On Musa Jeng’s Standard interview
Dear editor,
Reading The Standard Newspaper’s interview with President Barrow’s adviser, Musa Jeng, I could not miss the sheer headline-grabbing opportunism, deception, over-the-top reaction and an unwarranted threat of political backlash just to shut Hon Mai Ahmad Fatty up.
As an active stakeholder in the formation of Coalition 2016 that brought President Barrow to power, Hon Fatty is directly complicit in selling MoU to Gambians which also includes the three (3) year transition agreement, despite its contravention to the Supreme Constitution of The Gambia. It is thus his rights to offer his position on the issue more so at a time when the President is signaling his intent to go beyond the agreed transition period without leaving room for consultation. Whether GMC had any political clout in the run up to and during Coalition 2016 project is immaterial since his party was treated as equal among the rest.
Musa’s interview also revealed surprising flaws in the Coalition 2016 process and his personal and direct involvement in influencing the outcome of the convention. If GMC had no required delegate, who were those that represented GMC at the convention?
Musa was not only involved in possible collusion in subverting a transparent process, he was an active participant in deceiving Gambians with this 3 year narrative when they clearly had no intention of honoring it…
Could it be that Musa is rewarded with his current position because of his involvement in shady back room deals prior to and during the convention?
If Hon Fatty was involved in financial impropriety during his tenure as the interior Minister, with his new house as exhibit, what stopped the government from pursuing the matter if it is really serious about intolerance to official graft and transparency? By using such argument for political purpose, this adviser has demonstrated gross ineptitude, lack of care to advise the president on matters of national interest given malignant effects of corruption in our society.
Was Hon Fatty sacked due to his increasing assertiveness while the rookie President Barrow was still learning on the job? Is rolling out red carpet for the Interior Minister a ‘sack-able’ offense? Given the fragility of our security situation at the time and given his prominent role as Interior Minister, providing such armed escort shouldn’t necessarily provide ground for his firing. Was the President’s future political ambition under threat of overshadowing by the energetic and charismatic Interior Minister?
The argument that Hon Fatty was pushing the President to close ranks with the allies of the former president is weak and falls flat in the face of this administration’s actions. I want to put it to Musa Jeng that there has been a resurgence of loyalists and allies of the former President in Barrow’s government in the absence of Hon Fatty which continues through this day. Barrow Youth Movement, BYM, is a good reference point here.
So, let Musa Jeng enjoy his coveted position, which he wants to maintain for five years as one of the many advisers of President Barrow even with also zero result, and stop threatening Hon Fatty with exposition of phantom misdeeds.
We are watching……
Zakaria Kemo Konteh
Queens, USA
