By Kebba Ansu Manneh
The Chairman of the Coalition of Progressive Gambians has disclosed in an interview
The anticipated November 11 protest organized by the dissatisfied members of the Coalition of Progressive Gambians (CoPG) has postponed the plan to protest as earlier planned but not canceled.
In an interview with The Voice, the chairman of the movement Seedy Cham said they have reached an agreement with the government through negotiation after they devised ways to agree to the movement’s nine-point demands.
According to him, CoPG has agreed with the mediators for the Government to issue a joint press release with CoPG that will spell out ways and means to address the demands of the movement but clarified that no timeline has been agreed on when the government should release a press release to address their demands.
“It has been a very tough and tiring mediation between us (CoPG) and the stakeholders to come to a consensus to suspend our peaceful protest. Our last meeting was the 7th meeting we have with the stakeholders led by the Supreme Islamic Council, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Justice, SIS, and Peace Network and we have unanimously agreed that we will not cancel our peaceful protest but rather postponed it until further notice,” Chairman CoPG Seedy Cham disclosed to this medium.
He added: “However, we will proceed with our engagements facilitated by the mediators with the Ministry of Justice on the draft constitution and government failure to implement the TRRC recommendations. We will have a similar engagement with the Ministry of Trade on the issue of price hikes and sprawling commodities prices as part of the government’s willingness to address our demands.”
He however clarified that no timeline has been established as to when their engagements with Minister Justice and Minister of Trade as both are out of the country, arguing that the Movement has succeeded in putting pressure on the government to take action in response to their demands.
“The fact that no timeline has been set for our engagements with the Minister of Justice, Minister of Trade as well as when the joint press release will be issued is not a failure for our movement. At least, this is the first time a pressure group succeeded in putting pressure on the government to respond to its demand, that alone is a success for us.”
According to him, the Movement will show up in the streets if the government fails to abide by its own promises to meet the demands of their demands while reaffirming the movement’s stand to safeguard the interests of the citizens.