By Yankuba Jallow
Stakeholders of President Macky Sall’s coalition- Benno Bokk Yakaar in the Gambia have faulted his APR party for disregarding the memorandum of understanding they all signed.
The coalition composes of AFP, APR, PS, RD and two movements; Fekema Chi Bolle and GMAAP (Grand Mouvement d’appui a l’action du President Macky Sall).
The ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition was formed prior to the 2012 legislative election. Its name translates as “United in Hope” in the widely spoken Wolof language.
The coalition won a commanding majority in the 2012 poll, securing 119 of the 150 seats in the past legislative elections.
According to the stakeholders, the MOU binds all of them and they should all work for the interest of President Sall in order to enable him to secure a landslide victory in forthcoming presidential elections slated to take place in February 2019.
The stakeholders said they will campaign vigorously to facilitate over 9,000 for President Sall out of the 13,000 registered voters in the Gambia.
“We are not happy with the APR because they are disregarding the coalition’s MOU that we all signed. Just recently, President Sall sent his Fisheries Minister to come to the Gambia for us to nominate President Sall. We nominated President Sall for the elections next year,” Mor Mbengue Mbaye of GMAAP stated.
Mbaye who is also the Public Relations Officer for the coalition said APR is a minority in the coalition and they should not see themselves as the majority because they are only a single party out of a lot.
“We are calling on President Sall to send a delegation to come and remedy this situation. We voted for him in the 2012 presidential elections and we are ready to give him a landslide victory in the first round of the elections next year. The coalition should not be seen divided because this may weaken their efforts,” he said.
Further, the PRO expressed their intention of embarking on a nationwide campaign for President Sall were they will visit major settlements including Basse, Soma, Gunjur, Serrekunda, Albreda, Latrikunda and Brikama.
Mahfous Dicko, the National President of the Coalition in the Gambia said APR should not see themselves as the majority and further urged them to observe the MOU of the coalition.
Dicko added that the achievement that President Sall has brought for Senegal in his first tenure as the President of the Republic of Senegal has availed him the chance of winning the forthcoming elections but his party should not boycott the coalition.
“I am also reminding President Sall that he should not ignore the Senegalese in the Gambia. We are the electorate and he should always support us. I am urging him to send in a delegation to put a stop to this in order to enable the coalition to win with a landslide in the Gambia,” he said.
Dodou Diatta, the National Chairman of the Party Socialist (PS) in the Gambia expressed a similar sentiment and called on the APR party to come back and join the coalition in order not to defeat the agenda of the coalition.
Sam Cham of the Yusu Ndour’s movement dubbed Fekema Chi Bolle mentioned similar comments. Many other speakers dilated on the same issue.
