By Standard Newspaper
Omar Suso, who said he is a taxi driver, yesterday walked into the offices of The Standard with a hand written note on his opinion on the current rift seemingly ripping the coalition government apart.
In the note, Mr Suso took issues with one of the Coalition leaders and spokesman Halifa Sallah. Below is the full write-up:
“Honourable Halifa Sallah is well respected and educated as regarded by many Gambians including myself. Nonetheless I have a problem with his actions prompting one to question his position with the present government.
Firstly, if one would recall that when our dear President Adama Barrow was in Senegal shortly before the inauguration, honourable Minister of Interior Mai Ahmed Fatty issued a statement indicating that former President Yahya Jammeh had embezzled Eleven (11) Million dollars and that the coffers of the government are virtually empty. To my surprise, Halifa being a member of the same Coalition, without talking with or verifying things with Fatty in close doors, instead chose to defend Yahya Jammeh by saying that there was no evidence of that.
That turned out to be the case because recently the finance minister disclosed to the entire nation that millions of dollars have been embezzled by the Jammeh government. I believe he should be among the people who should facilitate to recover those missing monies, but not to make it look like it is a mere allegation.
Moreover everyone knows that Yahya Jammeh will not leave this country without taking our money. Besides there are many places where Jammeh can take money from; namely: SSHFC, GTSC, GAMTEL, GPA, GCCA, GIA, GRA and many more. Everyone including Halifa knows that Jammeh took three (3) luxurious cars with him and also intended to take ten (10) more which were seized by the government. Again, Halifa never commented or wrote about that, even though he is a frequent writer.
My second point is, recently Halifa challenged the government that the way they conducted the issue of the age limit to the parliament is unconstitutional and wrongly done. Well he is the presidential adviser on governance and also the spokesperson for the coalition, one would assume that he should know about serious issues of this nature and guide his colleagues, not to make a mistake, rather he waited until the error is done and then he went on to challenge it.
Fellow Gambians, Halifa knew that the constitution requires a five (5) year mandate to an elected president but the agreement made by the coalition is three (3) years. So why did he never mention or challenge that also, since it is equally unconstitutional.
Recently he said that it was not necessary for our honourable minister of foreign affairs Lawyer Ousainou Darboe to publicly go to the media that it is unconstitutional for the president to serve for only three (3) years. It is quite obvious that a lot of people do not know about the constitution. Therefore that action made by our foreign minister is genuine, patriotic and necessary. I felt that honorable Halifa should have done that earlier since he is the spokesperson and also the pen and paper of this country as many viewed.
Despite mentioning earlier that Halifa is well educated, it should also be known that there are lots of Gambians who are more educated and also know our constitution far more than he does.
Finally, I believe that it is fair for him to clarify to the general public whether he is working for or against this government.
God bless the Gambia.”
