By MUHAMMED .S. BAH
National Assembly members raised issues of political stability in the country, and called for unity amongst the politicians. They made this call during the adjournment debate on Tuesday 21 June 2016.
The National Assembly member for Basse Hon. Muhammed Magassey during his contribution called for unity amongst Gambians, and for people to avoid raising Tribal issues, especially the leadership of the country.
“Our diversity should be our strength, I concur with the statement of the Majority leader, despite the fact that we are diverse, we should promote unity amongst our diversity and also promote mutual respect among ourselves,” he asserted.
Hon Magassey referred to the comments made by the President of the republic of the Gambia during his recently concluded tour by naming some tribes and addressing them negatively.
“If the leader does that, what will the other people do? Being a good friend of a leader is to tell him the truth. You want to live in peace, you want to live in tranquility, so anything that can hinder that achievement should make us all stand and dialogue,” he argued.
While emphasising that he is speaking in the interest of Gambians, he said that a leader shouldn’t be naming tribes publicly and addressing them negatively.
The Majority Leader while moving the Motion for the adjournment debate noted that “we should ensure the maintenance of peace and stability that is enjoyed in the country, despite the political affiliation, Religion, or cultural background”.
He pointed out that, people have seen the repercussions of instability in other countries, so Gambians should jealously guard the peace and shouldn’t allow instability to surface here.
In response to the concern of the Minority Leader, Samba Jallow, about challenges faced by opposition parties in obtaining permits, the Majority Leader asserted that he sees no reason why that should be the case, adding that permits should be issued to opposition parties anytime they request for it.
He also spoke about the “negative impact” the social media is causing to the modern world. He noted that the news spread on social media is mostly not based on facts, especially regarding the Youth folk.
He urged Gambians to serve as security personnel or police, for our common good.
Hon Minority Leader Samba Jallow on his part noted that there is need for political dialogue to address the political crisis as it is affecting the whole of Gambia, making it very difficult for people to enter the city of Banjul.
“Coming to Banjul is a nightmare whether you are involved or not, it is a problem to enter Banjul in the morning, some people spend 2-3 hours on the road, reducing the flow of commercial vehicles to Banjul in the morning; and the large crowd of passengers waiting for transport at the Cooperatives is quite visible; you see how uncomfortable Gambians are now,” he remarked.
He asserted that there must be dialogue on the matter to ease the things for Gambians.
The Minority leader also raised the issue of giving permit to the opposition parties, which he said is very difficult.
He further noted that it is a great impediment and further challenged the authorities to make it easy for the opposition to go ahead with their rallies because the election is coming.
Hon. Babucarr Nyang Banjul South also expressed concern about the parking of trucks within his constituency, and he called for a solution to that problem.
At the end of the adjournment debate the session was adjourned sine die (indefinitely).
