By Omar Bah
The National Assembly Member for Niamina East, Omar Ceesay, said the country’s opposition parties must put their differences aside and unite against President Barrow in 2021 just like they did against Jammeh.
Dou Sanno, a key surrogate of President Barrow recently chastised GDC leader Mamma Kandeh for politicising the works he is carrying out in communities in the country and for harbouring a personal grudge against the president.
Reacting to the criticism of his leader, Ceesay countered: “When the coalition ended former president Yahya Jammeh’s rule, Barrow was hailed as a hero. But the hope inspired by him has long faded. Many Gambians including his own party, UDP, have regretted voting for him. Barrow has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he cannot lead the country to the promised dreamland.
“Re-electing Barrow in 2021 will mean undermining and jeopardising the future of this country. In fact, we cannot afford to elect a president who has no clue of governance and political maturity like Barrow again. If we do, we will continue suffering.”
Ceesay said the country is alive to the possibility of Barrow using Jammeh’s Machiavellian means “to effect constitutional changes to rule for decades too”.
“In terms of corruption, inefficiency and bad judgement, they are the same… The only difference one would see would be the number of the gross human rights violations.”
Reacting to Mr Sanno’s threats to initiate the recalling of the GDC Jimara NAM, Ceesay said: “President Barrow is being misled by one uneducated adviser, in the person of Dou Sanno. The biggest mistake Barrow made was to pick people like him from the streets and make them advisers.
“If Dou Sanno had any political authority over the people of Jimara, GDC would not have won both the parliamentary and councillorship elections there. I think the best thing he should have done now is to advise Barrow not to contest the 2021 presidential election to avoid facing the shock of his life. If Sanno is smart, he would not have boasted of having bags of money to be dished out after the formation of Barrow’s own party. Only in The Gambia, will you see such a level of ignorance and desperate move to buy loyalty from an impoverished nation whose hospitals lack basic medical equipment.”
Ceesay said President Barrow’s day of humiliation is just around the corner people like Mr Sanno who believe criticising a sitting president is against the will of God are “let me say ignorant.”
On Mr Sanno’s claims that Mamma Kandeh is looking for cheap popularity, Ceesay said: “That name better described President Barrow who is going about bragging about Jammeh’s projects just to score political points. As of Kandeh he is sharing
