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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jun 2019 : 11:32:07
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Barrow Puts It In Black And White
Foroyaa Editorial: June 17, 2019
http://foroyaa.gm/barrow-puts-it-in-black-and-white/
When a mass mobilisation campaign erupted that Barrow’s Fan Club is to hold a rally in Brikama and it was announced that all Gambians were invited to be present to hear a message from President Barrow, many people anticipated hearing something decisive. They did hear something decisive.
What he said was anticipated to be a message he would deliver at the concluding stages of the Coalition 2016 meetings convened by Madam Fatoumatta Tambajang. The fact that he said it at a meeting organised by his fan club confirms that he does not want to hide behind Coalition endorsement in order to confirm what many thought but could not confirm that he is an executive president and not a coalition president; that he will serve a five year mandate and will subsequently seek a mandate after the end of his term. Contrary to this, the Coalition agenda calls for a three year mandate and for the incumbent not to seek another mandate after serving a three year term.
President Barrow has therefore finally decided. Those who are engaged in coalition talks should also conclude their meetings and tell the Gambian people what they have decided. This will then conclude one chapter of Gambian history. A new chapter will now reopen with a new page. This page would now scribble the deeds of those who seek to preside over the affairs of this nation. Will it be a history of liberation and prosperity or oppression and poverty? Will it be a history of conflict or peaceful multi party contest and genuine and peaceful transfer of power from one leader to another? History will tell.
The original objective was to have an independent presidential candidate who will serve a three year term and will not contest the next election so that anything one who occupies that position within those three years will not perpetuate oneself while in office. The person would be accompanied by independent NAMS who will together build the instruments to build a country where free and fair elections and the accountability of the government to the people will be a culture. The departure from that trajectory is now fraught with a lot of uncertainty.
In the last edition of Foroyaa we buttressed that the Gambian people should know what happened during the past twenty five years. When Mr Kinteh of the TRRC spoke about the failure of big parties not holding the Jammeh administration to account we urged caution that misstatements should not be allowed to form our history. Only the truth could set us free. We emphasised that equating politics with numbers is a short-sighted view of politics since those in power must have greater numbers before coming to power and if politics is equated with big numbers, then those with numbers could be expected to be there forever.
This editorial has no other aim but to awaken Gambians from their 54-year slumber. And let us repeat again and we hope our words will not be misconstrued because of political allegiances. We have emphasised that after the acceptance to hold election in 1996 what emerged in The Gambia was Coalition politics. APRC was a coalition of the willing and the aspiring beneficiaries of the change and the UDP was a coalition of the banned PPP, NCP, GPP and those traumatized by the coup. By 2001 the coalition started to crumble and NCP joined the APRC coalition while UDP boycotted the 2002 National Assembly elections.
The greatest assault on the integrity of the 1997 constitution occurred in 2001. Coalition building again commenced after the UDP boycotted the 2002 National Assembly elections and the consolidation of the NCP/APRC coalition. This gave rise to the NADD coalition. History teaches that once the moves were made for a new coalition by 2003, the assault on the Constitution increased by removing the second round of voting.
The NADD coalition could have delivered what Coalition 2016 delivered in 2016 if it did not disintegrate and collapse. The attempt to form another coalition in 2011 failed leading the UDP coalition to have 17 percent of the votes and the United Front 11 percent. In 2016 GDC also emerged as a coalition, where former MPs in Jammeh’s administration who were elbowed came together to split the party. Coalition 2016 was also a coalition.
It is Coalition 2016 that succeeded in effecting the change and this is what enabled the TRRC to be constituted. This is why they have a Constitutional Review Commission. Hence, members of the TRRC should not be talking about big parties or what not. They should be narrating history where for 22 years the political parties could not build a sovereign people who would have one voice and act in unison to remove a government that had overstayed and build a country that they could all take ownership of. Instead the parties were divided and each was struggling to show that they have the majority not knowing that the real majority that matters is that which makes the ruling party the ruling party.
The real task now is to raise the awareness of the Gambian people so that each would become a sovereign person who knows the type of Gambian he she wants and works with others to bring it about.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12242 Posts |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2019 : 08:41:41
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Barrow Vows to Stay in Office Until 2021
Foroyaa: June 17, 2019
By: Kebba AF Touray
http://foroyaa.gm/barrow-vows-to-stay-in-office-until-2021/
President Adama Barrow has declared his intention to remain in power until the year 2021.
The president made this disclosure on Saturday June 15th while addressing his supporters during a mass rally in Brikama in the West Coast Region.
“My aim is to be a president who will work for the country and that is my only duty. It is up to you to re-elect me or another person in 2021,” he told the gathering. The President underscored further: “You have given me the Constitutional mandate to work for you and I will be here until 2021, whether one likes it or not”. President Barrow further stated that at the moment, Government expenditure has increased to 5 months of import cover compared to one month, when he took over the presidency in 2016; that tax collection has increased by 100 percent and that domestic debt has decreased from 100 percent of national GDP to 80 percent.
Barrow flanged by Cabinet Ministers
According to President Barrow, Economic growth has increased from 4.5 to 6.5 percent from 2017 to 2018, compared to 6 percent in 2016; that Gambia’s’ foreign reserve stood at US$ 35 million in 2016, with huge increase to over US$500 million at present, due to the fiscal discipline mechanisms of his Government. He continued that the pledge made at the donor conference amounts to 1.7 billion Euros.
President Barrow disclosed that the French Government has donated the country with funds that will be spent on agricultural development; that his Government is accessing the 1.7 billion pledge and that by 2021 “we will fully have all these monies.” He continued: “We are also working on drafting a new Constitution for the Gambia and our objective is to have an all-inclusive Constitution that truly reflect the needs and aspirations of all Gambians”.
Barrow has urged the citizenry to execute their political rights with truth and sincerity, and urged those Gambians in the diaspora to come and join in the national development struggles back home. President Barrow said all that he has, he got in the Gambia; that when he returned to the country from abroad, he had only one intention and that is to use their strategies and expertise for the development of the country.
Scores of speakers thanked President Barrow for the giant steps he has taken in all the spheres of national development, especially in infrastructural development. They called on Gambians to rally behind President Barrow and push forward his national development agenda, as well to vote him in the 2021 presidential elections. Many cabinet ministers and senior government officials attended the rally in Brikama.
Most Gambians at home and abroad, believe that President Barrow has failed in his moral obligation to respect the coalition’s MoU. Many claimed that he should concentrate on building a better foundation for Gambians such as building strong democratic institutions, the economy and security, among other issues.
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Barrow Puts It In Black And White
