THE FACTS AND THE LESSONS The Janjangburey by election of March 2015 is now history. The APRC’s National mobiliser, Mayor Yankuba Colley and the Candidate , Kebba Yorro Manneh have spoken but the NRP which sponsored Kebba Yorro Manneh has not spoken.According to Mayor Colley, the Janjanburey by election is a signal to what is to come in 2016. According to Kebba Yorro Manneh, the result reveals that the APRC won through voter apathy because the electorates were not satisfied that he stood under an NRP ticket. Political analysts should take it up from there. The facts reveal that Janjanburey Constituency, the smallest in the country, has 1715 registered voters . In the 2012 National Assembly elections, Foday Gibani Manka stood for the APRC and had 609 votes. Kebba Yorro Manneh stood as an Independent Candidate and had 477 votes. None of the Candidates had the support of more than 50 percent of the registered voters but the race was close. Kebba lost to Foday by 132 votes. 1086 out of 1715 registered voters cast their votes in 2012. In the March 2015 by election, Ebrima Sarjo of the APRC had 741 votes while Kebba Yorro Manneh, standing as an NRP candidate had 110 votes. Even though none of the candidates had the support of more than 50 percent of the registered voters the race was not close. Kebba lost to Ebrima by 631 votes. Hence out of 1715 voters only 851 voters cast their votes. This constitutes a drop in participation by 235 votes compared to 2012 despite the huge presence of officials and resources in support of the candidate of the ruling party. The results reveal that more than 50 percent of the voters in Janjanburey constituency are yet to decide what to do with their votes. Hence the concrete facts reveal that all political parties including the ruling party should go back to the drawing board to map out what is necessary to win the confidence of the people. This is the significant lesson to be drawn.]]>
