Lead Counsel Faal who was speaking in an interview described this accusation as false and “foolish”.
“The accusation from Dou Sanno, is a foolish accusation and I just want to leave it at that. President Barrow is the president of all Gambians including me and I will always respect everybody and treat them with the dignity that they deserve,” he further responded.
According to Mr. Faal, he did not snub Mr. Barrow to work with any opposition, underlining that they had been publicly asked for donation for needy people. He made it clear that he (Faal) will embrace any donation from both the Gambian leader and any private citizen to help needy Gambians.
“I do not snub President Barrow. We have been publicly asked for donation and if people think; be it President Barrow or private sector that wants to donate, they can donate. It’s their choice.”
He further stated that he was not doing the food aid distribution for politics but a charity work to help the needy.
“I am not in this for any politics. We are doing a charity work and it’s left at that and is purely charity. I am in for this work because me being there, I know it will motivate a lot of people to want to participate and help.”
He went on to advise people to understand that there is freedom of expression in the country, and that people can go out and state their opinions. “To go there and blatantly lie against a person is not only dishonest but it is too low as well,” he said.
Asked about the APRC man that rejected his food aid and allegedly insulted, Essa Faal said that he would not respond to “a foolish ranting of someone who is craving for attention.”
“I will not sit here and dignify the foolish ranting of somebody who is craving for attention. We have entered in more than 815 homes and assessed them as vulnerable people that needed food and we gave it to them.”
“Of those households we have entered, over 250 homes belonged to pure Jolas, and those I have seen, over 50 wore APRC symbols; either T-shirt or wraparound with Jammeh or APRC boldly printed on it,” he said
“If there were one, two or three people rejecting what we had to offer because they are diehard APRC supporters, we do not mind, even if they infringed, it will not bother me.”
He, however, made it clear that there was no ulterior motive in the charity work that he embarked upon.
“There cannot be any ulterior motive that is worth any sacrifice we are making. We wake up in the morning from 9 a.m. and do not come back home until mid-night for most of the times.”
“We go for real hard labour to do what we are doing. I could have given a hefty donation and sit there. I have spent a lot of my own money doing my own things, which was my own charity; which no one knows about it before.”
According to Mr. Faal, he spent hundreds of thousands of dalasis from his own resources to help many people and never had any ulterior motive.
“I am out in the public doing a work that is not my own work. This donation we are doing belongs to a group which I am just coordinating.”
“This is not Essa Faal’s work but a work of a group of people from both the U.S., Europe and within the local sector which I am only coordinating because they have trust and confidence in what we are doing.”
“To go there and blatantly lie against a person is not only dishonest but it is too low as well,” he said.
