07/06/2025
The Truth! Lack of political will for accountability and politics of deception are the biggest threats to peace and stability in the country!
Gambians are very peaceful and love their country. This was manifested during the 3 Years Jotna demonstrations, which went peaceful on the 16 of December 2019, in fact it was the largest gathering of peaceful protesters in the history of our country witnessing high level of professionalism and conduct throughout the march. However, after being lawfully granted a permit for the second protest on the 19 of January 2020, it was yourself, Mr. President, who authorized the police to crackdown on the peaceful gathering before the protest even starts and you did confirm this in one of your meetings. So, where is your respect for the rule of law you preaching? To further debunk your misinformation and misleading statement, on the 10 March 2023, the UDP Youth Wing called for action against corruption in a form of demonstration, that day, our surveillance team caught more than 6 security officers in plain clothes pretending to be protesters whilst trying to infiltrate and instigate violence by holding banner and chanting offensive words to irritate the crowd's emotions. You can ask the high command of the police who were on the ground that day. I handed all of them to the high command, and they were warned and sent away from the place. Thus, you can't hide behind misinformation and disinformation to tanish the good image of citizens.
Coalition of Progressive Gambians Anti-Corruption Demonstration, University Students Protest against Judicial Officers Remuneration Bill and recent GALA demonstration against your government's looting of the same assets you ought to protect - all these protests went very peacefully. Thus, what destabilization are you warningagaisnt? This country is only destabilized by corruption and bad governance. As a result of these menaces, the country lost more than 77 babies and also 10 million dollars from the malaria control funds. How many people could have died as a result of it?
"Zero tolerance" should not be just a statement but a commitment to action. This requires thorough investigations into allegations of corruption, even when they are not immediately clear. But is this not a shame as the same man who publicly cast doubts on the credibility of National Audits because their office continues to highlight corruption in your government? This is why I said a zero tolerance approach to corruption is beyond mere rhetoric. There must be concrete actions. This means actively investigating and addressing corruption, holding individuals and institutions, including the office of the president accountable, and ensuring that investigations and prosecutions are transparent and fair. Furthermore, a government that will have zero tolerance for corruption is not a government whose leader is even more corrupt. To have a holistic approach towards corruption, we should consider systemic factors that contribute to corruption, such as weak governance, lack of transparency, and inadequate oversight which are the exact characteristics of the NPP's Barrow led government.
Let me remind you that corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. That makes me think of Barrow's deliberate depriving Gambians of the Fajara state property for his personal gain. Bribery and fraud are considered corrupt practices. Do you think we forgot about the diplomatic passport scandal, the burning of the Fisheries Ministry, the scandalous Banjul rehabilitation project, NPP muliti million Dollar bureaus and your Mankamang k***a gift house.
No exception, but the Office of the President was accused of embezzlement of D669 million by the National Audit Report but, to date, no investigation, arrest or prosecution. The same president, who is saying there will be no exemption in his zero tolerance for corruption, presented the Janneh Commission Amendment Bill, just to exempt two individuals from the Janneh Commision recommendations for the unlawful withdrawals and squandering millions of taxpayers money. Their exemption was only aimed to persuade them from the opposition to the ruling National People Party. The Executive Director of NDMA is also exempted from being sent to an administrative leave for corruption allegations where over D100 million was unaccounted for, plus 300 bags of sugar from the Covid food distributions.
Conclusively, the first national security to address is corruption. Yes, because corruption is definitely destabilize a country. Corruption seriously undermines public trust, weakens institutions, and has lead to economic hardship. These are the current status qoa of our country under your leadership.
Hagi Suwaneh
