By Omar Bah
A former minister for the Interior has said President Barrow should not be blamed for the break-up of the coalition because he was instigated to renege on his campaign promise by “some selfish politicians”.
Adama Barrow came to power after the election in 2016, ending 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s strongman rule and inspired widespread hopes for reforms.
But the 56-year-old former businessman later reneged on a campaign promise to step down in 2019, saying the constitution requires him to serve out a full five-year term.
Last year, the Gambian leader announced the formation of his own political party, the NPP, in a move that would enable him to seek a new mandate in the December election.
His critics, mainly from his former party, UDP, have accused the president of political adventurism and betrayal.
But reacting to the criticisms spawned by the launching of the NPP published in this paper yesterday, GMC leader Mai Fatty, contended: “We know the truth. The truth remains that President Barrow was instigated, coerced and manipulated to betray the coalition spirit and agenda by few selfish politicians for partisan glory. Truth be told, he [Barrow] should not be unilaterally held responsible.”
“Barrow relied on guidance and was misguided by one or two people who held enormous influence, political power and authority, and who used his inexperience and excessive partisan loyalty to derail a national project for selfish partisan interests. Their supporters know them,” he argued.
Fatty, a legal practitioner and former presidential adviser, didn’t specifically mention names but in 2017, the UDP leader Ousainu Darboe, then minister of Foreign Affairs, was the first senior politician to publicly insist that the president should serve for five years. He even went on to say he would sue anybody who attempted to force the president to step down after three years.
Commenting yesterday, Fatty argued: “The truth must be told. Deception, manipulation and betrayal was their art, and Allah revealed and paid them in their own coin. We owe our conscience to Allah, knowing the truth that no political leader has the ultimate power to grant us political glory. Kingdom is granted by Allah through the voters, and it doesn’t matter to us if a leader is unhappy with us. I could be the next president in fact.”
“We will not subdue to any megalomaniac. Some of us were and are still regarded by some as political lightweights, and often derided by such people. They are misled by the false notion of their fanciful multitude that shall not deliver. Then, having taken us for granted, they would come to realise the weight of a bag of salt,” he chastised.
He said every Gambian has a duty to maintain peace, stability and the obligation to advance the country’s democracy which is a work in progress.
“This is a year of the great decision, and no one should expect GMC to endorse any failed, pretentious self-anointed protagonist. The Gambia shall move on, others shall dig deeper into the trenches of historic failure or build a career out of permanent opposition through the curve of their lives,” he asserted.
Safeguarding national interest
Mr Fatty appealed to all political leaders and other stakeholders to look for the national interest, and not to exploit it for personal political advancement.
“Some of us went to jail in our teen years since school days for defending the national interest decades before it became fashionable. No one has the temerity or the moral audacity to tout their sacrifice for this country before us. We are the earlier veterans of jail and political persecution whose precedence was followed two decades later by some, who continue to make political profit out of it,” he added.
The false notion of self-entitlement, Mai added, has been debunked and will not avail this year.
“The lesson to tread the path of honour and dignity is the best option, and not stubborn persistence of entitlement. Time will soon tell,” he concluded.
