By Omar Bah
The leader of the Gambia Moral Congress has said Abdoulie Saine’s attack on the Mandinka tribe is an attempt to undermine the country’s social fabric.
The allegations, he added, if established, would be “highly prejudicial” and a threat to national unity that could ignite the flames of ethnic division and pose significant danger to public peace and security.
He said such comments will as well endeavour to promote hatred and ill-will against the Mandinka ethnic group and contempt towards members of that tribe.
“I have not had the opportunity to listen to the alleged obnoxious audio. I cannot therefore speak to its specifics. I can however assert with irrefutable command, that the evil proponents of ethnic division must be prepared for their own political demise,” he told The Standard in an exclusive yesterday.
The former Interior Minister said the great strength of The Gambia is “our ethnic homogeneity and interfaith solidarity. Almost every family is represented by more than one ethnicity, including mine.”
“I am a Mandinka raised in Banjul by Alhaji Saibo Tunkara, a Sarahule. I am married to a Wolof and a Fula. My children have blood Wolof and Fula cousins and uncles, and I speak all four languages – Mandinka, Wolof, Fula and Sarahule,” he explained.
He said for him, “there is something fundamentally wrong” with those who fan the flames of ethnic discord, describing them as “the scum of our society who will never succeed.”
“This should be met with stiff penal sanctions to nip such inflammatory propensity in the bud. All well-intentioned Gambians should demonstrate repugnance against this, and I am outraged by such bellicose, irresponsible, condemnable tantrum,” he asserted.
Asked whether the courts are the appropriate means for such cases, Hon Fatty reply: “I believe in the rule of law. Therefore, as much as practicable, resort should be made to legal avenues to effectively deal with deviant conduct that posses the potential to undermine public order, peace and national security.
“For me, the courts remain the appropriate forum for this. It would constitute strong message and valuable opportunity for the state to show public odium at such conflagratory conduct,” he concluded.
