Coalition of Progressive Gambians (CoPG) has expressed concerns about President Adama Barrow’s shocking utterances during the openings of NPP political bureaus in the country’s hinterland.
In a statement made available to TAT, the civil rights movement has argued that the President’s statement caught the Gambian people by surprise as it was delivered when many observers sensed the failure of democratic values in the country.
“The Coalition of Progressive Gambians wants to remind the President that, as he claims to be pushed beyond limits, so are Gambians pushed to the edge. The issues expected to be of concern should be the 2020 draft constitution, the high cost of living, unending corruption, the deteriorating health sector, the gloomy economy, security reforms, recommendations of the costly commissions and task forces, audit reports and its recommendations,” CoPG said in a press statement.
It added: “This is not the time that Gambians should be hearing such utterances from a President elected by the people for purposes far different from what he represents. It’s unfortunate that a President who was elected by Gambians who valued good democratic dispensation, supported by the diaspora and made popular by the media, could make a U-turn with the support of a cohort of opportunist, self-centered and greedy enablers of the former regime, to utter such an ill-advised speech to the people who elected him.”
The Civil Rights Movement further condemned President Adama Barrow for labeling innocent Gambians and political opponents as threats to national security, observing that threats to national security could have been avoided if his government had undertaken security sector reforms of the country with a sense of seriousness.
“Calling a group of people or party, individuals or media houses as a threat to national security is a manifestation of his government’s failure to address the security threats that could have been avoided. If a proper and genuine security reform blueprint were critically defined and implemented, there wouldn’t be need for any worries of security threats by now,” CoPG further disclosed in its statement.
The statement added: “The general political misconduct and disorder have been instigated by the government’s lack of focus and concentration on implementing expected reforms and recommendations. Suppose the President is focused on accelerated growth and development, as he claims. In that case, Gambians should have realized better, and critics silenced.”
CoPG further argued that the President has vindicated some of his critics by expressing his disregard for the respect of the rule of law and the intent to override his authority over the separation of powers, noting that such negative utterances of the President will raise the alarm to the international community and could have severe implications for the country and it’s development programs.
“The President must be reminded that these were the same words uttered by the former President Yahya Jammeh, causing him to lose credibility and the Presidency. The President quoting the powers conferred to him by the 1997 Constitution is evident that he’s walking on the same foot-tracks as the former President’s,” CoPG observed.
It added: “We, the Coalition of Progressive Gambians, call on the President to get back on the track that convinced the Gambians to vote for him, the diaspora to finance his campaigns, and the media to promote him and his agenda. We, the Coalition of Progressive Gambians, express our disappointment and call on the International community and goodwill partners to support and stand in solidarity with goodwill Gambians to dismiss this pronouncement.”
