By Alagie Manneh
Politician MC Cham Jr has said the failure of opposition parties to speak against the controversial National Assembly vehicle purchase is because they fear losing their elected members’ loyalty.
The former GDC youth president said since elected NAMs can now freely shift allegiances without losing their seats, parties have become careful how they treat their NAMs and they surely avoid harming their interest.
“All the NAMs are interested in the vehicles so even though some opposition parties may have qualms about the nature and cost of the vehicles, they are not making it pubic to avoid hurting their NAMs and losing them as it happened in 2017.
But the parties must have principles and rules, so they should muster the courage to speak out and make their positions as political parties known,” Mr Cham told The Standard.
He noted that the nature of the Assembly vehicles is not helping the national purse because they are for the NAMs unlike those of ministers and other officials which belong to the state.
“I don’t believe in government giving vehicle loans and paying half of it because it means that we will always be buying vehicles every five years and considering the economy of this country that is not sustainable. In Senegal for example, lawmakers have vehicles, but they belong to the state. So, the opposition parties, should come out, put up a statement and make their positions known despite their members having already taken these vehicles,” he suggested.
