Papa Njie has defeated Bakary Bunja Darboe, former vice president of the Gambia for ten years and minister under both Presidents Darwda Kairaba Jawara and Yahya Jammeh.
The Peoples Progressive Party has elected Papa Njie as its leader in what was the party’s first elective congress since 1992.
Njie defeated Bakary Bunja Darboe, a former vice president and minister under both Presidents Dawda Kairaba Jawara and Yahya Jammeh.
Njie got 272 while Darboe got 227. The total votes cast was 499.
Njie has recently announced he was joining the party, few months after he lost election to Mayor Talib Bensouda of United Democratic Party.
Njie, who first sought the backing of the UDP, later contested the mayoral election as an independent candidate after he lost to Talib at the party’s primary.
The PPP congress which began on Friday with attendance of top former party officials ends on Sunday.
The PPP, the party that led the country to independence, has been toppled by the Military Junta led by former president Yahya Jammeh amid allegations of widespread corruption.
There after the overthrow, the party was banned and its leader exiled. But since resuming active politics following the lifting of the ban, the party’s performance has been abysmal at polls.
Party officials attributed their under-performance at polls to the repression they have faced under the former dictator Jammeh. Following the overthrow, Jammeh and his collaborators seized the assets of former PPP ministers and the party.
They also established two commissions of inquiry, the Bafo and the Alghali Commissions, to investigate former ministers and the top PPP politicians.
Though the findings of the Alghali Commission was never made public, the assets belonging to former ministers that were seized by the state was never returned to them.
The former vice president, Bakary Bunja Darboe, told journalists at his residence on December 27 that their party’s assets seized by the state are still not returned.
Darboe said they will take legal measures to regain their assets that were seized illegally. Meanwhile, other positions within the party are to be appointed.
Comments are closed.