Mai Ahmad Fatty, leader of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), Saturday has declared that he intends to be a candidate in the December 4 presidential election.
“Today, having regard to the state of the country, and confident of our ability to fix the urgent challenges facing our country, I have great privilege and honour to declare I will stand as a candidate for president of the Republic of The Gambia, as flagbearer of Gambia Moral Congress.”
He continued: “For the first time in the history of our party, the GMC is presenting a candidate.”
The declaration was made a few days after the party won its court case against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which rejected Fatty’s nomination for the December 4 presidential election.
He insisted that the IEC has no right to deter GMC from participating in the forthcoming election.
Speaking a news conference Saturday at his residence in Kota, Fatty also announced that the GMC will not endorse any other political party’s candidate in the presidential race.
The GMC will not back any other political party in the coming election, has said, adding that the party was registered to contest in elections, but not to play second fiddle to any political party.
Reacting to IEC’s announcement that it will appeal the ruling of the High Court, Fatty said the IEC is ‘not a country of its own, but rather acting under the Constitution of the Gambia’.
The national electoral commission has no right to deter him from contesting in the election, hence the court ruling in his favor.
With only five days to the end of the official campaign period, and just seven days to the election, Fatty added that the GMC will kick-off its campaign effectively even if it will do so for only one day.
“As President of the Gambia, In Shaa Allah, I will make sure public policies are directed to attain the objectives of efficiency, effectiveness and equity, in order to ensure a broad base poverty-reducing growth and development strategy; the dividends of which will be distributed fairly across all the demographic segments.
“Our aim is to achieve the directive principles of state policy encapsulated in Chapter 20 of our constitution; that is, creation of wealth, generation of employment, reduction of poverty, elimination of corruption and the general orientation of values.”
