Omar
Beyai, founder, chairman and secretary general of All Peoples’ Party (APP) – an
unregistered political party – has accused the government of Adama Barrow of
suppressing political parties.
Beyai,
who said he was a supporter and sympathiser of Yahya Jammeh’s APRC party, also
accused the seven-month-old government of failing to live up to its campaign
promise of holding electoral reforms.
Speaking
at a media briefing on Monday, Mr Beyai said the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) and the coalition government promised to look into reducing
the registration fee of political parties.
“But
the way things are going they are not favourable to any other political party
that may want to register,” he said.
“There is a political game that the government is trying to play to
suppress all political parties or incoming political parties that want to
register.”
The
APP chairman said it was the same electoral reforms that Solo Sandeng, the late
youth leader of United Democratic Party (UDP), was advocating for when he was
tortured and killed.
“Solo
Sandeng is not yet vindicated by the coalition government because they have not
met the requirements of what he was fighting for,” he said. “Solo Sandeng is not yet a hero because his
dreams are not yet achieved.”
Beyai
said the IEC as an independent body does not need to wait for government but it
can initiate the process by contacting the Ministry of Justice and the National
Assembly and work collaboratively to reduce the registration fee for new
political parties so that any political party that wants to register can do so.
“As
at now, I do not know how independent IEC is because if they cannot make
decisions on their own then I do not know where the independence lies,” he
said. “The Gambia has a long way to go
as nothing is happening at the moment.”
Besides,
Beyai also criticised the Barrow government for amending the upper age limit
for presidency saying priority should instead be given to amending “a lot of
important issues” such as the death penalty.
“Young
people are not sleeping and I am sure they will rally behind me as it is our
time to rule this country,” he said.
“Let our fathers relax and we the young people work and give them to
enjoy.”
The
APP chairman also criticised the agreement of electricity between NAWEC and the
Senegalese national power supplier, saying “The Gambia is an independent
country and have its foreign policies that it should not be compromised”.
“We
should not mortgage our country to satisfy any country,” he asserted. “The Gambia is being mortgaged by the present
government. Energy is development and,
to me, it was a big blunder to sign that agreement.”
Beyai
said instead of going into agreement for Senegal to supply rural Gambia with
electricity, the Barrow government should rather encourage solar panels in
order to serve all villages across the country.
He
advised the government to revise its energy policy, restructure the energy
ministry and withdraw from the agreement with Senegal as “the agreement is not
in favour of The Gambia and one day we will pay the price”.
“The
government is trying but the pace at which they are working is very slow, even
a chameleon is faster than the way this government is moving,” the
ex-sympathiser of the former ruling party said.
“Barrow
is not in control of the government because any question thrown at him he would
say he would consult with his coalition cabinet,” he said. “As a president, there are certain times when
you need to act because you are the risk owner of whatever happens in the
country.”
Continuing
with his barrage of criticism, the APP founder blamed the Barrow government for
neglecting the youth sector after voting them into office.
“Young
people are not represented in the cabinet neither are they represented in the
parliament,” he said. “And the rate of
unemployment among young people is very high. So what provision does the
government have for young people? At
least, there should have been a young minister or youthful minister without a
portfolio.”
Beyai
said Barrow tries to satisfy every member of the coalition team and “that is
seriously affecting him”.
“He
cannot satisfy everybody and he does not need to satisfy anybody,” he
said. “He needs to release some of the
ministers because they are under-performing and are making things worse for
him.”
The
APP secretary general claimed that Barrow is not in control of his government
because “ministers are doing whatever they feel like doing”.
“Some
of them [ministers] are even abusing their powers,” he said.
