(JollofNews) – The Barrow Administration is neither a Mandinka nor UDP government. It is the Coalition government as it reflects all the constituent members of the Coalition. Any insinuation that it is anything else as perpetuated by clandestine APRC and Yaya Jammeh supporters must be debunked in the strongest terms possible.
The Coalition government indeed reflects all the parties and ethnicities and gender of the Gambia and therefore to falsely claim it is dominated by one sector is false. The fact is that even the cabinet of Yaya Jammeh had a single ethnic group with the highest number of members yet it was never considered a Mandinka government. How therefore can we claim this government to be so?
Secondly, the removal of Yankuba Badgie and David Colley among others has nothing to do with tribe. It has everything to do with justice. In the first place the appointment and continued presence of these thugs was unconstitutional as they spent their entire tenure on abuse of power and destruction of the rights of Gambians. Thus anyone who concludes that the Coalition government is targeting a particular ethnic group by removing these criminals is an unfair and dishonest allegation intended to misinform and mislead the masses.
The case of Solo Sandeng is a genuine case and must be the first to address because it is the last such atrocious case of such enormous proportions. Thus before anything else, the Barrow Administration did well to handle this matter. Again we can see in that case that this government is not approaching it in any tribalist manner as the suspects include criminals from all the ethnic groups. The names of the nine suspects is a testimony to this fact: Yankuba Badgie, former Director General, Louis Gomez, former Deputy Director, Saikou Omar Jeng alias Sir Jeng, former Director of Operations, Haruna Suso, Yusupha Jammeh, Lamin Lang Sanyang, Tamba Masireh, Lamin Darboe and Baboucarr Sallah.
Hence APRC members should stop spewing the false information that this is a witch-hunt based on tribalism. We applaud Barrow for this urgent and right move.
Yes, the new government has taken steps, which potentially pose a constitutional crisis. But to therefore conclude that this government is therefore dictatorial is utterly false and APRC folks should face the truth and stop misinforming. Yaya Jammeh and APRC tortured, raped and killed Gambian sons and daughters and plundered our wealth with impunity. Let APRC remember that. Always.
We must bear in mind that the challenges Barrow faces are, in the first place problems created by Yaya Jammeh and APRC. If they did not tamper with our constitution, Barrow would not have faced these challenges. Hence in these turbulent times, we would see various missteps and mistakes, but this is nothing comparable to the deliberate and conscious abuse of power by Yaya Jammeh.
The good thing remains that in the Gambia of today, our people have the freedom to raise issues and concerns and criticize Barrow and his government without fear of arrest and torture. This was not the case with Yaya Jammeh. Hence to attempt to ridicule Barrow and vindicate Yaya Jammeh is completely and totally unfair, dishonest and misleading. There is no government that does not make mistakes and errors. But a good government always goes back to correct itself and acknowledge its faults. So far Barrow administration has shown that they are no different in that regard as can be seen how they are dealing with the VP issue. Thus let APRC shut up and support the country go through this turbulent time created by Yaya Jammeh and the APRC.
A Coalition government is not an easy animal to manage. The fact that Halifa Sallah is not in the Cabinet does not warrant any unnecessary and unfounded speculations. Halifa has a right to serve as a minister or not. He has said that Barrow desires the best position for him, hence there is nothing wrong with the Coalition. If Halifa decides to go to the National Assembly, it is still in the right direction for the Coalition. The Coalition must ensure that they control the National Assembly with the best sons and daughters of the country in order to create the best foundation for democracy and good governance for the Gambia. I therefore fully support Halifa and PDOIS for their decision.
While APRC has a right to criticize anything, yet they have no moral justification to criticize Barrow and the Coalition government. This is because any and every problem the new government faces is because of the obstacles that were placed before them by the APRC and Yaya Jammeh. Thus all that we expect APRC and Yaya Jammeh thugs to do is to support the process of democratization in the building of the New Gambia. But they must not be on the sidelines seeking to foment tribalism and incitement to violence against the new government and the country. That is unpatriotic.
Go on Chief Servant Adama Barrow!
God Bless The Gambia.
By Madi Jobarteh
I am an ex convict,from 2013to 2015 during which time jammehs government was constructing four large cells each can take up to 300 inmates including confinement cells during these period David Colley looted lots of building materials which he use to build his mansion in kanilai this house was build free using the labour of the officers in the technical department ranging from masons wielders electricians etc ,refusal to go to kanilai to work at his house from any officer can lead you dismissal ,he promotes people base on your loyalty to him and not competence ,he should be arrested ,he did a lot that are not at par with d law
Mr Lamin Ceesay, If you think that mr David colley do something wrong that has to do with economic crimes, why not report the matter to the police if there is enough evidence to make a case against him.
Very true Madi. Very well said.
