By Buba Gagigo
Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture, has categorically denied allegations that the 2021 presidential election in The Gambia was rigged.
Speaking during an interview on West Coast Radio, Mr. Sabally defended the credibility of the electoral process and criticized the United Democratic Party (UDP) for supporting claims made by Mbemba Drammeh, who recently alleged election tampering.
The minister emphasized his confidence in the transparency of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and described President Adama Barrow’s victory as “clear as white.” Sabally noted that he personally observed the counting, tabulation, and announcement of results at the IEC for more than 48 hours.
“The victory of His Excellency, President Barrow is as clear as white and the election system in this country is rig proof. You cannot steal the election, elections are local. Your registration is verified. You go and vote. Every party has its agent sitting there. The IEC is there. The police are there. Votes are counted tabulated and agreed upon by all these agents, signed off on paper, and posted right there locally. That is why the political parties even know the results, even before the IEC, and no political party has disputed the numbers.” He stated
Sabally also addressed the UDP’s legal challenge following the election, stating that their case failed due to a lack of substantive evidence. He dismissed accusations of voter inducement, including claims that cooking pots were distributed to influence voters, as baseless.
“Yes, UDP went to court. They lost the case based on so many other factors. However, even UDP did not dispute the numbers. They may dispute circumstances probably if they had gone to court, they would have talked about it. They say we gave cooking pots to some Yaye Compins (as inducement) those were among their evidence. But look which political party has not given anything to any voter? We did not give them cooking pots for them to vote for us and they were not done within the campaign period,” Demba Sabally said.
The minister rejected claims by Mbemba Drammeh, asserting that Drammeh was not in The Gambia during the election period.
“So for somebody like Mbemba, who was never an NPP executive, either at the national level, at constituency, a regional or village and Mbemba was not in the Gambia for the entire year of 2021. He was not in the Gambia six months before the election, during the election, and six months after the election, he was not here. The Gambian election is not digital. If he’s sitting in France with other people, how can he rig a polling station in Dippakunda where voters used marbles, and it was counted on the spot, and the results were posted for public viewing? I cannot use any adjective to describe the mindset of the man when he was talking,” he said.
Sabally commended the arrest of Drammeh and called for a thorough investigation to determine the validity of his allegations.
“I want to make this thing very clear, every genuine Gambian should be happy that Mbemba is arrested. Because if somebody says, your national election (is rigged), this is not an NPP election or a UDP election. This was a national election of the Republic of the Gambia, for which the election determines the credibility of the government of a country. If somebody says I was part of a criminal syndicate because to rig an election is criminal, if he confess on television that he was part of a criminal syndicate that rigged our election, our Gambian election, not NPP election, not President Barrow’s election. I am surprised to see UDP people celebrating,” he said.
He criticized UDP supporters for celebrating Drammeh, urging them to treat him as a criminal until proven otherwise.
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