Dou Sanno has stated imams could have engaged the government on the sex workers compensation claim to find out if it’s true or not, joining a row which has erupted over the issue.
National Aids Secretariat caused controversy after comments purportedly by its executive director that sex workers will be paid compensation after coronavirus pandemic negatively impacted their business.
A raft of imams on Friday blasted the government for promoting prostitution in a Muslim majority nation.
President Barrow’s deputy political adviser Dou Sanno has pushed back at the claim saying it is the work of UDP.
“What’s being said that President Barrow’s government has taken out money and given it to sex workers… I want to tell you it’s a lie, it’s not a statement that’s true. It’s a hypocritical and hate statement,” Mr Sanno said in an audio The Fatu Network has since obtained. He singled out UDP’s Ebrima Dibba and Momodou Sabally as the ones peddling the false claim.
He added: “What you’re trying to do is to instigate conflict between President Barrow and the country’s imams. I want to inform you that President Barrow is a true Muslim who never misses his five daily prayers and has performed the hajj.
“Your statement has led to some Ustadhs running away with it to the point of delivering sermons on it, in front of people who were looking at them and saying ‘these are opposition Ustadhs’. These are Ustadhs… If you want to trust government you should trust government or if you hear something, before you bring it into a sermon, you can go to government and ask that government about it first. If that government tells you ‘yes, it’s true’, then you can take to your pulpit and talk about it. This is what you should do.”
