By Omar Bah
Lare Sisay, a senior member of the opposition United Democratic Party, has said the departure of former campaign manager Momodou Sabally from the party is inconsequential.
Speaking on West Coast Radio’s Coffee Time, Mr Sisay, a retired international civil servant, was asked whether Sabally’s departure was not a loss to the party. He replied: “Sabally came and he went and for us, it is inconsequential. The party leader addressed it very adequately the other day where he gave an analogy that people like Dembo By-Force Bojang, a former national president, and before that, our organising secretary left, and it has done no damage for the party. And I don’t think individuals, in their individual capacities, will have the kind of influence people think they have. Most of these people derive their popularity from the popularity of the party. I have posted this on my Facebook page and Twitter to say that those who think they are big wigs in a political party should think twice. When you think you are a big wig, just leave the party, and you automatically become a small wig, and that is the nature of our politics. People embrace you because you embrace them; immediately you take a walk, you become insignificant.”
Asked whether he is suggesting that the UDP made Sabally appealing to the NPP to the point where once he turned to the NPP, the NPP was very happy to have him back in their ranks, Mr Sisay said: “What we do know is that when he joined the party, like everybody else who has joined the party, including me, the party embraced him and opened itself up to him, and the UDP is the only political party that actually does something like that. To pick somebody up and just embrace them and give them responsibility within the organisation.”
But the NPP has done that with the APRC, Peter charged, and Sisay argued: “What I meant is that Sabally walked into a political party that was immensely popular at the grassroots, and he benefited from that popularity. Now, some people may say we even sanitised him, but at the end of the day, it’s his democratic and constitutional right to take a walk or to remain. He chose to work, and we respect that, and we hope he also respects the fact that he found an organisation that did wonderful things for him as a person.”
Asked whether there is a fear in the UDP that Sabally might have walked away with some of its members, Sisay responded: “I am saying to you that Sabally joined the UDP at the peak of the party’s popularity, and the grassroots embraced him, and that has increased his profile, and that profile is what he is banking on now. Now, to say that he is going to walk away with the chunk of the party supporters begs the question of what he brought in to walk out with. I think time will sort these things out. So far, we have seen nothing that will suggest that he walked away with a chunk of our supporters. So, for me, the Sabally case is a non-case, and I think the whole issue just raised the matter of credibility.”
Responding to the suggestion that some senior members of the UDP might follow Sabally to the NPP, Ceesay argued: “Speculations will kill some of us in this country. We are just speculating here. But if other people decide to walk away from the UDP, we say goodbye, respect their decision, and hope that they will respect us,” he said.
