By Mustapha Jarju
The Gambian president, His Excellency Adama Barrow has said Gambians are happy about the controversial alliance between his National People’s Party and former ruling APRC party.
However, the alliance has been condemned by the victims of former President Yahya Jammeh and opposition politicians plus civil society organisation, who described the alliance as a betrayal to justice for victims of human rights violations.
Speaking at a rally in Farafenni, President Barrow said: “the alliance between NPP and APRC is in the supreme interest of reconciliation in this country. It is in the interest of National Security. It will bring peace to this country.”
“So APRC, you are welcome and we have joined your experience, PPP’s experience and NPP’s experience to take this country forward. I am telling the people of APRC that I am not the only one who was happy about our coalition.
“The whole country is happy about it; our coalition with APRC is history in the whole world. The first ruling party in this country is the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), the second ruling party in the Gambia is the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), the third ruling party in The Gambia is the National People’s Party (NPP), President Barrow’s party. So, if the first republic, the second republic and the third republic come together, that is peace for the Gambia. That never happened anywhere in the world, but only in the Gambia,” he added.
The tour, which is endorsed by Section 222 [15] of the 1997 Constitution began on 13th September and is scheduled to end on 30th September.
During the meeting, the President is expected to hold 20 meetings across the country and visit project sites.
During the meeting, the members also discussed the recently announced alliance between the National People’s Party (NPP) led by President Adama Barrow, and the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) led by former President Yahya AJJ Jammeh. Ordinarily, an alliance or merger between political parties is a normal occurrence in politics, deserving no special attention.