By Buba Gagigo
Yankuba Darboe, Chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), has announced the selection of Binta Senghore, alias Binzy, as the Youth Representative at BAC.
Yesterday, the Chairman informed Kerr Fatou that he had rejected Bubacarr Sambou’s nomination to be the West Coast Regional Youth Councillor. The reason for the rejection was that Mr. Sambou is over the age of thirty-five, which is the maximum age allowed for the position.
Chairman Darboe said that he made the decision in accordance with the National Youth Policy 2018–2029, which defines a youth in the Gambia as any person between the ages of 15 and 35. Mr. Sambou is therefore ineligible for the position as he is over the age limit.
On Wednesday, Darboe made an announcement during his interview with NTG TV, stating that he has chosen Binta Senghore, the UDP Deputy National Youth President, for the position. During the interview, he elaborated on the nomination matter and discussed his differences with the regional youth group concerning the nomination.
“The law governing the nomination of a youth representative specifies that the chairman of the area council is the one who makes the nomination. However, the regional youth representatives do not understand this. They believe that they are the ones who make the selection and then hand it over to the chairman. This is not true, and it is not lawful. The law specifies that the youth representative is nominated by the chairman to represent the youths. The regional youth representatives have assigned themselves work that is not in their purview.
“When they suggested that they would choose a youth representative, we informed them that the council already has a majority of male representation, and that diversity is an important issue for us. Therefore, we asked them to look for a female youth representative for the youth spot on the council. We told them that if they did this, we would be happy to nominate that individual. However, they did not follow our request and instead came back with an over-aged male candidate.
“The Regional Youth Group claims to represent all youth on the West Coast, but that is just the name of their group, because there are many other youth groups in the region, and the regional does not have a monopoly on representing youth voices. The regional also claims to be apolitical, but every political party in this country has a youth group. The UDP Youth Group is independent of the regional group, and both groups are considered youth groups. The regional group gave me their recommendation, and the UDP youth group also submitted a name.
“I told all youth groups submitting nominations that we wanted a female representative. The regional group refused to follow this suggestion and instead nominated an over-age male candidate. I told them that if this was their best option after all the time we had been waiting, we didn’t have time to wait any longer and had to move on with the nomination. The UDP group, on the other hand, followed the suggestion and nominated a female youth for the position. However, they [the regional group] objected to her nomination because she is a member of the UDP. This is the main point of contention.
” The person we recommended is a UDP member, a youth, and a resident of the West Coast Region. There is no reason to deny her the position because of her political affiliation. After all, why would a chairman who was elected by UDP members join others in denying UDP members positions on the council. I will not do it. The people voted for UDP, and if they don’t want us after four years, they can remove us all at the end of our term.
“As long as we are on council, we will continue to ensure that UDP members are given the opportunity to hold positions on the council. I will not allow anyone to convince me to deny UDP members these positions simply because of their party affiliation. I have made this clear to them, but they are not yet willing to listen.
“I have already selected Binta Senghore (Binzy). She is a female youth, she is not above 35 years, and she is the one leading the UDP Youths and representing them. She is selected by our UDP West Coast youths, and we choose her,” he said.
Binta Senghore alias Binzy is the Deputy National Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
Chairman Darboe has nominated 4 male and 4 female to join the elected Councillors