Deputy Party Spokesperson of the APRC, Dodou Jah has said that President Adama Barrow’s NPP is enticing Gambians with money in a desperate move to get supporters for the coming 2021 presidential elections. Mr. Jah was speaking to forGambia Radio in an exclusive interview Sunday, August 23rd 2020.

“To me, it’s a joke that Barrow can win 75% of votes [in 2021 elections]. I suspect that they are up to something. This is the third time they’re saying it. Seedy Njie has said that Barrow will win about 70%. One of the former UDP chairpersons in the North Bank, after he resigned and went to Barrow has also said that Barrow will win 75%.”

“I think this is the third time they are saying this. Do they have a plan that they want to devise so that tomorrow if the 75% comes out, they would say we’ve been saying it for long. Because in reality, even the coalition was seven political parties that came together with independent candidates and those couldn’t get 75% then.”

 “They had about 43%. So, what guarantee does NPP have to be able to say that a single party would get 75%. And presently, the number of parties has increased and we are expecting more. And each party that contests would get people from other parties. That is something quite unavoidable.”

“So, this 75%, I feel it’s a dream and again, people need to watch them out. Are they planning to rig elections again? Because rigging elections starts like this: having a targeted percentage, you know, putting it in the minds of people.”

“It’s a mind game for everyone to keep hearing it. Tomorrow if they come out with it, they would say tis is what we’ve said. What I’m saying is that NPP wouldn’t have any possibility of securing even 15% of the votes in this country, talk less of 75%.”

Responding to underground campaigning and clandestine ID card securing, Jah stated, “At the moment, NPP doesn’t respect the laws of the land. They don’t care about the current laws of the country because again and again, we have seen that they are breaking the rules every time.”

“They are having meetings and public gatherings that are political…from Foni, Kombo South…you know, in Bakau, Banjul…and Farafenni too of late, it’s happening there. So, what type of party are they building…a party that has no regard for the laws of the land but keeps doing what it pleases to do?”

“And this also shows that they are very desperate to get people to their party. The support base they are claiming for Barrow is not true. If at all that’s true, then they shouldn’t take all these troubles they are taking.”

“They would have waited for the people to come out and express their support for them and build what they need to build for everybody to see. But it is going the other way round. They are the ones following people in every corner, breaking every rule in order to get people.”

“And they are trying to entice people with money, telling them that what they plan to spend is a lot of money and Barrow is ready to build the country. Why didn’t he do that [build the country] for the past three years, but rather waits till NPP stands as a political party for him to build the country? I believe that Gambians shouldn’t allow themselves to be fooled,” Jah added.

This can be corroborated by last year’s fracas between Imam Ba Kawsu Fofana and President Barrow’s Dou Sanno where Sanno was telling a group of people in Dippa Kunda that he was in possession of a bag of money that not even fresh air has touched yet.

Sanno announced to the country’s poor that such money would only be ready after barrow had formed his own political party. Later, the NPP was formed and the voter buying continues to date. Much later, we published a story where Barrow was using Health Minister, Dr. Samateh to pay Sukuta youths to line up the streets of Foni to cheer Barrow. Sukuta is about 90km away from Foni, especially Bwiam.

Jah continues, “And the notion that they’re bringing people that aren’t even Gambians, giving them ID cards, this is against the laws of the land. And I think the security [authorities] need to monitor this very well and all Gambians should be vigilant about this.”

He concluded that, “This is not about politics as far as I’m concerned. It’s about those that were born in this country, but being denied those ID cards that are being issued to those born outside and that is an insult to the citizens of this country. So, it’s a responsibility on all of us to stand up and see to it that we put a stop to it.”