By Buba Gagigo
The National Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Haji Suwaneh has accused the National People’s Party (NPP) of ‘misleading’ tactics to canvass for votes.
“During our tour in URR, we find out that NPP has started their tactics to mislead people in URR. Is very disappointing to see people going to their own people and misleading them. They have come to my own village Sarreh Pirasu for more than five times . They tell people that they are measuring to bring electricity to the village. And I understand that they came back again when I left. They just come to mislead people because they know the election is coming.
“They have been measuring for many years and there’s still no electricity. They are using the same tactics because the local government election is coming and the sad thing is they are using the villagers to go and measure. Let them ask them where they will bring the electricity before Ramadan, they will never. Since Barrow came to power, he didn’t give electricity to any of us in that area, especially Sabi Ward. They only use these tactics when the election is coming,” he alleged.
The United Democratic Party’s National Youth President also refutes allegations that the Basse Area Council Chairman Foday Danjo distributed money among the UDP supporters in their URR Bureau.
“What NPP is saying is, Foday Danjo went to America and brought money for UDP and said the money was shared among UDP members at their URR Bureau. Anyone sensible will know that’s not true. UDP has chapters all around Europe and America and mobilized money if UDP is in need. But to say Foday Danjo went to America to mobilize money for UDP is a lie. Foday went for the interest of URR and that is to maintain good ties between Basse Area Council and foreign councils to bring development to URR. We are going to see all these developments when he is re-elected. Their tactics are to tarnish his image to score political gains,” he concluded.
Responding to the allegations made by the United Democratic Party’s National Youth President, Lamin Queen Jammeh, the spokesperson of the National People’s Party says the allegations do not match with common sense;
“I will do some findings but it does not match with common sense because NAWEC is the one responsible for electricity. I know one thing, the way the rural electrification is going, there is a target for the coverage of the entire population by the government through the leadership. NAWEC staff could therefore be seen in different locations in the Gambia working on that.
“But I cannot take to say it is NPP. That does not match common sense. In the Barrow administration, any settlement that somebody goes to in the name of NAWEC for bringing electricity to the people, the people naturally would have good reasons to trust such a move because they have seen the unprecedented scale at which electricity is moving in the country,” Lamin Queen Jammeh told Kerr Fatou.
Haji Suwaneh is the National Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and a native of Upper River Region (URR