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Momodou
Denmark
11742 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Jun 2011 : 19:38:15
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UDP: Mayor Colley’s comments ‘unfounded’
By Sainey M.K. Marenah
Thursday, June 23, 2011
 Picture: Shyngle Nyassi
The National Organising Secretary of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has described as “unfounded” and “baseless”, comments by Yankuba Colley, who is the National Mobiliser of the ruling APRC, that Gambians have abandoned the opposition.
“Yankuba Colley should immediately resign as national mobiliser of the APRC, because even the party has lost confidence in him,” Nyassi, a long time critic of the APRC regime, said in an interview with this paper yesterday.
According to him, Colley should resign in the interest of the APRC party and of the Gambian people because, as he put it, the APRC has left him behind and formed a task-force committee ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections.
“In fact, it is because of his inefficiency that the APRC formed a so-called task-force committee to make sure that the party wins the next presidential elections,” Nyassi declared.
Nyassi said he read with surprise the comments made by Yankuba Colley that Gambians have abandoned the opposition in this country.
“These comments are baseless and unfounded,” he said, adding that instead of the opposition, it is the APRC that Gambians have abandoned.
The UDP strongman further told this reporter that, despite having Colley as a national mobiliser, the ruling APRC is still not comfortable with Colley and are now using regional governors, chiefs and the task-force committee.
In his view, the APRC has no structures on the ground across the country, as the party only uses regional offices during its tours.
“The APRC is a scattered party, and that is why they don’t depend on their area chairmen and committees, but instead, they use government machinery. And, surprisingly enough it is a fact that regional governors are leading campaigns in their regions,” he told this reporter.
Nyassi added that as far as the UDP is concerned, they have good structures and that is why the party was able to conduct the general voter registration all over the country.
“We cannot do that if we don’t have structures in place. So such propaganda will not move us.
“As I am speaking to you, we are planning to open a political bureau in KMC, and our regional bureaus in Basse, Bansang and Soma are all operating and functioning,” Nyassi also a former propaganda secretary of the UDP added.
He further stated that a party without structures will not convene a congress, which he said the UDP did at Jarra Soma in the Lower River Region. He noted that even in KMC, the UDP has divisional coordinating committees that are functional.
Commenting on the just-concluded voter registration exercise, Nyassi said they were initially hoping that the registration will be well organized and go as planned, but to their surprise they saw what was unbelievable.
“The IEC told us at a press conference that there was going to be 200 registration centers all over the country, but to our surprise the Chairman of the Commission opened a new registration centre at State House in the last days of the exercise,” he said.
He stated that the exercise “lacks credibility” because “the IEC has spoilt everything.”
“We don’t have trust in them anymore, because the IEC Chairman created a new registration centre without notifying other political parties and stakeholders. This thing has never happened in this country, and it is really unbelievable,” Nyassi asserted.
Nyassi revealed that his party is currently busy preparing ahead of the presidential polls, drawing its action plan for the presidential election, noting that the outcome of the general voter registration exercise will tell whether the IEC can conduct free and fair elections.
He commended his party loyalists for a job well done during the voter registration exercise.
Source: The Point
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2011 : 20:36:24
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APRC task-force chairman hits back at Shyngle Nyassi
"Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The chairman of the newly-created Task-force Committee of the ruling APRC party, ahead of the 24th November presidential polls, has reacted to comments made recently by Shyngle Nyassi, National Organising Secretary of the opposition UDP.
Nyassi told this reporter that the ruling APRC has lost confidence in its National Mobiliser, KMC Mayor Yankuba Colley, and as a result formed a task-force committee to mobilize support for President Yahya Jammeh.
Jerreh Jatta, who called our office and requested for an interview to react to Nyassi’s comments, said yesterday that the task-force committee was formed to further strengthen the APRC party’s mobilization, and that all the activities of the committee have been done with the support of the National Mobiliser.
“We receive directives from the National Mobiliser on what to do, because he is part and parcel of those that give directives on our plans and objectives.
“This is just propaganda. We are in consultation with Colley, and he is directing us on all our plans. Even our activities are endorsed by him and the party’s high command,” Jatta told this reporter.
According to him, the aim of the task-force committee is to increase the winning percentage of the APRC party, come 24th November.
He said the idea of setting up the task force committee was conceived by party militants and the National Mobilzer as part of strategies in re-electing President Jammeh with at least 90-98% of the votes cast in the forthcoming elections.
“We organise activities through civic education, and sensitise people about the forthcoming elections and the importance of voter registration, because this is all about politics,” Jatta added.
A strong stalwart of the APRC, Jatta noted that one cannot win elections without voters voting.
He also stated that the task force committee is purely APRC and works closely with the National Mobiliser, whose advice and blessings, he said, led to the setting up of the task -force committee.
He noted that since its formation in April, the committee has embarked on activities including sensitization in the Kombos.
In Jatta’s view, incumbent President Jammeh has already won the forthcoming presidential elections. He stated that the task force is just there to increase his winning percentage.
“He won by 67% last election, but we want him to win this time around with 90-98%. We are out to increase the percentage,” he added.
On whether the opposition camp in the country poses any threat to President Jammeh, Jatta said the opposition is not the question, even if they come together to form an alliance.
“Gambians have witnessed massive transformation, both economically and infrastructure-wise under President Jammeh, who has delivered beyond expectations,” he further stated.
For him, the APRC has no competitors in the political field as there is no credible opposition in the country.
Author: Sainey MK Marenah
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Edited by - kobo on 28 Jun 2011 20:39:04 |
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