By Lamin Cham
The head of strategy in the National Peoples Party, Kemo Conteh, has taken issues with comments made by Lawyer Assan Martin who said the country has leadership crisis as he endorsed KM mayor Bensouda.
The lawyer described The Gambia’s leadership as disorganized and hailed the example of Rwanda, wondering why Gambia cannot follow a similar path.
In a write-up done in response to Martin, Kemo Conteh said the lawyer risks falling prey to the phrase ‘the grass is greener on the other side’. “Martin seems to be thinking highly of Rwanda, but he needs to know that Rwanda has its problems too. We don’t want to go into all of that but he and all Gambians should know that President Adama Barrow is nurturing and presiding over a nascent but highly successful democracy. Barrow is known and respected all over the world for his patience, tolerance and his commitment to peace and stability as a precursor to jobs and wealth creation in The Gambia,” Conteh said.
He said President Barrow’s transformative and change agenda based on the principles of democracy is revolutionising the Gambia one sector at a time. Conteh argued that against the backdrop of these bold and highly commendable achievements, the Gambia was assessed in 2022 by independent global experts of the highest calibre and reputation in democracy and good governance, who have no stake in the political settlement analysis of the country, and they have determined systematically, and reported transparently in the relevant global media that the Gambia is one of the three most peaceful, most happy, and most secure countries in Africa, even more advanced than Rwanda in those terms. I don’t know where Lawyer Martin was. Why he did not catch up on this and instead, calling the Gambia disorganized, and letting himself blown away by petty and baseless opposition propaganda,” Conteh said.
Conteh said from the onset, President Barrow’s strict adherence to his mandate of managing the natural resources of the country well enough to create meaningful impact on the lives of Gambians, brought into fruition specific policies and projects to that led to the realization of a major transformative agenda in the electricity and road infrastructural and social sectors that were only far-fetched dreams in the last 50 years.
“Notable among these are the OMVG Power generation and transmission substation in Mansakonko. Over 400km of modern tarmac roads connecting remotest corners of the country to public services. Indeed today, the Gambia is one of only 2 or 3 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, where you can travel 3600 degrees of the country on only 100% tarmac road, a far cry from the pre-Barrow era”, he said.
