By Yankuba Jallow
The meeting of ‘Coalition 2016’, which started at Kairaba Beach Hotel on Saturday 13th April, will continue today Monday, 15th April 2019.
Madam Tambajang said the Coalition has been meeting and this is not their first meeting.
“This is the first executive meeting but we have been meeting internally and we contribute to governance and peacebuilding, crisis management and as well as supporting our government,” she said; adding that they talked about institutional challenges and other issues like the reforms in particular that the Coalition has been advocating for.
“We are not only talking about the Memorandum of Understanding, but also the institutional challenges, achievements made so far and the way forward,” she stressed.
Fatoumata Jallow Tambajang, a co-chair of the opposition Coalition 2016 has told journalists that the creation of tactical alliance led to the frenzy in the coalition.
She said as a result, political parties in the coalition contested in the National Assembly elections on party lines which defeated the spirit of the Coalition.
She was speaking to journalists at the end of Saturday’s decisive moment meeting of coalition stakeholders at Kairaba Beach Hotel. The Meeting was attended by Papa Njie and Omar A. Jallow alias OJ of the PPP, Aji Yam Secka Deputy Secretary General of the UDP, Hon. Muhammed Magassy Independent NAM for Basse Constituency, Hon. Mohammed Ndow PPP NAM for Banjul Central, Alagie S. Darboe UDP NAM for Brikama North, Majanko Samusa a nominated National Assembly member, Henry Gomez the party leader for the GPDP, Honourable Samba Jallow NAM for Niamina and deputy party leader of the NRP. PDOIS, GMC and Independent Isatou Touray were not represented.
In the interim, the discussion on the coalition MoU has been moved to Monday, 15th April, 2019.
Coalition 2016 stakeholders held a closed-door meeting on Saturday at The Kairaba Hotel to discuss issues relating to the MoU. The meeting was chaired by Madam Fatoumata T. Jallow, a co-chair of the Coalition 2016.
Speaking to the press after the closed-door meeting, Madam Tambang called on the members of the coalition to remain together as a family. She held that no party can win elections with an absolute majority if amendments to the elections laws in the country are made.
“In a new institution, particularly when it is so diverse and people have different political ideologies and commitment, you cannot have 100 per cent common front,” she said, adding “but we’ve tried as much as possible during the parliamentary elections. This is a lesson that we can learn from for the way forward if we’re going to remain as a Coalition till 2021.”
Tambajang undertook to look at the challenges and push for the revival of the Coalition that unseated ex-president Yahya Jammeh.
“It has made history. It has become a model in Africa and the world at large. It was historically unprecedented. So, the best way again is to reconcile us,” she stressed.
“Right now we all know the reality. Let’s not fool ourselves. We have read in the media; we have heard people talking on audios and we have heard political leaders saying different things. As a coalition, we want to remain as a family and speak with one voice,” Tambajang told the media.
