(JollofNews) – An opposition leader in the Gambia has conceded defeat to President Yahya Jammeh even before votes are cast in the 2016 general elections.
Mai Ahmed Fatty of the Gambia’s Moral Congress party (GMC), said the country’s electoral system is intentionally designed to produce fraudulent outcomes in favour of President Jammeh and his ruling APRC party.
“In my estimation, based on what I know, and considering all of the relevant facts, circumstances and happenstances, the opposition has no real prospects of effecting a political rupture in 2016,” Mr Fatty wrote on his Facebook page.
“This opinion is unaffected even in the event of 100 per cent opposition coalition, which I dare say is an impossibility. The electoral system is conclusively and intentionally designed to produce fraudulent outcomes, especially for the presidential elections.”
Mr Fatty added that the current crop of opposition parties in the country will not deliver.
“I am ashamed of it,” he said.
“It is a house divided against itself and this, sadly, is the unfortunate bitter truth.”
The exiled leader added that while he wished he could sound optimistic, he don’t want to deceive Gambians with unrealistic optimism.
Mr Fatty added: “It is imperative that we all share factual information. Based on available intelligence on 2016 plans by Jammeh, no serious political figure should waste energy on participating at 2016. It is misplaced priority that will display the ignorance of such people. The focus should be on sanitising the process, not on reinforcing its invented weaknesses.”
He said to address the problem, Gambians should form a civic united front, using all legitimate means, including legitimate national protests, joint campaigns to mobilise national opinion against fraud and support for reforms.
He added that to achieve this, the opposition must stop singing different tunes and zero in on reforms including eliminating the stone, introducing biometric verification, entirely new voter registration.
“This includes the invalidation of all existing voters cards, most of which are in the possessions of Senegalese citizens of Cassamance origin, many of whom now live in Kombo North, Bundung, Latrikunda Mampatokoto parts of Kombo South and maraud around frontier villages,” he said.
” These are permanent electoral mercenaries illegally granted citizenship, diluting our national character to keep Jammeh in power. It is a settled policy, deliberate, systematic, well structured, organised and financed. Even if we achieve the above, the IEC itself must be scraped from its foundation. Most importantly, unity should revolve around an opposition movement excluding Jammeh a fifth term bid. Without these, 2016 is a joke.”
