By: Hadram Hydara
Amid a fissure of division that has seen the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party split into two rival camps; one led by Yaya Tamba with former president Yahya Jammeh as the flagbearer, and the other led by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the spokesperson of the Fabakary-led APRC, Dodou Jah has said the only ever possible reunion of the rival factions can only be achieved by a telephone call from the founder of the party Yahya Jammeh.
Dodou was reacting to a question posed by host Sarjo Brito of The Fatu Network News Review programme about the possibility of reconciliation and working under a single umbrella to resuscitate the party to its heydays.
“What created the division is what can unify; that telephone call in Kanilai, that was what created the division. The same telephone call from the former President, His Excellency Yahya Jammeh is what can unify the party again.”
Speaking further, specifically on the APRC party’s challenges, the PRO would not be drawn too much into the party’s apparent decline and potential extinction as critics predict, saying he disagrees that their issues signal the beginning of the end of the party.
“I will not quite agree to that. APRC is well structured in this country and where ever you go, you find APRC; that it exists, it is alive and kicking. We might have challenges, we might have problems, but that should not spell the end of this party. My belief is APRC is still a force to be reckoned with.”
Since its split, the party has seen its members scatter in the Gambian political arena with the party membership increasingly dwindling as some key members cross-carpeted while others coalesced and landed jobs in the current Government.
