Mr. Kandeh, (who is under the shade of GDC), presented his nomination credentials to wait for review by the IEC under the leadership of Alieu Momar Njie.
Mr. Kandeh refuted allegations that he was put up by former President Jammeh, saying that if he was put up by Jammeh in 2016, it wouldn’t have been the way it is now.
“We are going to fight corruption to the latter. There are many ways to fight corruption. Since this current administration came into power, we had not heard of anybody being tried or dismissed from his or her position because of corruption, and we know that corruption is rampant in this country.”
“So, my message is not only for Gambians, but to my colleagues, my political party leaders and candidates! My message has always been peace and everybody can attest to that. Without peace we cannot achieve our goals. So, I hope every Gambian, all political parties would want to maintain the peace and tranquility that the Gambia is known for,” he said.
He said if he wins, he would first reunite Gambians. “We are so divided. We cannot develop this country without unity, and a GDC government will try and do anything possible to bring Gambians together; and whoever becomes the president in this country, if you are not making any effort to reunite Gambians, you will realise no development.”
“The second thing is the health sector. We have seen the situation in our health sector and I think this is a priority; education and agriculture.”
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay of Citizens Alliance (CA) was
the third candidate to storm the Election House to submit his documents to the electoral authorities.
He told the press: “Today marks the beginning of a very wonderful country. The 2021 election is about the next generation. It is about the future. It is about the lives and livelihood of children yet unborn and that is why we at CA, we are not only concerned with finding solutions to these complex problems, but also obliged to understand future problems as they emerge by looking at trends.”
“You will agree with me that the current demography of this country, population would reach 5 million people in 25 years time within a generation. Now if today, we have a country of 2.5 million people and we can barely provide water for this 2.5 million people, we can barely afford to provide electricity for this 2.5 million people, we don’t have food for this 2.5 million people, not enough hospitals or hospital beds or medicines for this 2.5 million people, not enough jobs for our young people for this 2.5 million people, what will happen to this country if we are 5 million people where 70% will be young people needing jobs, wanting to live a dignified life…?” He argued with rhetorical questions.
Momodou Bah, an independent candidate was the fourth candidate to present his papers. He disclosed that he would fight corruption and ensure that there are concrete administrative reforms.
However, one thing he said which many considered controversial is that he would build a wall between Gambia and Senegal if he becomes the president.
Mamadi K.S. Camara, was the first to enter the Election House for nomination as an independent candidate.
A Canadian trained teacher, who taught for some time at Crab Island Technical School, said:
“I want justice to prevail in this country.” However, the press had tried to intervene by asking questions for a more detailed explanation on what he meant by justice to prevail, he demur and just stuck to the fact that he wanted justice to prevail in this country.
