By Binta Jaiteh
Lawyer Assan Martin, a human rights activist proclaimed that President Barrow didn’t show any agenda to win Gambians’ hearts but was only desperate to win more seats in the Mayoral and chairmanship elections.
Responding to this medium in a brief post-election interview, he said this government mismanaged resources; it was truly displayed during the electoral campaign. He emphasised that the Government was desperate to win more seats and the only campaign policy they had is to use unaccountable funds which are government funds during the campaign process.
According to him, they were giving out unaccounted cash “We have seen that. They were not promoting any agenda they were using State resources to induce voters to do otherwise.”
He said the voters saw that “That is why some of us put a message that ‘whenever such things happens any desperate party or government giving out funds or State funds eat it and chose where to vote’ that was our mantra.”
Lawyer Martins said they believe in fair competition and “also believe that all political parties including independent candidates should compete on a level playing field. What we have seen in this current election is a desperate government that was out using state resources.” At the same time, the President was belittling the campaign taking himself to the lowest level of the campaign.
Looking at the local government elections, he said, “Nationwide the turnout was still low but people came to vote still, as per the results we found out that in the area of Greater Banjul, West Coast, and North Bank Regions which are very close to the urban areas, the opposition did well adding that down to the provinces the ruling part did well with their councilors.”
However, he said the government is still struggling when it comes to good governance “People are not happy because of the economic hardships.
and the measure-taking is not helping the average Gambian.
He added that the hike in the price of basic commodities and culture of corruption is prevailing and the government is not pulling up with the opposition to make sure that they impact the lives of the people.
He noted that the KMC is facing numerous challenges and they need urgent solutions to address the situation “We are just from elections, but I bet you in two week time the challenges will be addressed.”
Priorities were given to the market, affordable housing, and food safety, and also how to reorganize the streets. That is why I endorsed Talib I will act as a pressure bank to the mayor to help him address in sharing ideas to address the problems,” he stated.
He urged everyone to come together and work irrespective of their political affiliation.
Lawyer Martins congratulated all the people who participated in the elections and all Gambians as this was democracy, “we appeal to the IEC to improve their institutions and deal with some of the challenges, especially on the low voter turnout.”