United Democratic Party leader
By Buba Gagigo
The United Democratic Party (UDP) has expressed concern over the Government’s TRRC White Paper saying it made ‘scant mention’ of the role of APRC in the TRRC report.
“The UDP notes with concern that scant mention is made of the role of the APRC, the political party that clothed the ‘Soldiers with a Difference’ with the veneer of legitimacy for 20 years with a super majority in the National Assembly and Jammeh as its flag bearer in five Presidential Elections.
“Nor was the role and workings of the National Assembly, the mother of all institutions in a democratic society examined in any detail by the Commission. What some observers have described as a ‘’Rubber-Stamp Parliament’’ was the fulcrum for the concentration of all state power in the Office and person of the President,” the party said in a statement on Saturday.
UDP also ‘respectfully’ submits that the APRC as a political organisation with a majority in the National Assembly bears significant responsibility in enabling and sustaining the 20 years of authoritarian rule, and its officials and leaders have contributed directly to the political impasse of December 2016- February 2017.
The UDP However, said President Barrow nominated two of APRC officials, elected as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in April 2022.
“The TRRC recommendations under the Justice Sector posited that it was not mandated to inquire into the role of the then Attorney General in extending the term of the National Assembly in 2016. Nonetheless, the Commission maintains that the extension was aimed at subverting the sovereign will of Gambians who voted Yahya Jammeh out in the December election, and this was akin to a constitutional Coup d’état,” the United Democratic Party said.