Why is Jammeh Still Insisting? asks Abbas Bangura

81

By Nelson Manneh

Abbas Bangura, a native of Tabakoto, on 16 January, 2017 walked into Foroyaa’s office to raise his concern on the rejection of the 1 December Presidential elections by the outgoing president and the current political situation of the Gambia.

Speaking to foroyaa, Bangura said he could still recall that on the 2 December when Mr. Adama Barrow was declared elected by the Independent Electoral Commissioner (IEC) as the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election, the outgoing president Jammeh took his telephone and spoke to him congratulating him as the winner and said he will never question anybody for the people have spoken and he has heard them.  ‘’ There is no chapter or section in the Constitution that says that a president cannot be sworn in if an election petition is filed in court.  Now in this stage everybody should talk using the language of the Constitution,’’ he asserted. According to Mr. Bangura since President Jammeh rejected the election results many people left the country. “Everyday people are leaving the urban area with their families to the rural area. He said thieves have taken this moment as an opportunity to break into people’s houses that have left with their families due to this political situation,” Bangura lamented.

He said there are many institutions that are not operating at the moment such as schools, health facilities like MRC and even the Gambia Teachers Union. He noted that what the people said should happen and not what an individual says or desires. ‘’It was announced over the television that there will be no arresting of people, 2017 but still now they are arresting people making the situation worse,” he said.