IEC accused again
Minority leader revisits voters’ card controversy
Kemeseng Jammeh the minority leader in the National Assembly has accused the
chairman of the IEC, Gabriel Roberts of controversially issuing voters cards
to aliens during the registration of voters for the October 18 presidential
poll. Speaking to The Independent at his Tallinding residence recently,
Kemeseng Jammeh made particularly reference to Jarra where he said the
massive increase in the number of voters in Jarra led to electoral fraud,
which relates to the registration of voters.
Giving account for this dramatic change of the total number of votes cast in
Karantaba and Soma, Jammeh revealed that in the 1996 presidential election
459 people cast their votes in comparison to 1331 in the October
presidential poll, creating a difference of 872. In Soma he said there were
two polling stations in the 1996 election with a total of 1408 votes. He
observed that in the year 2001, it was divided into four polling centers
while total number of voters rose to 3,254. As to what led to the allegedly
massive electoral fraud, the minority leader disclosed that Soma is growing
into a developing town and most of the registered voters there were from
sub-regional countries like Senegal, Republic of Guinea, Mali and heavy
concentration of refugees who were fleeing crisis in Guinea Bissau.
He confirmed that in the past they had never participated in the electoral
process, but this time, he said, the process was facilitated for aliens in
Soma and surrounding areas to process valid Gambian IDs and voters cards.
“Who will pay residential permits now if all the aliens were given Gambian
documents,” he inquired. Hon. Jammeh revealed that the aliens were excited
by the prospect of benefiting from the inducement offered by the coordinator
of the APRC Youth Wing, Baba Jobe a native of Karantaba. He also revealed
that during the registration period their party agent at Soma, Fabakary
Kolior Camara was harassed and threatened, causing him to flee for his life.
Another agent, Rohey Sabally who was sent to Karantaba was assaulted and had
her finger fractured by one Buramanding Fofana in the presence of the
police, but no action was taken Hon Jammeh claimed. According to him the
matter was reported to the office of the IGP but no action was taken. He
noted that the absence of their agents from the center created the chance
for a massive electoral fraud to take place by registering all those aliens
who were rejected at Jenoi, Pakalinding and Toniataba at Karantaba.
At the revising court, he said they challenged the legality of about 400
people issued with voters cards. However, he said to their utter
disappointment, the judiciary performed very badly. He blamed Magistrate
Jawo who presided over the revising court in Mansakonko and described him as
inefficient and inexperienced and claimed that the magistrate “mishandled
everything and demonstrated his bias to such an extent that the (UDP)
petitioned the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice, but without success”.
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