By Omar Bah
Mr Swaebou Faal who was turned down for the alkaloship of Latrikunda (German) has vowed to stage a demonstration on Tuesday with his supporters over the local government minister’s decision to name Pa Omar Faal as the headman of the populous Serekunda quarter.
After a bitter dispute and standoff lasting several months, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Regional Affairs on Thursday announced that Minister Musa Drammeh has overruled the recommendation of the Kanifing mayor and named Pa Omar alkalo.
He claimed that many of the eminent persons in the community including the UK-based elder brother of Swaebou wrote to back Pa Omar. He said the list of endorsers submitted by Swaebou was fraught with names of non-yard owners.
Unsatisfied
But a clearly peeved Swaebou told The Standard yesterday evening: “I have the highest number of votes. The council [KMC] also strongly recommended me as the rightful successor. But despite that the Lands Ministry and chose Pa Omar Faal. But we will not accept the decision. We will demonstrate on Tuesday to show our disappointment. We are not going to take the decision lightly. We will react in the strongest possible term.”
Faal said the decision of the ministry is “politically motivated” and that “it was not taken in good faith because the majority of the elders of Latrikunda German” recommended him.
“We are not going to accept the decision. My opponent is a very strong supporter of the president and he always bragged about it. He was always certain that he was going to win the battle when it reached the lands ministry due to his political loyalty to the president,” he alleged.
Justification
In justifying the minister’s decision, PS Buba Sanyang defended that due process was followed in taking the decision.
He said the Local Government Act clearly states that the minister shall appoint an alkalo in full consideration of the traditional line of inheritance, which gives priority to fathers over sons.
“In this case, Abdoulie Faal, who is next in line to the throne wrote to the mayor of KMC to inform him that he is not interested and recommended Pa Omar Faal. Six elders of the Faal family have also written to the mayor in support of his decision,” he explained.
He said when the matter was scaled up to the ministry, they wrote to Mayor Bensouda requesting for those correspondences but the mayor simply told them they were disregarded.
He said the recommendation from the mayor directing the ministry to give the alkaloship throne to Swaebou Faal is not in line with the Local Government Act.
He said Mayor Bensouda should understand that he was just given the privilege to mediate in the crisis but there is “no law which says the minister should accept his recommendation by all means”.
“We look at the process that the KMC followed … we realise that they gave forms to the candidates for people to sign. This is not prescribed in any Act and is not a procedure to select an alkalo. Even if we have to go by that, the candidate they chose went around to collect signatures from both yard owners and tenants,” Sanyang contended.
When contacted for comments, the KMC chief mediator, Dembo Sanneh, replied: “We did not receive any communiqué with regard to the issue. I cannot comment on it.”
Mafugi Ceesay contributed to this story
