By Adama Makasuba
Citizens’ Alliance has suspended its spokeswoman Neneh Freda Gomez and appointed Modou Mboob as its new spokesman, the opposition party founded in 2019 announced on Tuesday.
The party allegedly accused its former spokeswoman of leaking a conversation discussed during the party’s executive meeting on social media, saying that her suspension is in line with section 21 (2) of the Citizens’ Alliance constitution.
The statement further stated that an Accountability Committee was lawfully constituted by CNEC to investigate which executive member screenshot and leaked a CNEC to the public, resulting in an article published on Kerr Fatou’s website.
“Review the CA constitution for any possible breach of party code of conduct. Recommend disciplinary actions to the CNEC for discipline, if necessary, and in line with the CA constitution,” CA stated in a released statement.
“Consequently, the following recommendations were tendered and unanimously adopted by the CNEC in an emergency meeting on July 26, 2022, that Ms Neneh Freda Gomez is suspended from the remainder of the current congress which ends November 30, 2022, as outlined in Article 21 section 2, subsection 2.2 of the constitution which states ‘the power to discipline any member who violates the disciplinary code of conduct or any code of conduct promulgated shall be vested in the National Executive Council or any disciplinary committee set established by the NEC or its disciplinary subcommittee,” CA pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Citizens’ Alliance has appointed Modou Mboob as its spokesman. Mr Mboob welcomed the appointment describing Citizens’ Alliance as a great party and expressed profound gratitude for being a founding member of the party.
“I am duty bound as a member of the executive, from day one, to promote the ideals and values upon which the party is formed. CA is the future of Gambian politics because we have something unique and unprecedented to sell to citizens— Strong institutional democratic norms and values. However, it may take time for everyone to have a grasp of the party’s intent and purpose, but time and events will exonerate us,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that CA is grappling with internal unrest within its executive. I also agree that this is not healthy for the growth of the party, but it is very evident that for a meaningful democracy to be realized sacrifices and challenges are inevitable. The reason why we are in this avoidable situation is that the few do not want to abide by majority decisions and as democracy dictates— majority decisions stand,” he added.
He assured the party supporters that the executive is more united today than ever to push the ultimate agenda.
“In the same vein, I also want to appeal to all Gambians to please make it a habit to listen to both sides of a case before concluding, this is a basic principle of fairness. I wish to make it categorically clear that we are not in politics to create havoc or deceit in this great nation but to build and continue to unite each other towards a common goal.
“We are all Gambians and one people and this should be considered whenever we open our mouths to speak. Let’s abstain from hurting each other’s feelings and tarnishing people’s image just for mere political gains— this goes especially for the opposition parties and their militants. When the opposition is divided, the actual goal will be far-fetched,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Ismaila Ceesay said: “with somebody making a statement of his personal opinion to say a particular media house belongs to a particular political party. Nobody in the executive group supported that statement to make it look like it was the view of the entire CA. And it is not the position of the entire Citizens’ Alliance officially as a party because we did not come out to say those statements.
“We live in a democracy; people have a right to their opinions as long as their opinions are not derogatory,” he noted.
