By: Foday Manneh
On Saturday, the Secretary-General and party leader of the All People’s Party (APP), Dr. Ebrima Jagne, announced his intention to officially join the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) party at a press conference held in Churchill’s Town.
He declared, “Today, I am here to announce my total submission and registration to the PDOIS party. This is a big milestone for me.”
He disclosed that he submitted his resignation to the All People’s Party as the Secretary-General and party leader without remorse.
The erstwhile APP leader said his admiration for PDOIS’s agenda motivated him to join the party.
“In the last 57 years, with all the governments I have come through, none of them has an agenda like the PDOIS. So I might be asked why didn’t I join the party in the 1990s, but I had wanted to without any doubt because PDOIS was the only party I had wanted to be a member of for many reasons,” he stated.
Dr. Jagne said he did not join the party with aspirations to be in the leadership, noting that he joined the PDOIS to be an ordinary member. However, he added if the party realizes that he could be helpful, he will do the needful to support its ambition.
When asked if the decision was a collective agreement with his party before making the latest announcement of moving to PDOIS, Dr. Ebrima Jagne said: “There is a disagreement. I joined APP as an ordinary member as I am joining PDOIS. I was elected unanimously, and I did my best to run the established party in less than two years. I have had a lot of challenges, specifically financial challenges. The current executive of the party to me was not doing well.”
“It was not secret that most of our members are civil servants who cannot be openly engaged in politics. Ultimately, we have reached a situation where there is a disagreement on some of the ways forward for the party, he asserted.
Welcoming Dr. Jagne, the former MP of Wuli West and an executive member of the PDOIS party, Hon. Sidia Jatta said the well-trained medical practitioner turned politician joining PDOIS is an addition, not a subtraction, to their party.
“We receive him wholeheartedly and with joy. Dr. Jagne is a citizen of this Republic. He has a right to belong to any party he chooses, whether the new or the former, to go somewhere else. Therefore, we welcome him,” said Hon. Jatta while welcoming Dr. Jagne.
Previously, Dr. Jagne, together with members of APP in the 2021 presidential election, endorsed Halifa Sallah, the candidate for the PDOIS, in December 2021 presidential race.
