December 2021: Gambia For All New Year Message From the Secretary General and Party Leader, Mr Bakary Dabo

Fellow members of the GFA family, sympathisers and the wider Gambian public!

As we come to the end of the year 2021, I take this opportunity to extend to you and your families and to all Gambians everywhere our very warm New Year greetings. Over the last 2 years, the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to affect livelihoods across the world. I take this opportunity to express, on behalf of GFA and on my behalf, our deep-felt condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones during this tragic period. To the frontline workers across all sectors, we express our deep appreciation for your hard work, sacrifice and commitment to the Gambian people.

Our party has made great strides in 2021 by building party structures, and by reaching out to the Gambian people and gettingour message out to the electorate. This was made possible through the hard work, resilience, dedication and sacrifice of the members and sympathisers in the country and in the diaspora and, I take this opportunity to thank you all once again, for your contribution to thelife and work of the party.

The year 2021 has also been an eventful year in the electoral calendar of the country. In September 2021, the GFA embarked on talks with many Political Party Leaders and other progressivegroups on the possibility of forming a grand coalition/alliance to contest the elections against the NPP/APRC Alliance. That effort led to the signing of an MoU between the GFA and UDP and theendorsement of the candidate selected by the UDP party, Mr ANMOusainou Darboe. On behalf of the GFA and on my own behalf, Ithank the GFA and UDP members and sympathisers for their active participation in the Presidential campaign and the elections. Clearly, the official results announced by the IEC has demonstrated the will of the Gambian people and, we respect the electorates’ wishes. Therefore, we wish President Adama Barrow every success in his endeavour to lead and make the country a better place for all her citizens.

The GFA renews its determination to rise up to the challenges of the coming year. To that end, we will, among other things, continue to call for transformative changes through comprehensive constitutional and institutional reforms, modernisation of our governance norms and processes and, economic revival with a view to providing the people of the Gambia opportunities to improve their standards of living and to attain their development goals.

Once again, I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!