New PPP Leader
By Buba Gagigo
The newly elected Secretary General and Leader of the People’s Progressive Party, Kebba E. Jallow has accused Fatoumatta Touma Njie, his opponent at the party’s recently concluded elective congress of bribing people without voting right to vote for her.
“I can tell you she went around inducing people who are not supposed to vote, but if your name is not on the list they cannot allow you to vote. For example, if we say Serekunda and select four people and enter their names, she will bring other four people that she has already induced. We rejected it because she wants to bring her own people apart from what the committee selects,” Jallow alleged.
On the issues of whether to use secret ballots or hand raising for voting at the congress, Jallow said they all agreed to go with hand raising initially, but Touma declined to it, two weeks later.
“With the issue of raising hands, we all had an discussion about it. Touma herself agreed but she later came back and said she didn’t agree again, saying we should go with the secret ballots. I told her already we agreed. If we want to change anything let’s vote. We later voted and the ones who said we should continue with raising of hands were more than those who said secret ballots,” he added.
SG Jallow continued that Madam Njie wasn’t pleased with the hand raising, although majority of the delegates agreed. Then she lodged the complaint to the country’s electoral commission, but the commission considered it an internal party matter.
“She went and asked IEC, but they told her this is an internal party problem. And they don’t have anything to say about that,” Mr Jallow concluded.
The duo filed their candidature for the party’s SG and leadership position at the congress. But they fell out on the congress day. As a result Fatoumatta (Touma) Njie is reported to have angrily walked out at the PPP elective congress in Brikamaba on grounds that some of her supporters were barred from entry to vote for her.
Eventually, Kebba E Jallow is elected as the new Secretary General and Leader of the People’s Progressive Party in Brikamaba. Ninety-two (92) delegates voted for him at the congress. He replaced Pa Njie who’s serving as an ambassador under Barrow government.
Efforts to reach Fatoumatta for comments were unsuccessful.
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