By Juldeh Njie
The propaganda secretary of the National Convention Party, Yahya Nyangado, has said that his party will soon bounce back and claim its spot in the political arena of the country.
He also called on the party militants and all those who defected to APRC and UDP to come back to the party immediately, “because we will bounce back very soon.
“We want to rapidly put our house in order at the party before the next presidential election.”
Speaking to The Standard, Yahya said assurances are that, “if we come together we can be the best party in The Gambia.”
The National Convention Party is one of the oldest political parties in the country but the party couldn’t spring back to life after it was initially banned by the junta in the wake of the 1994 coup.
But according to Yahya, despite all the challenges and discrimination the party has gone through, they are determined to normalize things again.
He said NCP was dormant but not anymore because they will embark on a nationwide tour to rebuild their structures and meet local people and lay forth their plans.
He said next election, “I am very sure that NCP will win or if not, we will be the change makers because our main focus would be on agriculture which is the back bone of the country’s economy.”
He added that the country’s agricultural sector has been very poor not because the productivity is low but the pricing of groundnuts has not been impressive.
“For the past three years, the price of groundnut was not increased. The Agric Minister said that they want to give fertilizers and seeds because they want to increase the productivity as last year’s was low. However, it is not about the productivity being low but the pricing of groundnuts. For instance, for three consecutive years, the price of groundnut was not increased. It was only last year that the government increased the price to thirty five bututs,” he said.
According to him, even if this government is able to give free seed nuts and fertilizers to farmers but fails to set good prices during the marketing season, they will still not have many groundnuts because groundnut cultivation is very difficult.
“If the current government wants to succeed in the agric sector, they need to look at those areas very well”.
He urged the new government to imitate countries like Taiwan where the government subsidize farmers in which both parties share the percentage.
He said his party will engage in the development of the agric sector, adding “if you look at the amount of money spent on the importation of oil in The Gambia, is worth millions of Dalasis, whiles we can produce our oil from the groundnut. As such, we will concentrate on those areas to make sure we have very reasonable prices”.
The NCP propaganda secretary also applauded President Barrow for promising to hold a press conference twice every six months, describing it as a move in the right direction.
“This president is not like the previous one; the government should be engaging the public on its policies and programs which are of national interest,” he said.
He urged all Gambians to desist from tribal politics, saying no single tribe can take the country forward.
