By Buba Gagigo
The United Democratic Party (UDP)’s Treasurer, Hon. Amadou Sanneh, who got two of his resolutions rejected by UDP delegates, said he was not treated fairly by the moderator, Alagie S Darboe.
“When I presented the resolution, the moderator, Alagie S. Darboe, countered the resolution. As a moderator, you should not take sides. You should leave it with the Congress. I thought that was very wrong. Instead, he went out of his way to discredit the resolution,” Hon. Sanneh told Kerr Fatou after the rejection of his resolutions in Janjanbureh.
Hon. Sanneh also stated that they should have accorded him the opportunity to defend the resolution but said that never happened.
“I was not given a chance to defend it. Some of the things he (Alagie S Darboe) said there about the resolutions were not true. If you looked at corporate structures alone, you have the director of admin, you have the director of finance, then you have admin managers and so on. Just look at our make-up. I am the only one at treasury because my deputy had resigned. You think I will be the only one handling all these things? Payment for accommodations, transport cost, people calling me for food and so on. One person cannot run all that, you need a setup.
“But the people, who opposed the resolution, went all out just to reject it without any substance. They don’t know the functions of the treasury and all the responsibility it entails. An entire party cannot just have a National Treasurer and a Deputy. You need layers to be able to operate effectively, but they don’t understand and unfortunately, they portrayed it to people who just swallow what is told to them and I didn’t have the chance to defend it. I felt it was very unfortunate, the moderator’s position was unethical, it was not professional. When you present a motion, you give it to the people to debate but you, as a moderator, do you come and attack the motion instead of just putting it to them? I didn’t have the chance to defend it and all what he said, I can defend it,” he said.
The former Finance Minister of the Gambia said he doesn’t have a problem with losing elections when it is done the right way, but said the process was unfair to him.
“I have gone to elections before and lost, but the process should have been transparent and balanced fairly. But you cannot just come and damage a proposal. If anybody knows finance accordingly, you know that you need extra hands to do the work. And the fund-raising issue also, everybody is crying that we don’t have money.
“And the Diaspora is our main contributor. I have discussed it with the Diaspora, and they are saying they want somebody there. They want somebody there who can raise funds. What is the problem with that? You are not paying the person; you are not doing anything for them. The extra layer is for the party to recognize that giving the number of resources they (the diaspora) are bringing into the party, I think it was just sensible to say, let’s give you somebody to help, and raise more,” he concluded.
Hon. Sanneh had his resolutions to create a second deputy Party leader in UDP and to elect a person from the Diaspora who will be responsible for fund-raising both rejected at the United Democratic Party’s Congress in Janjanbureh. The secretary General and Party leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) was among the people who spoke against the motions.