By Omar Bah
Fatoumatta ‘Touma’ Njai has threatened legal action over her expulsion from the People’s Progressive Party.
Njai had trooped out of a recent PPP congress alleging fraud in the process which led to the election of Kebba Jallow as leader. Immediately after the congress, the lawmaker who was dismissed from the PPP recently, reported her grievances to the Independent Electoral Commission.
But the Banjul South NAM yesterday shared a letter purportedly written to her by the chairman of the electoral commission, where she is being informed that the commission could not intervene in an internal matter of the party.
“The Commission wishes to inform you that the issues reported are an internal matter and as such the IEC cannot intervene in this matter,” the country’s electoral body said in response to the Banjul South lawmaker.
The IEC said its move constitutes a “sequel” to four correspondences” successively sent by Touma Njai, demanding the commission to pay heed to the matter.
Asked what her next action would be, Touma Njai said: “I am ready to go to the courts. I only wanted to take due process with the IEC first but since they said this is an internal matter irrespective of the high court ruling regarding the 2018 congress, I’m left with no option but to go to the courts”.
She added that she will not allow a reputable party like the PPP being dragged into the mud by “selfish individuals” who are only after their own interest.
“Like I said before, this kind of thing happened in 2018 but I shall not allow it to happen again. This is only the beginning of the game and I am not a weak person nor am I a person to be taken for granted. This is not about me. It is about the party and the integrity and the dignity of our founding fathers,” she added.
She said the journey of restoring the credible PPP that all Gambians would want to see “is just about to start”.
“A stooge has been planted but for us, we are concerned about the progress of the party and we don’t want a so-called political party where members are just scouting for jobs. I am not seeing this as an attack on me being a woman but about me being righteous against corruption, that’s all. If I were a woman that would bow to their whims, they would have let it be, but I am not. I do not condone corruption or mediocrity,” she added.
