The Secretary General of the Gambia Action Party, Musa Yali Batchilly has called on President Adama Barrow to immediately resign, warning that failure to do so could lead the country into serious economic crisis.
Speaking to The Standard exclusive Tuesday, the GAP SG said lack of capacity and accountability in the Barrow administration is a threat to national security.
“Barrow and his current team cannot rule this country or take us anywhere. Let them resign and organise election next year, so that Gambians will vote for the right people who can rule us towards prosperity,” Batchilly said.
He further blamed the entire Coalition members for failing Gambians in their choice of leadership and failed promises.
Mr Batchilly claimed President Barrow is not in full control of the government’s day to day running which has encouraged corruption and abuse of office.
He said President Barrow should admit that he deceived Gambians and apologise sincerely. “Our leadership is corrupted. How can they spend D239 million, $4.6 million on per-diem on travelling in six months alone. This money could have been used to open a poultry factory that could end the importation of chickens and employ thousands of Gambians or to improve service delivery in our hospitals,” he added.
He said no responsible government will spend such amount of money on travels when its people are struggling to have three meals a day.
“This is very sad. This is not what we expected after Jammeh. We were hoping to have a better Gambia where we will live comfortable lives,” he noted.
Gambia-EU fish agreement
The GAP SG branded as total disgrace the Gambia-EU fish agreement, saying the country could lose billions of dalasi depending on the type of tuna fish the European vessels are fishing in the Gambian seas.
“In any agreement we go into it should be well calculated and based on mutual interest. It is important that Gambians especially political leaders rise and challenge the Barrow administration to do what is in our interest or else this country will totally collapse. Barrow cannot claim to be a lone warrior. There are two million of us and thousands of brilliant Gambians who can lead this country better,” he said.
Batchilly also denied rumours that President Barrow is behind GAP, using them as a proxy. “We have no intention to work with Barrow and he too has nothing to do with us. People can continue to say all sort of things about me selling the party or what not, but I want to confidently say that the next government after Barrow will be GAP,” he concluded.
