By Omar Bah
Reacting to the GDC leader Mamma Kandeh’s call for the IEC to stop BYM from organising political rallies, Seedy Njie, a former APRC stalwart who is now a Barrow loyalist, has said GDC is scared of the Barrow Youth for National Development because majority of their supporters have now defected to the President Barrow camp.
“I think all this noise from the GDC is because most of their supporters who voted for them in 2016 have now defected to President Barrow’s camp which serves as a serious threat to the party and as such the party leader and the entire membership of the GDC are being threatened. That is the reason why he is calling on the IEC to stop the BYM,” Njie told The Standard yesterday.
The former Information minister said GDC is only jealous.
“The Barrow Youth for National Development is not a political organisation and it is registered with the Attorney General’s Chambers with the aim of complementing the efforts of government particularly the national development agenda and since its creation, the movement has never organised political rallies in this country,” Njie noted.
Njie said the IEC cannot stop people from organising political programmes.
“The IEC only issues permits for political meetings and events during political campaign period.
Every sovereign citizen is guaranteed his or her right to political participation, to belong to and manifest such as guaranteed in a democratic society.
It is the office of the Inspector General of Police that issues permit for citizens to organise and conduct events and programmes, be it political or other events,” he noted.
He said the Gambia Democratic Congress leader must have mistaken the Barrow Fan Club, which is a political wing of the President with the BYM.
“I want to remind Kandeh, activists and all aspiring political leaders that section 25 of the 1997 constitution has guaranteed freedom of speech, conscience, freedom of association and movement to all citizens in this country.
It also gives all citizens the right to associate with any political group of his or her choice and to manifest such,” he said.
He said BYM is focused on improving the livelihoods of Gambians as evident in their areas of intervention throughout the country.