A week ago I “advised” Daily Observer owner, Amadou Samba, as follows both on JollofNews and Freedomnewspaper:-
“Daily Observer is registered as newspaper and not an APRC-propaganda sheet. The Daily Observer’s current stance of covering and amplifying the disruptive utterances of Jammeh’s last “Information Minister” is not conducive to the peace and stability that The Gambia’s new democratic rulers – and the international community – seek to establish. The Daily Observer must not allow itself to be used by trouble-makers hankering for the days of the dictator. As the owner/proprietor of the Daily Observer, you are responsible for what the Daily Observer puts out there … legally you are responsible for the Daily Observer’s output of news/propaganda. Please advise your Daily Observer editors to stop amplifying APRC demagogues – and to support the peaceful and democratic aims of the new government that is overwhelming welcomed by Gambians and the international community as a breath of fresh air after 22-years of Jammeh’s “managed” tyranny”.
I hope Amadou Samba and the Daily Observer take note.
Alieu Jarju if you from cassamance go to cassamance and make your claims i cassamance Gambians cannot do anything Only to pray for peace in cassamance
What ever is told cannot be told by Gambians .Your idears are hypocritical .Gambia and Senegal are like tongue in mouth .The tongue has to lay down calmly if it will crush by the as they grind . Go to cassamance and solve your problems But you should be in the and fuelling cassamance crisis. Senegal is a parent to Gambia so leave us in peace.
Well spoken Madi,those who did all the atrocities in the past and thought that they can get away with it in the new civilized Republic of The Gambia in the name of democracy,may either be in a deep slumber,or are just day dreaming,for there can be no justice without peace and vice versa.They should be accounted for their misdeeds first before anything, and let people know that there is no tribalism in the way it is being handled.Pay for what you did,whether Jola,mandingo,serer ,fula or whatever.May Allah guide and protect The new Gambia from the enemies of progress.
If anyone think Barrow Government will not be criticise the Person must be in Coma and anyone who don’t want to hear Barrow criticise you can evacuate to Planet Pluto. This is a UDP Government and let me make clear that nor Madi or anyone can silence anyone. This Government is a Rebel Regime that have no respect to our constitution. Its a three man Regime consist of Barrow,Darboe and Fatty Periode.
Daily Obsever will publish whatever it want to and will publish APRC Events at anytime it wishes. It will not be dictated by anyone. If you don’t want that get your own News Paper.
Respect each others opinions the coalition still in minority 43% compared with APRC 39% + GDC of Mammah Kandeh 15% or more , so very careful people are aware , government is acting like a government with majority without consulting the opposition parties I think is wrong we need dialogue and respect to other parties
Madi Jobarteh has turned into a Mandinka Government maneuvering Defence Spoke’s man
Madi, Pls keep your mouth short. When have you turned a constitutionalist or Law advocate? when you were like a lame dog at TANGO
It is clear that this government is a witch hunt and tribe elimination underground cover.
The Barrow regime is full of unconstitutional and ethical appointees and just becos they are mandinkas, None of you want to say the fact. But always taking Jammeh’s Wrong to justify your sneeking ambitions: (Amadou Sanneh – 10 years jail convict still serving his term turned Minister of Finance with No single background in Finance or Economics. Is an Accountant the same as an Economist /Financial Expert. Lawyer Darboe – Prisoner 3 years – turned Foreign Minister with Never a day experience in foreign Affairs or public office, Lamin Dibba 3- Prisoner -turned Minister of lands, VP Tambajang -Age limit ) are all unconstitutional /ethical issues we all seeing and yet you are justifying them as clean. Jammeh used a Kangaroo court to convict them as you claim, but you have not used any so called decent court to free them or vindicate them.
Give us a break. we will express our opinions. bcos all of us have been lettered and know and seeing the fact
Madi Jobarteh has turned into a Mandinka Government maneuvering Defence Spoke’s man
Madi, Pls keep your mouth short. When have you turned a constitutionalist or Law advocate? when you were like a lame dog at TANGO
It is clear that this government is a witch hunt and tribe elimination underground cover.
The Barrow regime is full of unconstitutional and ethical appointees and just becos they are mandinkas, None of you want to say the fact. But always taking Jammeh’s Wrong to justify your sneeking ambitions: (Amadou Sanneh – 10 years jail convict still serving his term turned Minister of Finance with No single background in Finance or Economics. Is an Accountant the same as an Economist /Financial Expert. Lawyer Darboe – Prisoner 3 years – turned Foreign Minister with Never a day experience in foreign Affairs or public office, Lamin Dibba 3- Prisoner -turned Minister of lands, VP Tambajang -Age limit ) are all unconstitutional /ethical issues we all seeing and yet you are justifying them as clean. Jammeh used a Kangaroo court to convict them as you claim, but you have not used any so called decent court to free them or vindicate them.
Give us a break. we will express our opinions. bcos all of us have been lettered and know and seeing the fact
The Jollof news is bias bcose it choose to publish want seem to favour their line of thinking. Why have my article no tribal sentiments not been published? you guys believe in freedom of expression and so called democracy. Mr editor, you need to go to read ethical journalism to understand what you mean by moderation is the context of freedom of expression . The comments are not your opinions and hence you should publish them for fair play since you have your opinion on the editoral
Buba Camara, your right to freely express yourself is not absolute. It goes with responsibility. While we are here to give people the right to speak their mind, certain comments will be censored if they are among other things insulting or against our editorial guideliness.
Thanks you Mr. Editor for the clarifications . The debate continues
And again buba camara; your right to speak does not mean your right to abuse.