Opposition Promised Equal Access to Public Media Daily Observer (Banjul) February 16, 2001 Posted to the web February 16, 2001 Banjul The Tourism secretary and APRC national mobiliser, Yankuba Touray, has said that opposition parties would be given equal access to the public media in the next presidential and National Assembly elections in accordance with the provisions of the Independent Electoral Commission. He however accused the opposition of abusing the access they had to the public media in the last elections, contrary to the 1996 election code of conduct. SoS Touray argued that although "some parties did try to present their programmes and manifestoes to the public accordingly, but some resorted to insults using all sorts of abusive language, which were not in conformity with our tradition and ran contrary to electoral laws instituted by the IEC." He said punitive measures should be instituted against any party that violates the procedures guiding access to the public media in the next elections. By-elections The APRC national mobiliser also refuted claims that the ruling party is unable to put up candidates for the Baddibu Central and Kiang East constituencies in the pending March 31 by-elections. He said the APRC had received applications for both seats but that the party's executive committee would soon meet to select candidates. "In the final analysis, we will come up with candidates as provided by the constitution and related laws. We shall never breach our own laws," he noted. SoS Touray added that "after intensive consultations with people of both constituencies, I am more than confident that the Kiang East seat will be captured by us. But as I said some time ago, the race for the Central Baddibu Central seat will be a tug of war between the APRC and the UDP." However, he said the APRC will put up a candidate who will win the seat. Toyota vehicles Reacting to the call by the minority leader, Kemeseng Jammeh, for President Jammeh to disclose the source of the 10 Toyota pick-ups he recently donated to various APRC wings, SoS Touray said Kemeseng should realise that there is a difference between the government and the APRC as a party. "The APRC is a political institution which could raise its own funds through national and international activities. The APRC has never been supported by the government. The president himself, who is leader of the party, is aware of these facts," he said. All the sponsorship and support given to the public by President Jammeh, according to SoS Touray, were offshoots of the APRC's fundraising activities since its inception in 1996. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------