By Nelson Manneh
Lamin Bojang the standard-bearer and the party leader of the Gambia Action Party (GAP) said on Friday 3rd January, 2020 that the leadership of The Gambia never believes in its people.
This he said is causing a leadership gap in the country. The standard-bearer of the GAP made these statements in an interview with this medium.
The GAP leader said he was working with this government as the Deputy Head of Mission in Russia.
Shortly after his nomination as the standard bearer of the GAP, he resigned from his position in order to do away with conflict of interest.
“If I accepted the nomination, it means I have to resign from my position otherwise I will be trying to correct the wrongs of the government I am working with and this may cause a conflict of interest,” he said.
The GAP standard bearer said his party is not a household party, yet but they are not as quite as many people think.
“There are other bigger political parties in the country, but there are some advantages that we want to use especially the leadership GAP that is existing in the country,” he said.
He said as a party they feel that there is a leadership gap in this country and they will work hard in order to fill that gap because that is what is hindering development in the country.
“The leadership of the Gambia does not believe in its people. We want to invest in our people. We want to trust our people especially the youths,” he said.
He said that agriculture is the backbone of this country, but the government is not investing in it as expected.
“Looking at the last national budget even the money that is allocated to take care of the household of the president is more than what is to be spent on agriculture,” he said.
The GAP standard-bearer said in the political climate of the Gambia today people are associating themselves to political parties based on where they come from or based on one’s ethno-linguistic group.
With regards to the three years saga, the GAP standard bearer said their position as a political party is very clear despite when the agreement was made they were not there, but their position is for President Barrow to honour his promise.
“Barrow and the coalition members promised Gambians that they are going to serve for three years and it should be honoured. If it was the GAP, we will fulfill our promise,” he said.
“Our position is for the president to honour his promise. If it was not for this promise, Gambians would not have come out to protest,” he said.
The GAP leader said the five years is a constitutional mandate but when the Coalition was working out their MOU, they were aware of it and they decided to agree on three years, so they should fulfill their promise.
“The GAP party is reaching out to people and we are prepared for elections, come three or five years,” he said.
He said that the eight coalition members cannot be trusted by Gambians anymore because they have betrayed the people in different ways.
Mr. Bojang’s position was unveiled in October 2019 when he was serving as the deputy head of mission in Russia.
Mr. Bojang once served as Gambia’s Consul General in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and deputy head of mission in Russia. Mr Bojang also served in almost all senior positions in the army except CDS and Deputy CDS.
