By Madi S Njie, Standard Newspaper: Omar Jallow, alias OJ, the leader of the PPP and member of the governing Coalition 2016, has alleged that whereas former President Yahya Jammeh accused first President Sir Dawda Jawara of stealing in 1994, Jammeh himself went ahead to acquire 133 compounds in 22 years.
”Sir Dawda has only 3 compounds in 30 years and he even got those through a loan from the bank,” OJ said.
He said he was the one Sir Dawda sent to pay the loan.
Mr Jallwo was speaking at a recent PPP rally in Serekunda West.
Commenting further, OJ said Sir Dawda never had millions in his pocket throughout his 30 years in power. “Yaya Jammeh threw away millions in one night and disastrously, he often gave this to outsiders while Gambian youths die of unemployment,” the outspoken politician said.
He mentioned numerous musicians from abroad who were given hundreds of thousands of dollars by Jammeh when many Gambians don’t even have fish-money for their families.
OJ said in 22 years, the APRC ruined the national bus company GPTC by misusing it to transport Yai Compings to Kanilai to play with them.
“Can those kinds of people come back and tell you about politics?” he challenged.
OJ recalled how as an MP from 1977 he and the PPP government brought electricity, water, schools, markets and youth centres for the communities in Serekunda.
“Instead of increasing pumps for the communities, the APRC government closed taps in the Latrikunda suburbs,” he alleged.
“For 29 years, when you going to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, England, you didn’t need visas. You just get up to the Airport and they would stamp your passport. If you are going to America by then you only needed to buy an air ticket.
“But Yahya Jammeh came and did not know what to do or say castigating the West and destroying Gambia’s good relations with a lot of the civilised nations. The West were frustrated with his disastrous human rights record and closed their doors and consequently there was no job. The youth see their responsibilities and can’t solve them because they don’t have jobs. That is why they feel embarrassed and were forced to travel through the back-way to Europe, through which many lost their lives,” OJ said.
He said those who faced Jammeh and told him the truth like him was jailed, tortured and humiliated in the presence of their families.
“Yahya Jammeh jailed me for 22 times, but I didn’t run away. But for him he ran away, because he did very bad things here. Sir Dawda is in The Gambia, and people are going to his compound on a daily basis, because he was friendly to them. Jammeh ran away, but he will find what he did if he comes back home,” OJ said.
Mr Jallow then went on to give examples of the case of death and destruction that Jammeh left behind “He killed 12 students in a day; killed Deyda Hydara, Daba Marena, Ndongo Mboob, Mohammed Lamin Nyassi, Kanyiba Kanyi, Koro Ceesay, and executed 9 inmates at Mile Two; two US-Gambians were all murdered, and many more. And now despite all the patience and fortitude of the people the APRC people are still talking. They must keep quiet and don’t make people get angry,” he warned.
