BARROW TELLS SUPPORTERS TO IGNORE UDP’s GIMMICKS
President Adama Barrow has urged his National People’s Party supporters and coalition partners to ignore opposition UDP’s political gimmicks and understand that his mandate is to build a country and not individuals.
Addressing a political rally attended by NPP officials and candidates, senior government officials and coalition partners at the Buffer Zone on Sunday, President Barrow disclosed that UDP supporters used to mock NPP people by telling them that he (Barrow) has done nothing for them individually. “My friends, they are trying to manipulate you because you voted for me to work for you and already, I have built you roads, hospitals, brought you electricity and water and even those who are making those claims are aware of this. The government has initiatives we are using to support women financially and I want to announce here that the NPP will also open an account to provide loans to women to start their own business and help themselves. What do you want again?”, the president told a huge crowd of supporters.
He said because of such manipulations by the opposition during the National Assembly and Councillors’ elections some NPP supporters refused to come out to vote because they were angry. “My NPP and coalition supporters please understand that this country is in our hands, come out and vote to make our party stronger. I want this party to continue governing this country for the next 50 years. If you think you have the majority and you refuse to come out and vote then your opponents will come out and vote and win you. That is what happened in the past elections. I am appealing to all those who voted for me in the last presidential election to come out and vote for our candidates. This is your best opportunity to consolidate the NPP. We have done a lot of work in Banjul and several other projects are waiting to be implemented in KMC and other regions but that can only happen if you vote for Bakary Badjie.”
The President said the opposition is doing everything possible to win the councils to frustrate his development, saying the people of KM should not stab themselves on the foot by voting for the opposition. “I appreciate the number of people who came out to accompany our candidates for their nominations but I want to advise all our supporters to come out in their numbers on election day to vote for our candidates so that we can remove these mayors who were here for the past five years and have not achieved anything. There is this proverb which says ‘if you run for your first election, it is the people who vote for you but your re-election will entirely depend on your achievements’. When I contested in 2016, the Gambian people voted for me but last year I was re-elected because of my achievements. So, your mayors who have spent the last five years on social media to criticise the government, President Barrow and the Gambian people – they have nothing to show for their first term. We should hold them accountable by voting for the NPP mayoral and chairman’s candidates,” he said.
He said Mayor Talib Bensouda was only serving the interest of the UDP and not the people.
“When they hold events, you only see yellow colours. They have turned the council into a UDP council, not a council for the people of KMC. This is unacceptable, because your money is paying for it. But if you give me Bakary Badjie, Ebou Faye and Seedy Ceesay I will be able to bring you an unprecedented development. The ball is in your court to decide,” he said.
Nominations
On Sunday, the ruling NPP party nominated eight mayoral and chairperson candidates ahead of the 20 May Local Government Elections.
The nominated persons are: Ebou Faye – Banjul; Bakary Badjie – KMC; Seedy Ceesay – Brikama Area Council; Kebba Dem – Mansakonko Area Council; Papa Tunkara – Kerewan Area Council; Muhammed Ceesay – Basse Area Council; Saikou Jawara – Kuntaur Area Council and; Sulayman Sawaneh – Janjanbureh Area Council.
Source: The Standard
