By Landing Ceesay
The ruling National People’s Party (NPP)’s candidate for the Brikama Area Council (BAC) Chairman, Mr. Seedy Ceesay, told the Gambia Amputee Association that he is “here to work.”
The Gambia Amputee Association earlier on Tuesday endorsed candidates of the National People’s Party (NPP) and their coalition partner, the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) of the West Coast Region (WCR) for the upcoming Local Government Elections in April and May 2023.
Speaking at the endorsement ceremony, Mr. Ceesay assured the Gambia Amputee Association of his support if elected as the Chairman of the Brikama Area Council.
“I am here to work. I am profoundly proud of your endorsement of my candidacy, because your cause, for inclusion, dignity, and respect, is at the heart of my political commitments. The government of Adama Barrow has set us on the right track to mainstreaming the interests of disadvantaged groups.
“After almost a decade of tireless advocacy for the passing of the Persons with Disabilities Bill, which many rights advocates had regarded as a key step towards greater inclusion in our society, president Barrow, on 4th August 2021, assented to the bill, making it law. And the various social inclusion policies adopted by the government also point in the direction of a government committed to social equity. The challenge, however, doesn’t end there. Our task now is to translate legislation and policy into reality, to be true to what we have said on paper,” he said.
The aspiring BAC Chairman said an amputee may have lost a limb, but he or she has not lost a brain, saying, what the country needs right now is to harness all talents at its disposal.
“As chairman of Brikama Area Council, l will create a platform where all groups will be represented in discussing issues that affect our Local Government Area. Only everybody knows everything. We will work together with all stakeholders to create an equitable society, embedded in the creed that no one should be left behind. It doesn’t make economic sense, and it is morally unacceptable,” he said.
The endorsement ceremony took place at a local hotel in Banjulinding in the West Coast Region (WCR).