The
minister of the Interior has assured that members of Operation 3 Years Jotna
will be issued a permit to protest in December, saying that the country is a
democratic state.
“Surely,
a permit will be issued to them. This is a democratic government and that if
people want to go on peaceful protest; we will surely allow them to go on the
peaceful protest. What I have seen is that they are not people that will create
problem in the country. They appear to be very peaceful and all what they are
talking about is making peace, and that their protest is going to be peaceful
and they will be responsible in their protest,” Yankuba Sonko said.
The
3 Years Jotna is a movement that is calling on President Barrow to respect the
2016 Coalition Agreement by resigning at the end of his three years.
However,
the Interior Minister Sonko who was speaking to the Fatou Network shortly after
his meeting with members of 3 Years Jotna at his office last week said: “The
issue of the three years has been going on and there was no dialogue between
them. There’s an individual who is mediating between the government and the 3
Years Jotna people so that’s why we are having the meeting.”
Minister
Sonko described the meeting as ‘very successful,’ saying they discussed lots of
issues concerning the December protest. “Therefore, as minister responsible for
internal security, the issue of the protest is my concern and we have to deal
with it. They have applied for the permit and the permit is under
consideration.”
“There
are certain issues that we think are important for members of 3 Years Jotna to
highlight,” he said, adding that it ranges from the starting and end point of
the protest.
On
the issue of the water cannons, he said, it’s not meant for 3 Years Jotna.
“Since I was IGP, there were series of plan to get all these equipment. These
are equipment that we were struggling to get since 2010. I can tell you that it
has nothing to do with the planned protest.”
Haji
Sawaneh, the spokesperson of 3 Years Jotna said the discussion centred mainly
on the issue of the permit. “We had series of meetings with the IGP, so today he
decided to call his other colleagues so that we could discuss the issue of the
permit. I am confident that the permit will be given to us.
“It
is our right to protest and the police can’t deny us that right,” he said.
President
Adama Barrow, he went on, should resign and go back to his business as he
stated earlier, knowing that people have lost confidence in him.
“So
I believe if Adama Barrow respects his integrity, he should go.”