By Omar Bah
Four days before the mayoral and chairperson elections, the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) leader has broken his silence by announcing his endorsement of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) chairperson candidate in Basse.
In a twelve-minute audio shared with The Standard, Mai Fatty announced his support for the NPP candidate Muhammed Ceesay and urged the people of Basse to vote for him on Saturday.
“We have three candidates contesting for the position and all of them have the right to do so but we should all face the realities of politics and see the truth. The outgoing council has not built a single market, feeder road, school or clinic despite collecting millions of dalasis from us. We have also seen the police investigating a corruption scandal involving millions of dalasis so we cannot trust them again to lead the council,” the former Interior minister said.
He said the outgoing council “only drilled a few boreholes” funded by international NGOs.
“But the NPP has built clinics, markets and bridges in Basse. No matter how much you may loath a dog, you must admit the whiteness of its teeth,” he said, adding, “when it comes to leadership, the NPP candidate Muhammed Ceesay has all the qualities required”.
He continued: “I appeal to all natives of Basse, especially those from Wuli, to vote for Mr Ceesay to ensure that we have a chairman from Wuli. Yes, he is a Sarahule but all those who know him will tell you he is tolerant and he treats people equally and with respect,” he added.
Mr Fatty reminded the electorate that URR has many needs including storage facilities among others which can only be facilitated easily by the NPP candidate.
“I am talking about the chairmanship election because it is purely about the Upper River Region. It has nothing to do with President Adama Barrow or the National Assembly. The Basse Area Council is a local entity that deals with the locals directly and as a native of Basse, I believe I should have a say,” he said.
Fatty advised the electorate to choose wisely by electing the NPP candidate who he said will have the opportunity to bring the needed development such as markets, feeder roads and clinics to the remotest areas of the region because his party is in government.
“If you vote for any other candidate apart from the NPP, we will find it difficult to realise the needed development for Basse because those who were there were not speaking in the same language with President Barrow and because of that they could not work together,” he said.
He urged the voters to ignore candidates who promise to build major roads, reduce the price of rice and bring other developments that can only be sanctioned by the central government.
“If they tell you they can build bridges, roads or reduce the price of rice, know that they are lying because councils have no power to do that. The role of the councils is to take care of our feeder roads, schools, markets and other needs. So, if they tell you anything different from that, know that they are lying,” he said.
