By Lamin Njie
President Adama Barrow is missing a huge opportunity for appearing to not accept to step down after three years, Madi Jobarteh has said.
A gentleman deal that brought President Barrow to power in December, 2016 has been dividing Gambians. The deal was put together by a coalition of seven political parties which backed Barrow – and it says President Barrow should preside over a three-year transition government. But the president has appeared to be rowing back on the agreement, telling Gambians he will be in office until 2021.
But speaking to The Fatu Network in an exclusive interview, Madi Jobarteh insisted President Barrow should leave office this coming December.
The fiery pundit said: “He should respect three years and step down honorably, peacefully.
“If he did that, he would have earned himself not just domestic honor and prestige but he would have earned himself such international standard that probably would be near what Nelson Mandela had or so.
“So I think Barrow is missing a huge opportunity and those advising him and himself are severely misleading him to believe by any means he has to serve for five years.”
President Barrow has been notching up a lot of supporters who say it is not feasible for the president to leave office in December. Some of them go as far as saying the president would be violating the constitution if he resigns.
But Mr Jobarteh has also slammed these reasonings saying: “This three-year, five-year; you talk to people and they want to refer you to the constitution and say five years. This is not a constitutional issue because it does not challenge the constitution in any way.
“It doesn’t affect the constitution in any way. Rather, it is in line with the constitution because the constitution provides for a president to leave office without through elections at any time. So it is not a constitutional issue. It is a matter of political decency. It is a matter of morality. It is a matter of integrity.”
