President Barrow's adviser on strategic communications resigns over alliance with ex-President Jammeh party
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Fatou Jaw Manneh, adviser on strategic communications, development, and emerging social issues, has resigned in protest over an alliance between former President Yahya Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party and President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party (NPP) for the upcoming 4 December presidential election.
PANA reports that the alliance with the party President Barrow defeated in December 2016 with popular votes and described by 95 per cent of Gambians as ending dictatorship, was signed on Saturday.
Manneh's resignation letter made available to PANA here Tuesday stated: “I would instead support you on that trajectory and lose elections than you win elections with a formal alliance with a dictator on these fraudulent terms that not only undermine our quest for democracy but shows an outright abuse of power and your weak leadership.”
She added: “It also clearly demonstrates you have no authority and you are not in control. This deal does not only show the lack of will-to-power as a leader, but that your party has been hijacked under your nose, the march to democracy undermined, and votes at any cost might lead to a political grave.”
“Your decision to ally with the APRC has many implications for governance and integrity associated with my roles and functions. I can't entirely agree with the conceptual framework of the alliance, and it is my firm belief that this particular alliance undermines the integrity of your government and jeopardizes everything I stood for as a journalist, activist, politician, community worker, learner, and educator.
"Personally, I am not against some form of amnesty at a later date to Jammeh and his cohorts of abusers, in the name of peace and reconciliation, but this blanket amnesty on these terms are unimaginable and an insult to Gambians.
“From an ethical perspective, allying with APRC is a total miscalculation of our spirit of NEVER AGAIN and a direct insult to the victims of Jammeh’s 22 years rule of terror," Manneh said
She said she was excited at the opportunity accorded her and willing to help to usher in democracy for the new Gambia.
-0-PANA MSS/RA 7Sept2021
