Darboe heeded to pressure and called it quits after his eligibility as the Vice President was questioned by a member of the union.
In a WhatsApp message sent to all the members via the GPU page Mr. Darboe, said “I have keenly followed the calls for my resignation as the Vice President of the Gambia Press Union,” he wrote and continued. “The truth is that those who said I am not eligible to serve as the vice president are right. And I know this months ago (sic).”
A member of the union Ousman Marong raised the issue and said by virtue of Clause G of the Constitution of the Gambia Press Union, Mustapha should resign.
Section G of the GPU Constitution states: “No proprietor or part owner or the managing director or managing editor of a media house shall be eligible for election to any position in the executive committee.”
This section according to some members of the union disqualified VP Darboe as he is known to be the proprietor and the managing editor of ‘Malagen’ an online news platform.
However, it is important to note that Mr. Darboe at the time of seeking the position of the Vice President of the GPU during the elections in 2018 was neither a proprietor nor a managing editor of any medium.
He therefore argued that he broke no law at the time of the elections saying “for a number of my friends, the clause that is being referred to by those who are asking for my resignation is not correct since it is talking about eligibility to stand for an election.”
“Then how about someone who later became a media owner 2 years later,” he argued.
He, however, honourably said: “Well, to settle this, we just have to look at the intent of the clause. The intent is to prevent a media owner being in the GPU executive since the Union is an association of workers.”
“So my resignation letter would be on the desk of the President and the Secretary General tomorrow afternoon, the outgoing GPU VP said.
I hope I had been of any use, at all, to any one of you, while I served you from 2018 to now,” he concluded.
Mustapha’s resignation according to many was an honourable act and a demonstration of his respect for rule and law.
Until his resignation on Sunday, Mustapha served as the Vice President of GPU after he was elected in 2018 alongside Sheriff Bojang Jr.
