By Omar Bah
It has long been speculated in some quarters that Ousainu Darboe was grooming Kanifing mayor Talib Bensouda to succeed him as party supremo. Some alleged that Bensouda left the party because Darboe reneged on that promise. In the wake of Bensouda pulling out of the race of flag bearer and resigning his post as national organising secretary, one of his aides Lamin Camara claimed there was such an agreement and that the Bensoudas have a recording of Darboe saying so.
However, many close to Darboe denied he ever made that pledge.
To clear the air, The Standard asked Bensouda’s new communication chief Kemo Bojang. He responded: “What was said between Ousainu Darboe and Mayor Bensouda was done in confidence and in private, and I am sure Mayor Bensouda has never discussed such sensitive matters with him [Camara]. Mayor Bensouda is not the type of person who would hold discussions with someone and then go out to expose them publicly, especially not when it concerns a man he deeply respects like Ousainu Darboe”.
Bojang said whatever conversations or understandings may have taken place or holds sway between the two remain strictly between them, and Lamin Camara, therefore, cannot and should not be relied upon as a credible source for such information, because he was neither part of those discussions nor privy to their content.
Bojang added: “Again, Mr Camara himself has come out publicly to admit that he fabricated these claims and has gone further to issue a public apology for those very statements, and that in itself settles the matter.
“Finally, I would like to put the Lamin Camara saga to rest once and for all. This was nothing more than an attaya vous discussion that holds no weight or value. He was just posturing as an overzealous supporter to make his preferred candidate look good in the eyes of opponents he shares a vous with”.
