ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
As from this edition Foroyaa will be publishing the campaign of candidates for the forthcoming mayoral and chairperson elections under this column.
By Fatoumatta K Jallow
Pa Dawooda Njie (Pa Njie Giri Gara), the mayoral Candidate for Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) contesting the ticket of the Gambia Democratic Congress has promised that he will give a grant of D1,000,000 (one million dalasis) after one year in office on scholarship to needy students.
Dawooda Njie commonly known as Pa Njie GIRI GARA made these statements at his residence in Pipeline in an interview with Foroyaa on Tuesday the 1st day of May, 2018.
He said he doesn’t want any salary when serving in office.
“I was born and brought up in Banjul where I attended a French primary school and I later went to Senegal because there was no French High school in the Gambia. I later went to a University in the United States in 1972 were I studied Accounting and Business Administration in Washington D.C. and then came back home (The Gambia) in 1976, since then I was in business; that’s is why they call me GIRI GARA,” he said
According to Giri Gara Njie, he is vying for the position of Mayor because he has seen that in the Gambia and many countries in West Africa that politicians usually make lots of promises to the electorate but once they assume office they become a different person with unfulfilled promises.
“If elected I will make sure those monies, taxes and grants and loans come back to the KMC people, because I thank God I have money and I don’t want position but to help the people of KMC because I have been helping all political parties in the country from PPP, APRC, NRP, UDP and finally to GDC. I know all these political parties and one time I have been helping all of them financially,” he said.
He said he was approached by the GDC political party to contest the mayoral position but he told them categorically that he wants to make sure that the taxes people pay go back to the people and as a political party he will not entertain KMC to be transformed in to a political bureau like the APRC did for the past 22 years. He assured the electorate that if GDC has political meetings it will be done somewhere else, because the KMC is for tax payers and official matters and he will be there for all political parties and serve all of them without any distinction, discrimination and with respect.
He blamed the party that was at the helm at KMC for its problems. “I think the first blame should go to that party because people have been paying their taxes every year, so those taxes should be used for removal of waste management and any other thing which is making people uncomfortable particularly the Bakoteh Dumpsite.
He said the people of Bakoteh have been really suffering for the longest time which is not normal and one of his main priorities is to address this problem. “I know that all lands belong to government but we will ask central government to immediately identify a place for us to move the dumpsite and close the Bakoteh dumpsite and transform it to something else.
