By Tabora Bojang
In a rather curiously rare frank comment, the National Assembly Member for Latrikunda Saikou Marong has said that Gambians will continue to associate the Barrow government with graft if it fails to act on mounting allegations of corruption within the public and civil service.
Marong, a former UDP NAM who has since allied himself with NPP, added that it cannot be ‘business as usual’ when few individuals are ‘sucking’ the country for personal gains. “There is a lot of speculation going around and commissions set up. We want to see them [commissions] in action. We are setting up all these commissions here and there every now and I don’t believe in that. Let the government of The Gambia act. If they want to stop all these speculations let them take a stand because if they don’t act Gambians will still continue to say that this government is corrupt. So we expect this government to act as soon as possible,” Marong said at Monday’s adjournment debate. The Latrikunda NAM, who is seeking re-election on NPP ticket, also asked the government to come clear on the plight of Gambians in Europe and clear the air on the recent arguments and contradictions by the ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs regarding the signing of a purported deportation agreement with Germany.
“We want the government to be clear and tell us what is happening. You cannot have the Minister for Interior saying this and the Minister of Foreign Affairs saying the other. We cannot operate like that! This is one government,” he said. Marong also challenged the government to swiftly act to address the unprecedented hiking of prices of basic commodities arguing that the liberal market policy has failed to address the extremely high inflation.
