By Omar Bah
A retired Gambian-United States military officer has written to the Economic of West African States, ECOWAS, to look into Gambia’s current political situation.
Sergeant Major Ebrima Manneh said he is gravely concerned with current political events in his country of birth, including the alleged attempted coup, the arrest, and detention of opposition figures.
In his letter seen by The Standard, Major Manneh wrote: “I am a naturalized US citizen originally from Gambia. I am writing to allude to the current situation in the Gambia, the report of an attempted or foiled coup. The incident is not clear to the general public due to the current regime’s failure to be transparent and accountable to the people. While coups have been denounced throughout the world as anti-democratic and against the people’s will. The governing body of the ECOWAS must look into the determinants that, unfortunately, lead to such undemocratic actions.”
He added: “I request that ECOWAS pays closer attention to governance in the Gambia, including other essential missions of the body. The concept of people of the prevalence of dictatorial tendencies in government is signified by the regime recycling the enablers and active participants of the old regime, suppressing fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech and assembly, and stifling dissent by fabricating, targeting, scapegoating, and arresting innocent citizens for pointing out the failures and breach of trust of the current regime evident in the rampant corruption, and inability to deliver to the people.”
He urged ECOWAS and other international governing bodies to address the governance problem in Africa, which is the root cause of most situations.
“Therefore, we ask for the release of Mr. Momodou Sabally, the National Campaign manager for the United Democratic Party (UDP), the party that has undeniably sacrificed to end dictatorship in the Gambia,” Manneh added.
