Mr.
President, the ECOWAS Summit of Heads of State ended yesterday in Abuja. It’s
very important that the 15 member states including Mauritania which is not a
member of ECOWAS to work together to fight terrorism in West Africa.
Hundreds
of people comprising soldiers and civilians have been killed these past years
in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso as a result of terrorism.
The
ECOWAS community should work on finding a lasting solution to stop killings by
the armed jihadists and eradicate terrorism in the region forever.
The
International community should also equip its security personnel to make sure
that the jihadists, who are also very armed, are removed from the region. The
ECOWAS member countries should also fight against drug trafficking, money
laundering and counterfeiting.
More
vigilance is needed to control our borders in terms of security, as drug
trafficking and counterfeit in the CFA currency are on the rise.
Mr.
President by next year, ECOWAS may start using the new common currency Eco. It
is important that ECOWAS citizens are educated in both their official and local
languages on how the money can be used and the exchange rates against other
foreign currencies.
Mr.
President, coming back to home affairs, last week we saw thousands of Gambians
out in the streets protesting for your resignation from office after the three
years you promised to stay during your campaign period.
The
climax of this 3 Years Jotna has been reached and it’s very important that you
open up for dialogue with this pressure group to avoid setting the country on
fire.
Mr.
President, it’s your responsibility as the president to invite politicians, 3
Years Jotna group, religious leaders, human rights activists and journalists to
engage in this dialogue before 20 January 2020.
The
3 Years Jotna protesters have promised to stage another protest on the 20th
January with or without permit.
We
should not allow any disturbance in this country as it won’t be good for our
economy and we can’t determine how long it will take to stabilise the country
once the trouble starts.
Mr.
President, we commend the 3 Years Jotna and the security personnel for a
peaceful protest on 16 December, 2019, but it’s important that the protesters
also know that in the interest of peace, we must all respect and uphold the
constitution which states that a president is elected for 5 years. It is
treasonable to force out of power a democratically elected government.
Finally
Mr. President, we await your new year’s message to the nation, where we expect
you to use the opportunity to address the nation on this 3 Years Jotna issue
once and for all.
Mr.
President, once again call for national dialogue and dialogue with your people.
Merry
Christmas to you, your family, members of your government and all people living
in The Gambia.
Good
day!
