Assembly to move a motion at the parliament to strengthen The Gambia’s ties with the Scandinavian and Nordic countries. He urged The Gambia to open an embassy in Stockholm and appoint a full-fledged ambassador to Sweden.
He said there are a surfeit of Gambian born intellectuals abroad who are eager to contribute to rebuilding the nation but “are not given the opportunities”.
He said a future GDC government, “will not be a compensation government”, but a meritocracy that will appoint people to office based on merit.
Kandeh threatened to sue the government in court if it hands out “a pittance” D3,000 to Gambians returned from Europe, in particular Germany. “I am still investigating the matter, because they are supposed to be paid 1,900 euro each. If any returnee can come forward and tell me the amount of money they were given, I will sue the government in court,” Kandeh puffed.
