Essa Faal insisted on Friday evening he doesn’t know of a country in the world developed by the least educated.
Mr Faal while formally announcing his plan to run for the December presidential election said it was time for Gambians who are educated enough to be leaders.
Mr Faal said: “Politics and leadership has for the longest time been the reserve for those who are not very successful in our society and let’s call a spade a spade. Let us not maslaha the truth, those days should be over. That is one of the reasons why we are lagging behind. Let’s end the maslaha of the truth.
“I don’t know a country in the world which has been developed by the least educated in that society. Do you know of any? Our constitution says O Levels [for presidency]. I wonder why we should bring the bar so level.
“Well, perhaps the previous occupants of those offices did not have any better qualification, so we were stuck with that. We choose the not-so-educated and the not-so-accomplished to be our leaders.”
