Election 2021: Mai Fatty Warns Against Issuing Voter ID Cards To Aliens

An opposition leader in the Gambia has warned against issuing voter identity cards to non-Gambians to enable them to vote in this year’s General election.

The Gambia’s electoral commission will next month start registering Gambians who can prove their citizenship to vote in the coming elections. However, the voter registration process was allegedly abused in the Jawara and Jammeh administrations by some  village heads and chiefs who issued attestations letters and affidavits to non-Gambians to enable them to obtain Gambian identity cards and register to vote.

But Mai Ahmad Fatty of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) has warned that any attempt to register non-Gambians may be recipe for political instability.

“An attempt to register non Gambians under any disguise or pretext, may be a recipe for grave potential instability. Mark my words,” he said.

The former minister of the Interior added:”Those who seek to persist on this agenda are enemies of the state, and may be treated by supporters of many political parties as such, even if the State officially adopts a different attitude.

“Those who may dismiss this with frivolity would be confronted with a rude-awakening. This is thus far the most concrete consensus among most stakeholders, particularly on the other side of the aisle. Mark my words.

“These stakeholders combined constitute a formidable entity and will have sustainable endurance with remarkable capacity to impose its will, WITHOUT fail.

“This may potentially provoke counter response from the other side, resulting to potentially long term political instability, sustained violence, crime and pervasive civil strive. It may heavily polarise the country and make any governance exceedingly challenging.”

Mr Fatty added that as the political season begins, Gambians must all be mindful that there is no substitute to peace and stability.

“While we propagate for and advocate our various political agenda, let us do so with this in mind; that without peace and stability, there will be no winner or a country to govern. As we approach new voter registration, we should remember that winning is not a do or die affair,” he said.

“Note that sensitivities at elections are highest, fearless, and most emboldening. Mark my words. For peace and stability to prevail during and post election cycle, jettison the idea of registering non-Gambians from across the border plus those ineligible residents. The law is very clear as to the definition and characteristics of a Gambian citizen.”