By Lamin Cham
The National Peoples Party has risen to the defense of President Barrow against what they called fake news being spread that the president had said the UDP will one day be led by a Narr.
President Barrow came under heavy criticisms after his remarks were published in the media suggesting he was referring to Talib Bensouda of the UDP. “The president never made any such statement. What he simply said in Mandinka was ‘I saw a particular political party also construct a bureau (Kwinella) but that bureau looks like a Narr store and however long, the space will be turned into a Narr store. By looking at this bureau (NPP Banjul bureau), it’s clear that this does not look like a Narr store”, said Seedy Njie, deputy spokesman of the NPP.
Mr Njie argued that anybody with a good foundation in Mandinka would know this does not in any way interpret that Mr Talib Bensouda will become leader of UDP.
“The decent and tolerant President Adama Barrow has never said that and he will never say that because he has always assured all and sundry that The Gambia is and will remain a heaven for people of all color, race, and other nationals resident in The Gambia,” Mr Njie noted.
He said journalists and or individual people sharing opinions should not struggle to state the facts as they are. “This is a completely innocent political statement that has no racial connotation. For long, we have seen people parading themselves as journalists, social media experts who are highly opinionated giving completely different interpretations to the president’s comments in order to cause confusion in the minds of the citizens. Journalists and social media users have a duty to avoid reporting things that will spark racial tension. We hope they learn from this and interpret the president’s statements as they are”, Seedy Njie said.
He concluded by stating that President Adama Barrow is a democrat who will never engage in xenophobia and the NPP is founded on strong democratic principles such as the rule of law, good governance, protection of people’s liberties and freedom of the press.
