By Ousman Sillah
The news that the new rulers of the Gambia vowed to prosecute outgoing president Yahya Jammeh has led many Gambians to 
wonder about the fate of the transition.
President elect Adama Barrow is yet to assume office and Foroyaa decided to interview Halifa Sallah, the Spokesperson of the Coalition, on the issue.
According to him, the fate of outgoing president Jammeh has never been a subject of discussion.
“It has been brought to my notice that in an interview with the Guardian Newspaper, Fatoumata Tambajang, a stakeholder in the Coalition, has been quoted saying that “the Gambia’s new rulers vow to prosecute the outgoing president,” says Halifa Sallah, the Coalition Spokesperson.
Sallah added “her statement constitutes a misrepresentation of the position of the Coalition. At no time has the Coalition discussed the fate of outgoing President Jammeh after the presidency. What President Elect Barrow has told outgoing President Jammeh in a telephone conversation that was in the public space was that he would be consulting him after assuming office, since he has knowledge of what transpired in government for 22 years.”
Sallah further observes that “The Gambia is in a very delicate political situation requiring mature political balancing act to ensure the smooth transfer of power.”
The Spokesperson indicated that the election results show very clearly that the combined votes of the losers are more than the votes of the winner. This, he added, shows that Gambian society is still politically fragmented requiring great tolerance to avoid any friction.
He said the National Assembly is still fully under the control of the APRC party requiring multi partisan cooperation to conduct government business. He noted that what the Coalition has been trying to do is to earn the trust of all Gambians, including the security forces, to ensure a smooth transfer of power followed by free, fair and genuine national assembly elections.
The Spokesperson revealed that the Coalition has set up a transitional team and has drawn up a road map on the modalities for the smooth transfer of power and that initiatives are being made to engage the teams of the incoming and outgoing presidents so that they would work out the modalities for the peaceful transfer of power.
In this regard, he concluded, all Coalition stakeholders are required to guard their comments and limit them to what has been agreed upon by all stakeholders to prevent conflicts of opinions and the derailing of the transition process.
