By: Mariama Njie & Nyima Sillah
Gambia Moral Congress has ‘strongly condemned’ President Adama Barrow’s recent crowd gathering as he laid down foundation stones for several projects amid coronavirus pandemic.
“People including respectable elders have been paraded in courts alleged for breaking Covid-19 regulations and asked to pay sums in lieu of jail terms for violating the health regulations for dangerous and infectious disease. But Unfortunately, President Adama Barrow being the president of The Gambia responsible for defending all those health regulations mandated by the 1997 Constitution (Section 7) is the very one proud breaking them without any remorse,” GDC leader Mamma Kandeh said in a statement.
“It is ill-fated that President Barrow can put behind the numerous financial bailouts and expert advices the country have solicited both at home and international donors since March 2020 and would risk another possible wave of the corona virus due to his actions in gathering crowds without following health guidelines,” he added.
Kandeh said further in the statement that President Barrow should have been worried enough when his own Minister of Justice stated that they are breaking Covid-19 health regulations, “ but he [President Barrow] turned a blind eye and continued to put his political interest before the safety and security of the people of this country especially those in provincial area.”
He went on in his statement that the Barrow administration will have no legitimacy to further caution or punish anybody for violating Covid-19 regulations, which they do not adhere to as a government.
“It is high time for Gambians to realize that President Barrow do not respect the laws of The Gambia and live by violating his own rules, therefore cannot deliver justice to the people,” he noted.
“GDC takes this opportunity to remind the Inspector General of police that no one is above the law and respect for the law is a duty of citizens, moreover, rule for one should be rule for all.”
He therefore urged the police to stop all public gatherings that fail to heed to the current health Regulations, because It is the duty of the police to enforce the laws and police must do.