GMC leader and former Interior Minister Mai Fatty took a trip down memory lane in a post detailing his arrest and subsequent jailing in his teen years for defending national interest. The GMC leader said he stood up for this country when it was not fashionable and extremely dangerous to do so.
He wrote Monday: “Throughout my entire life, since school days, I committed myself to public welfare. I was sent to jail in my teen years during school hours and in uniform, direct from the classroom for defending the national interests. I was tortured and marginalised at the prime of my youth, long before 99% of existing political parties and their leaders thought of public affairs. During my active days in practice as a Lawyer, most of the cases I defended were in the public interests for little or no pay. I survived an assassination attempt on my life during the dictatorship on account of asserting the right to human dignity and for the same reason, I flee into exile, leaving everyone and everything dear to me here at home.
“In exile, I remained on the vanguard to free this Nation and led a formidable leading role in the return to democracy in December 2016. By Allah’s Grace, and with the support of a committed Team, national security was forcefully established and stabilised at one of the most volatile periods of the transition. I performed my obligations as Interior Minister to the people to help secure, protect lives and property, while enforcing the rule of law to assure peace and stability throughout the country.
“I stood up when it was not fashionable and perilous to do so. I am in this fight not for personal glory or economic gains but as evidenced by my life history, for the people. I sacrificed everything and served the people of this country all my life and will continue to do so. In the entire process, I maintain with pride that I am ready and willing to be subjected to extensive public accountability with regards to management of public funds. I may have made some policy decisions with the best of intentions and faltered in some of those, but I am a Leader with proven integrity in public office. The Gambia is my Constituency and each Gambian matters. Without you, there is no me. My goal is to bequeath a transformed Gambia to our children, radically different from what we inherited. Its possible. Its doable.”
