The leader of the United Democratic Party, Ousainou Darboe, has dismissed allegations that he and his party’s insistence on party line contest in the April election split the Coalition. Speaking on the campaign trail in Niumi, Darbo said such claims are false.
”It is absolutely false and unfounded. I have never been the cause for the split of the coalition. I am in fact the initiator of the united front,” Darboe said.
He disclosed that he is the one who started the process of forming the Coalition since November 2014 through a letter by which he invited all the opposition political parties to discuss. “And we agreed on many things including electoral reforms”.
Commenting further, Darboe said those who are going around misinforming the people are really doing so in order to get political or electoral benefit.
“I have my own decent way of trying to explain which things can work, so it is inappropriate for anyone to misinform the people about what is happening in the coalition camp,” he protested.
He added: “What I had proposed was that we would identify one area where a particular party has a stronghold and that party can put up a candidate in that particular area to be supported by all the other parties . That was all I said. I have done nothing wrong.”
Darboe further revealed that he will never do anything that will split the coalition. ”So it is wrong for those who go around spreading this information. Let them put forward their proposals and let them also put my proposal to the people and then leave it to the Gambian people to decide,” he concluded.
By Amadou Jadama, Standard Newspaper
