By Buba Gagigo
Kemo Conteh, the National People’s Party’s (NPP) Secretary of Political Research, strategy, and Party development, has accused the United Democratic Party (UDP) of being the greatest obstruction to Gambia’s democracy.
“UDP is the single greatest obstruction to Gambia democracy and political clear thinking. Their leadership is on an endless course of manipulating peoples’ cognitive processes of thinking, knowing, remembering and judging. There are many instances to cite, but in this text, their consistent politicization of the Auditor General’s reports is a case in point. Painstakingly, they are struggling hard, trying to make the Gambian public believe and accept that the Gambia government is corrupt and incompetent,” he said.
He said the United Democratic Party (UDP) has nothing to offer Gambians, arguing that every audit query is conveyed with a management letter, to which explanations are given by the auditee.
“They have nothing else to offer Gambians as an alternative, but they know very well that every audit query is conveyed with a management letter, to which explanations are given by the auditee. Deliberately, they ignore these explanations in their political dialogue, and concentrate on the queries just to discredit the government for political capital,” he said.
He said the United Democratic Party (UDP) should be contributing to public education and awareness raising, helping Gambians to understand that the Gambia is a young democracy.
“Many of the government institutions are still weak in human resources and in some cases, institutional mandates, processes and procedures are not fully developed. Under the circumstances, the effectiveness of the National Audit Office should be seen as positive and appreciated by all.
“Overall, it is good that they have the space and environment to do their work hitch free in an open society and in a state of free speech, and freedom of the press, where their findings can be disseminated and openly discussed. That as it may, it is wrong, ill-advised, and unfair to the public for anyone to embark on a trend of politicizing the professional reports of the Office of the Auditor General for their narrow political interest,” he concluded.
Kemo Conteh is the National People’s Party’s (NPP) Secretary of Political Research, strategy, and Party development.