By Lamin Njie
Dr Ismaila Ceesay has explained that he never said somebody from the village could not be a president of The Gambia.
Dr Ceesay has come under criticism in recent days, mostly from President Adama Barrow’s supporters following his typical assessment of the Gambian leader.
He had told a political event over the weekend that somebody from the village who is waking up from sleep could tell Halifa Sallah was more qualified than President Barrow to lead Gambia. Dr Ceesay was speaking around the 2016 opposition political parties convention that churned out President Barrow as flagbearer of the seven-party coalition.
“I cannot understand the logic in terms of the way they voted at that primary. If indeed the leaders of those parties where involved saw Gambia, I cannot see how they could have chosen Adama Barrow over Halifa Sallah.
“Even if you woken up somebody who is from the village and never been to school from sleep, you put Adama Barrow, he speaks for five minutes at that convention [and] you put Halifa Sallah, you will know that Halifa Sallah was more qualified to put The Gambia on a path towards democracy, was more qualified to put the Gambia towards a transition. Today, there would not have been the issue of ‘three years’ and ‘five years’,” Dr Ceesay had said.
Dr Ceesay has now told The Fatu Network his comments have been twisted to suggest he said somebody from the village could not be a president of The Gambia.
Editor’s note: Dr Ismaila Ceesay never told the American Corner event that a man from the village could not be a president of The Gambia. What he simply said was somebody from the village, who has not been to school and was waking up from sleep would know Halifa Sallah was more qualified to be president of The Gambia than President Adama Barrow. This simply was what The Fatu Network reported.
