#Headlines

GDC leader urges IEC not to “destabilise” the nation

Dec 27, 2022, 12:36 PM | Article By: Pa Modou Cham

Mamma Kandeh, the secretary general and party leader of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) has urged the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) not to “destabilise” the nation for what he described as an unfair process in the electoral cycle.

Speaking during the party’s congress in Jarra Soma on Saturday, Kandeh stated that “it was the IEC that wanted to destabilise the country in 2016 for announcing different results.” He added that they had complained about the last voter registration exercise before its closure because the process wasn’t in order.

He continued to address his supporters that the number of voters in a community cannot remain the same for 10 years citing migration as the main reason.

“That is the gap they used to bring Senegalese and register them to have access to our voter’s card. The other thing is that they were still registering some people secretly when the registration was closed.”

The Jimara politician urged the Senegalese to stop interfering in our country’s elections, saying that Gambians don’t involve themselves in Senegalese elections.

Dwelling on coups in Africa, he reiterated that GDC is not in support of coup d’état. He said he was a member of the Pan-African parliament and had advocated strongly for African countries to introduce a term limit to avoid coups.

“ECOWAS want to set Anti-Coup Unit but before that, they should know the root causes and put their houses in order. The unit is set up to defend their interest and nobody else.”

Speaking on Gambian matters, he explained that it is the people’s responsibility to defend the nation as corruption is rampant in the country, saying accountability and transparency should be the order of day. He added that the country’s security has been compromised and citizens feel unvalued.