…denies being funded by UDP
By Omar Bah
As nominations open for next months’ mayoral and chairmanship elections, the No To Alliance Independent Movement, a splinter faction of the APRC loyal to former president Yahya Jammeh has declared it will contest the chairmanship or mayoral seats in four councils.
In the recent Area Councilor elections, the group won seven seats and currently holds five seats in the National Assembly.
Speaking in a Star Radio Wakeup Gambia Show to be aired this morning, the spokesperson of the group, Pa Modou Mbowe confirmed they will contest Brikama Area Council, Kanifing Municipal Council, Janjanbureh Area Council and Basse Araea Council.
Mbowe who will be the movement’s candidate in KM, said they are confident of putting up a respectable performance in all these areas. The movement has scored many electoral victories and bragging rights over their rival faction led by National Assembly Speaker Fabakary Tombong Jatta who it accused of selling the party to President Barrow’s NPP.
Commenting on his own chances and plans, Mbowe said when elected he will serve the interest of all KM residents irrespective of party affiliation.
“The first thing I will do is to digitalise all council processes to curb corruption and increase the salaries of the staff in anticipation of getting the best out of them. I will also take the issue of community policing seriously and create rehabilitation centres and provide activities there that will benefit all those who will pass through the centres. We are going to prioritise this because we cannot continue to allow our youths to be consumed by drugs and other substances while we stand by and look,” he said. Mbowe said under his leadership waste collection will be free of charge and he will relocate the Bakoteh dumpsite and transform its current site to something else that would be beneficial to the residents of KMC.
Mbowe added that he has a lot of plans to transform the municipality, adding that even the prostitutes will be taken good care of to ensure that they don’t loiter around the streets and became eye sores.
Allegations of UDP sponsorship
Commenting on allegations that his candidacy is funded by Mayor Talib Bensouda and his UDP, Mbowe said: “That is not true. I don’t even know Talib Bensouda and we have never communicated or shake hands. How can Talib push me to stand? He will not even have the guts to tell me that because I am not his mate. I am an independent person and nobody remotely controls me. But we are not bothered by those who are trying to distract us. We are focused on building our political base.”
Funding
He said all their funding is coming from their supporters around the world. “These are individuals who want to resurrect the party. We are totally different from the former executive who were using the party for their own selfish interest. I can tell you since we took over the party has not even bought us phone credit. Everything we do comes from our pockets but thanks to our commitment and perseverance we remained relevant,” he said.
Mbowe urged the electorate to resist politics of inducement employed by the NPP in the past elections.
“They cannot give you anything that would be worth your future because even if they give you D100,000 you will finish spending it within a few weeks or days and continue to suffer from their bad policies,” he noted.
Jammeh
Mbowe said the No To Alliance movement is constantly in touch with former President Yahya Jammeh.
He said Gambians should be grateful to Jammeh for rescuing the country from the hands of the PPP Government who were hellbent on destroying the country. “The Gambia was fragmented to the extent that no one wanted to stay here. This was why many people left the country except for those whose parents are holding government positions. Even those who stayed could only join the military or other security forces because those were the only opportunities or positions reserved for people from the provinces. This is why when they complained about the Jolas dominating the military I laughed. How could they forget so easily?” he said.
Democracy
Mr Mbowe said the West imposed democracy in Africa to undermine the continent’s development. He said there is no such thing called democracy in the West but they will come to Africa and try to preach democracy to us.
“The only way this continent can develop is through revolutionaries like former President Jammeh who only cared about his country and Africa,” he said.
