By: Kemo Kanyi
The UDP senior administrative secretary for media and communications, Tombong Saidy, has urged the government not to politicise scandals surrounding the sale of former President Yahya Jammeh’s assets.
Mr. Saidy was reacting to claims made by the Minister of Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay during Coffe Time Programme over West Coast Radio.
Saidy says the last thing Gambians expect from the government is attempts to politicise the scandals surrounding the sale of former President Jammeh’s properties.
According to him, Dr. Ceesay told Coffe Time that he did not hear from the UDP regarding the shameful scandal. “We ask the minister what exactly he expects to hear from the UDP and how is that relevant to what they need to do as a government?” Mr. Saidy questioned. “When the whole country is demanding the responsible thing from their administrators, they are waiting to hear from the UDP?” he remarked. Saidy emphasized that Gambian people want to hear from their government, not from the UDP.
According to Mr. Saidy, the statement by the Minister is a calculated one, an attempt at insinuating that the UDP is also involved in the shameful scandal either as an entity or through individuals associated with the party.
“This is not only shameful on the part of the Minister, but it is manifest callousness in that it is an attempt to trivialize the issue at hand by muddying the waters and making unsubstantiated insinuations,” he added.
He states that a responsible government which is the sole custodian of all the evidence related to the claims made in the excellent investigative piece by The Republic, has one obligation only which is; release the evidence for purposes of transparency and let the facts speak for themselves.
“This is a very serious matter, and we are disappointed, yet again, in the government’s efforts to trivialize or distract from crimes against the people. The responsible thing to do is address the rightful concerns of the people,” he pointed out.
He stated that the Minister of Information ought to be “ashamed” of his utterances and “apologize” to the Gambian people for attempting to distract them from the substance of the issue at hand.
“The United Democratic Party is a responsible party with a keen sense of diligence. Public sentiment is indispensable in a democratic space, but it is irresponsible to respond to issues based solely on public sentiment and not facts, which come from evaluating all sides to the issue,” he remarked.
Mr. Saidy went on to emphasize that as evidenced by past reports, The Republic has asserted its credibility, and they (UDP) have faith in their reporting and its credibility. He said it was left to the people and entities named therein to react to the report and present their side of the story.
“The government especially has a responsibility to make clarifications to the public regarding claims made therein. As a responsible party, if the UDP has anything to say at this early stage, it would be to call on the government to do exactly that; provide evidence and a satisfactory explanation to the public regarding the issues raised in the report,” Saidy noted.
He assured that the UDP would use every tool at its disposal, including the National Assembly, to demand answers and explanations from the Gambia government.
“There will be time for political point scoring, but this occasion demands full disclosure, transparency, and accountability to the Gambian people, and we hope the state acts accordingly,” Mr. Saidy concluded.
