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Momodou
Denmark
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 Posted - 08 Feb 2010 : 20:00:13
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“No Lousy Propaganda in Gambian Politics” - Shyngle Nyassi
By Saikou Ceesay &Lamin Njie
 Picture: APRC National Mobiliser, Yankuba Colley
Referring to statements made by the Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council cum APRC National Mobiliser, Yankuba Colley, that Gambian Opposition Leaders are fake is a “lousy propaganda”, the youth president of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Mr. Nyassi stressed that this goes to explain how detached Colley is from the realities on the ground. Nyassi said on Friday that Mayor Colley misled his supporters and Gambians at large by asserting that opposition parties have no structures at the grass roots level.
The UDP Youth President refuted Colley’s statements, describing them as baseless and unfounded. He argued that the UDP as the major political party has regional political bureaus across the country while pointing out that there is indeed a formidable structure in the Lower River Region. “Thanks to his archaic political orientation and inexperience he could not recognize our regional political bureaus,” Nyassi protested.He argued that the APRC party depends on Divisional Governors and local government officials for its political gains without having any structures country wide.Nyassi said he would not blame him much as he is not a mature politician but merely keen to appease his employer, President Jammeh, thus spreading misleading information across the world. He uses his own office as the political bureau for the APRC, conveying such a political meeting in that office is unfair. As he put it: “Why should he summon his familiarization tour at his own office premises the (KMC).If they had proper structures in place they should have their own area of meeting not the Kanifing Municipal Council premises.” This he said exposes Colley’s inability to hold such a public office, in fact he is not the caliber who should hold such an office. “We all know in The Gambia that if you don’t have money you cannot participate in any decision making that is the reality on theground as far as Gambian politics is concern. I am putting it to him that he is just waiting for somebody to be in that position as he is not fit for that position”, Nyassi stressed.
When asked why the opposition parties are not accepting what many described as development initiatives brought in by the Jammeh administration, Nyassi had this to say: “Let me start from Banjul like the construction of this Arch what is the total income or gains”. At this juncture this reporter intervened and put to him that it is not only the Arch that is been constructed by the Jammeh administration but further asked about the advent of rural electrification, construction of bridges, schools, roads among others.
For Nyassi it is not a matter of not accepting the development brought in by the Jammeh regime but are concerned about the inability of rural settlers to sustain electricity in their dwellings which he attributed to the exorbitant price of electricity. He said the APRC government is fond of putting up mere structures across the country while questioning how many people can afford to benefit from such structures established by the regime.According to him the UDP Party is being censored and intimidated by the ruling APRC party in many fronts citing that the party’s press releases are being denied from publication by the state-own Gambia Radio and Television Services. He recalled that it is of recent that his party is being denied permit to hold political rallies across the country. This he indicated is another ploy to tame the United Democratic party from reaching out to supporters in the country and abroad. Observing that it is unfortunate for the Mayor to compare The Gambia’s ailing democracy with that of Britain and America thus in those countries the ruling party listen to the opposition and admit where they have failures and success.
Asked whether the UDP party has enough fund to sponsor their political activities, “Money is not that problem for us our agenda is to effect a change in the system. With or without money Gambians are listening to us and they know what we are driving to”, he remarked. He pointed an accusing finger to the Jammeh administration for suppressing and intimidating his party as they are government-in-waiting that will consolidate and adhere to the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
Nyassi told these reporters that there were failures on recent familiarization tour dispatched by Colley; that he had to go again on the familiarization trial to mobilize APRC’s divided supporters across the country. Nyassi pointed out that: “This is not the man for APRC, honestly he cannot mobilize people, in fact he don’t know where to start and end. Let him to tell us why he was asking people to unite and vote for APRC, why the unity and why appealing to themto unite. “Is there any disunity?” he asked. Colley! Find out where disunity is and how we can solve it”, Nyassi asked.
To this end he indicated that Colley has a heavy load on his head that he cannot precede carrying—thus he is on the line waiting for someone to replace him soon. During this interview Nyassi observed that Colley is indeed fooling himself while predicting that Colley will not last four months in that position as the National Mobilizer for the APRC party. He said then Gambians will come to the conclusion of the type of person Colley is. “Thereby the truth will come to light,” he said. Asked whether they have an agenda for 2011, he added: “We are democrats, the UDP belongs to all Gambians we have our agenda but it must be put before the congress until we hold our congress we will not expose our agenda”, Nyassi asserted.On the right violations taking place in the country without action being taking by the opposition parties, Nyassi again said: “You are dealing with a government that you don’t know. If we organized a peaceful street protest some of us will be victimized. The Government is giving false information that opposition don’t want the progress of this country, how can we do that this is The Gambia that we all belong to”, Nyassi concluded.
Source: DailyNews
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