By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
In spite of being notified that Lamin Kaba Bajo, the incumbent and the Gambia Football Federation Presidential Candidate for Team Kaba will not be available for the proposed presidential debate, the Commission on Political Debate (CPD) is still positive that Lamin Kaba Bajo will honour the August 13 GFF Presidential debate request.
Speaking to The Fatu Network, the programme manager of CPD, Muctar Jallow, said that the commission is still optimistic that the GFF President Lamin Kaba Bajo will show up for the debate despite the rejection from the incumbent GFF president to debate with opponent Sadibou Kamaso. However, he said that his non-participation will not discontinue the debate preparation.
“We are still optimistic that Mr. Bajo and his team will reconsider their position. We remain optimistic”.
According to Mr. Jallow, notification of unavailability from Kaba Bajo’s team is a setback but has not affected anything about the debate.
“It is a setback but that will not affect anything we wanted this debate to be. We do not build expectations around candidates’ participation in our debates”, Jallow told The Fatu Network.
Lamin Kaba Bajo’s former ally and now running mate, Sadibou Kamaso, has since accepted to go on the podium for the debate. According to team Kaba, they have a line-up of the campaign schedule which didn’t include this debate.
The incumbent Lamin kaba Bajo, last month told the Fatu Network that he is ready for a debate with Kamaso. He told this medium that he has much to say compared to Sadibou Kamaso, noting that he has been at the helm of affairs for eight years. However, he said that he will only honour debate requests that will help in winning the election and not just any debate.
The proposed debate, according to Muctar Jallow, is the perfect campaign platform for Lamin Kaba Bajo.
Jallow further told the Fatu Network that the debate will still go on with or without Lamin Kaba Bajo’s appearance.
The GFF Presidential debate is scheduled to take place on the 13th of August. Lamin Kaba Bajo will be battling it out with Sadibou Kamaso for the top office at the football house.
