Kingship Dominates UDP Political Rally in Kiang

 
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The issue of kinship has become a political football, the opposition seems to be taking advantage of inorder to score their political goals as the race for the State House gets nearer. 
Some supporters of the ruling-APRC led by traditional chiefs last year began rallying support to crown President Yahya Jammeh as king, but faced growing disapproval both locally and internationally.   
As if the earlier criticisms are not enough, opposition-UDP four-day political rally held in Kiang witnessed strong condemnations against crowning President Jammeh, as speaker upon speaker called on the people to vote-out the incumbent regime.  
“Gambians should stand-up and fight against this kingship,” Mr. Shyngle Nyassi, campaign manager of UDP told the gathering on Friday in Sandeng village. “The paramount chief Demba Sanyang together with 22 chiefs [last year] toured the whole the country telling people that elections promotes violence and that we should vote for Yahya Jammeh to be a king”. 
Describing the upcoming election as historic, for his part, Hon. Momodou LK Sanneh said that The Gambia will remain a multi party democracy, urging Gambians to vote-out the current regime inorder to stall the regime‘s self-perpetuating efforts. 
Other issues harped on during the rally included the skyrocketing of prices of commodities, deteriorating economic and human rights conditions and the need for people to register and vote to avoid the worrying voter apathy that charaterised previous elections. 
Also the regime that promised a lot in terms of transparency when it ascended to power came under attack by various speakers for its lack of transparency and accountability.   
“Presently there is imported rice in our country, but one thing that doubts me is that I used to hear people saying it is Yaya Jammeh rice,” Hon. Sanneh pointed-out. “I want Gambians to know that Yaya Jammeh never bought even a single grain of rice rather than a bag. This rice is donated to Gambians from the Japanese government”.
He told the voters not to be moved by president Jammeh’s threats that his government will not take any development project to kiang if the people fails to vote for him.
“President Jammeh never pulls out money from his own pocket, but rather the monies used to construct roads, schools and hospitals are tax payers’ money”,  he said. 
Fatoumata Jawara the female youth president of UDP harped on the high employment rate in The Gambia, which she said, is forcing young people to risk journeying through the high seas to Europe for greener pastures, but only end up ‘dying like a flies’. 
President Jammeh’s broken promises were also a subject of discussion throughout the four-day meeting. 
“[President] Yaya Jammeh has been telling us cock and bull story since he took power in 1994,” said Mr Shyngle Nyassi. “He promised that there will be a train that would transport people from Banjul to Basse, but we have not seen anything. And he also said that there is a petrol well in the Gambia but still now nobody has seen nothing”.
Imams too came under fire during the rally as alleged leaked reports indicated that Imams of Kiang have been allegedly told to campaign for the ruling party.      
“I would like to urge the Imams to respect and uphold to their responsibilities,” warned Shyngle Nyassi. “Let them not listen to those so-called Muslims”.

Author: Mamadou S Jallow

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