By Yankuba Jallow & Nelson Manneh
Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the interim party leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) party, has called on Government to look into the issues of deportation of Gambians from Europe. The interim party leader of the APRC said this on Tuesday February 5, 2019, whilst addressing a press conference at his Tallinding residence.
The purpose of the press conference according to Jatta, was to disseminate information to the public and further clarify certain issues affecting the lives of Gambians. He thanked militants and supporters of the Party for the successful mega rally held last month, whilst accusing Government of signing an agreement for the deportation of Gambians from abroad.
Jatta said Gambians that the US government denied top officials of the former regime access to American visas, for refusing to accept the deportation of Gambians from their country. He claimed that when the Government of President Adama Barrow came, it struck an agreement with the US Government, enabling officials of the Barrow led Government to be allowed entry. “The government has signed an agreement for the deportation of Gambians from abroad. You cannot mortgage the welfare of citizens for anything and Gambians are being deported every now and then,” Jatta said.
He called on Gambians to hold the government to task on the deportation of their compatriots living abroad. “The APRC government refused the deportation of Gambians,” he said.
On the Senegambia bridge, Jatta said Senegal has not contributed a dime towards the funding of the project; that the bridge was funded in 2014 and the foundation stone laid in February 2015 by a representative of the former APRC Government; that it was the former APRC Government that established the University of the Gambia in 1999 and ensured that almost every community in the country had access to education by building Schools in these areas. Jatta also renewed his party’s call for the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), to resign, accusing the Electoral body of biasness.
He heaped blame on the Government of President Adama Barrow for failing to pay farmers their hard earned yearly incomes; that agriculture which is the backbone of the country’s economy, needs to be promoted. He called on Government to make cash available for farmers before any trade season opens.
Jatta however admitted to their shortcomings and said there is no perfect Government in the whole world. He said President Barrow should forget the negatives and try to improve, because the country cannot move on negatives.
Jatta said the party still calls on Government to fulfil its promise of investigating the cause of death of Haruna Jatta. On the Commissions, he said the Party is aware that the ‘Janneh Commission’ has sold some of the cattle of ex-president Jammeh.
On the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), Jatta asked why it should start from July 1994, without including the human rights violations by the former PPP Government, including the mass killing of people during the 1981 coup d’état. “If the PPP had continued in power, most the youth would have been illiterates,” he adduced
He called on Government to address the high crime rate in the country.
