Coronavirus: Gambian President Barrow accused of breaking his own laws

13 Juillet 2020

Banjul, Gambia, July 13 (Infosplusgabon) – Mai Amhed Fatty, Gambia’s former Interior Minister, on Monday took a jab at President Adama Barrow, saying the head of State, instead of being “chief enforcer of Covid 19 laws, has become the chief breaker of the laws” he made himself.

Mr. Fatty, the leader of opposition party, Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), who was Barrow’s first Interior Minister but later got sacked, came up with the jab in a radio program broadcast by a local FM, West Coast Radio, following a controversial meeting convened by militants of the president’s newly-registered political party, the National People’s Party (NPP), at the coastal village of Gunjur over the weekend.

Since March when Coronavirus was first detected, the Gambia has been in a state of emergence with its attendant lockdown which was prompted by executive orders that banned public gatherings and the ban was repeatedly extended on June 10 and again last week.

The NPP militants have been accused of holding political meetings which have been described as rallies in many villages and towns across the country in contravention of COVID 19 emergence regulations ahead of Gambia’s 2021 presidential elections.

“The NPP and its leadership have undermined the good work Gambia’s health department is doing in the fight against Covid 19. By organizing the meetings, Barrow and his party have shown no commitment to public health,” Mr. Fatty charged.

The GMC leader also reiterates the fact that he feels sorry for Gambian health workers and law enforcement agents whose good works have been ridiculed by NPP and its supporters.

“The NPP should not be taken seriously as far as COVID 19 regulations are concerned. This is very serious. By organizing their meetings, they are sending the message to Gambians that they are not serious and that they do not give a damn to the presidential orders,” Fatty remarked.

He also wondered why some Gambian Imams and religious leaders were arrested and charged for leading congregational prayers during Fridays in violations of Barrow’s executive orders and at the same time no NPP militant(s) have so far been arrested or charged for breaking the same law.

“Nobody should be serious about the COVID 19 laws,” Fatty said since President Barrow and his party supporters openly break the laws made by their leader himself.

Meanwhile, no sooner the GMC leader finished with his scathing criticisms against Barrow and his NPP, when Ebrima Sorrie Bah, one of the leading NPP militants quickly tried to counter the claims.

He argued that they never organized any political rally as charged and that they did not break any law. He said what they had in Gunjur Town on Saturday was only “a compound meeting” held in recognition of the adoption of one of NPP’s mother, Mama  Kaddy Bajo of Gunjur.

Mr. Bah who called himself NPP militant working to ensure the reelection of Barrow in 2021 Presidential election and the one following that in 2021, instead hit back at the GMC leader, saying it was in fact Fatty who broke the laws or COVID 19 regulations and not NPP Supporters.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/ANK/GABON2020

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