By: Momodou Justice Darboe
Retired international civil servant and a top official of the UDP Lamin Manneh has maintained that President Adama Barrow must be alive to the torment of the grave for attempting to besmirch Lawyer Ousainou Darboe’s reputation.
It would be recalled that the Gambian leader told a political gathering a little over a month ago that the UDP leader despatched a messenger to him to plead with him so that he would not discontinue the transaction over the land requests that his [Darboe] daughter and wife made.
Mr. Barrow said the UDP leader, through his courier, had asked him not to cancel the requests even though he was out of government. The President said he had to instruct former lands minister Musa Drammeh to ensure that Darboe’s daughter and wife get land.
However, UDP’s Lamin Manneh told King FM’s Essa Mballowon Tuesday morning that Mr. Barrow was not speaking the truth.
“Considering Ousainou’s integrity and other good qualities, do you think he will send somebody to Barrow to tell him that let him not discontinue the application process for the land requests made by his wife and daughter? It never happened. Barrow was just saying what he liked to say. That never happened,” asserted Manneh. He went on: “Ousainou has dismissed this [Barrow’s allegation] and we all know Ousainou’s character. He will never do that. Considering Ousainou’s pride and uprightness, he would never entertain such. Barrow came out just to soil his name but he should be aware that whatever he utters against anybody in this world, he will be interrogated for his utterances on the Day of Judgment. He should worry about his grave. Ousainou never sent anyone to this man. We asked Darboe about it but he denied it.”
When moderator Mballow put it to him that UDP believed in Darboe more than Barrow because he is the party’s leader, Manneh replied: “Yes, because Barrow had said many things that were not true but Ousainou never lied to us. If he [Darboe] strays, we will tell him the truth.”