Top UDP official Lamin Manneh has been treating the appointment of the new head of The Gambia’s election management body with cautious optimism, saying the new IEC boss, despite his tainted reputation, can salvage himself and his battered image by overseeing a free and fair general election next year.
The UDP is still insistent on its claim of being robbed of its victory in the 2021 general election in which President Adama Barrow and his NPP had a commanding lead as declared by the national elections management body.
“When the results were announced, everybody knew that something was wrong. And he [Alieu Momar Njie] was there, he sat and read the results. He condoned it [vote rigging]. He went along with it and the people around him went along with it. So, the IEC is discredited from that point,” Manneh told Coffee Time With Peter Gomez on Monday.
Mr Manneh hinted that the new IEC chairman Joseph Colley was complicit in the alleged theft of UDP’s votes in the 2021 general election.
“Joe Colley has a reputation for having been with the IEC when these things[alleged vote rigging] happened, Joe has a reputation of having received money in his account which they refused to have anybody audit. All of those things are hanging on his neck,” Manneh highlighted.
To the senior opposition figure, Joe has another unique opportunity to clean his soiled reputation, despite all the undesirable things associated with his name, by doing the right thing in the 2026 election.
“Those things happened, they are in the past. Joe Colley now has a golden opportunity to redeem himself and his reputation by doing the right thing for The Gambia in 2026. That is the reason why we think he has a good opportunity to salvage his reputation,” added the UDP official.
“You are giving him a second chance? asked host Peter Gomez.
“Oh, yes, yes, we want to give him the benefit of the doubt to see that things went wrong in the past. Now, he is the boss of the IEC. He doesn’t have anymore excuses. I was with him in a number of fora, where we discussed these election results and he did sometimes recognize that things didn’t go the way they could have or they should have, which for me is good. So now, he has the opportunity to redeem himself and to be the next Alieu Momar Njie in 2026, make sure that the results are fair to the country,” responded Manneh.
