The CA can only be free from the quagmire they are wallowing in by transparency.
They have to breathe honesty to get to the bottom of the facts of the controversy surrounding the party.
This, however, can only happen by conducting internal investigations and holding the people found wanting accountable.
Conspiracies and plots will keep proliferating unless CA clarifies to the public the measures they are taking to address the degrading turmoil engulfing the party.
Herewith, CA should learn a lesson from experience by ensuring adequate measures are in place to avoid such damaging controversy.
CA is standing its trial before Gambians sentenced to death in their pockets. If they get seen as taking this political earthquake lightly, it may signal the swansong of the party.
The party’s prospect is at stake if the party executive mishandles this delicate issue.
They should avoid self deludingly playing to the gallery stunt by conducting fanciful press releases and personal attacks.
It will be a massive mistake if CA refuses to deal with the controversy and think that will magically wave away the problem.
There is, however, an indication that the CA executive does not seem to know how to deal with controversy. They seem overwhelmed and appear to have not understood the magnitude of damage/s the dispute already caused to the party.
The cliff-edge meltdown is damaging the prospect of CA as the dispute drags painfully over seven months.
The executive committee should stop the conflict, get their acts together and start holding the accused persons to account.
As I stated in my last article, CA executives cannot afford to risk the party’s integrity to protect their party leader or any other persons accused of wrongdoing.
Primary loyalty should not be rooted in one leader or one individual. Nor that an individual or group of individuals should be the source of all authorities to the detriment of the party.
Those accused should be allowed to prove their innocence via the party’s internal disciplinary procedure.
Failure to follow the party’s institutional system will not only damage the party but harms the integrity of the rest of the executive committee members.
This will affects the attraction of the budding generation of politicians to the party. The consequences therein on our new democracy will be dire.
CA is marked as a political party with a difference and a beacon of hope for many of our young people. Thus, many of our youths, as a result, got involved in our political democratic process.
Hence, it is of national interest to see CA do the right thing to restore the people’s trust and confidence in the party.
While on that, I came across an inappropriate tweet from the leader of the CA after the airing of their former Chairman’s interview with Kerr Fatou.
The tweet read, “Unfortunately, I don’t and won’t respond to Lunatics and their Loads of rubbish #Focus” this is a response to the ongoing saga brought up by the resignations of his party chairman, who questioned his integrity regarding his dealing with President Barrow.
I also heard Dr Ceesay’s interview with Peter Gomes of West Coast radio, and the interview sounds more like a press release or a publicity stunt. It does illustrate the continue lousy handling of the saga from its inspections.
Another mishandling reaction from another executive member of the party, a close associate of Dr Ceesay, also followed the party leaders’ responses which were bent on attacks on personality but not issues.
One of these irresponsible reactions came from a leaked CA executive’s WhatsApp conversation. The executive members in the audio seemed to be plotting a Public reaction rather than approaching the controversy by applying an effective process to unveil the facts to share with the public to restore trust and confidence.
In the same leaked messages, Rafie wrote a maligning statement against Kerr Fatou media as a UDP platform. The mishap, unfortunately, is what happens when the executive seems to be conflicted and thereby shamelessly supports their leader without searching for facts to settle the matter.
The fact that the message got leaked by another executive member of the committee should make the executive conscious of the severity of the issue.
It was first their executive member Rahim Jallow then now their chairman, who made allegations and resigned from the party.
The danger of mishandling and dragging the controversy is undoubtedly causing more harm to the party.
It is unfortunate to see some CA members aimed at questioning the former Chairman’s integrity because he served in the cabinet of the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh. The post read:-
“Any person who works for Jammeh empowers him, supports him, has no moral conscience and must not have the audacity to question anyone’s leadership. When JAMMEH was Killing, raping, abusing, torturing us”.
This message gets conveyed as a personal attack on Dominic Mendy. It can get construed and associated with Dr Ceesay because of the author’s close relationship. He is a prominent party member and always advocates strong support for the party.
Regrettably, such personal attacks will only further divide the party and make it difficult to rebuild the party’s image and cause more harm.
The public sees Dominic as the architect who built the party’s pillars. If CA executive members or party supporters demonise Dominic, that will backfire on the party.
Mr Dominic Mendy’s enormous ability, extraordinary grasp and experienced were the brain behind CA since the on set.
He may work for JAMMEH, but it should get used to doubt his credibility. He did not abuse his office or alleged to be involved in corruption and human rights abuses during his term working for former president Jammeh’s government.
The irony, however, is that there is another former minister within the CA executive that served JAMMEH longer than Dominic at a later part when JAMMEH’s records were worse and known to anyone who cares.
The citizen Alliance CA should swiftly conduct an independent investigation of the controversy and take appropriate measures according to their internal regulations against all the people suspected of taking part in any wrongdoing tarnishing the party’s image.
The internal investigation committee should comprise at least two independent members from the Bar Association and civil society groups. The person from the law society should act as chairperson of the investigation committee to give integrity to the investigation.
The committee should consider some of the
following questions.
1. How did Dr Ceesay or any other executive member first have contact with the statehouse?
2. How many times did they visit the statehouse, and what was the nature of those visits?
3. Which executive members get officially informed of these visits? What were the contents of the conversation, and was any actions or note taken?
4. What gifts were received from President Barrow, and what were the conditions attached? Were there any witnesses?
5. Did Dr Ceesay campaign for NPP during the presidential campaign? Or ask CA members to campaign for NPP?
Dominic Mendy, Rahim Jallow and any other members that had made allegations should get invited to give their statements as it will be the bases of the investigation.
If CA conducted any similar mechanism to handle the case, they would go on the right track to restore the public trust and confidence.
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Article contributed by Sulayman Ben Suwareh.
@24/07/22.