“The Vote Will Be Protected,” UDP Official Says, Vowing No Repeat of Past Election Disputes

By Seedy Jobe

Lamin Manneh, the United Democratic Party’s deputy administrative secretary for external affairs, said the party has put measures in place to ensure that every vote cast in the December presidential election is protected and counted as cast.

Speaking on Friday on “The Grand Bantaba,” a weekly current affairs show on Kerr Fatou, Mr. Manneh said party agents would sit alongside officials of the Independent Electoral Commission throughout the process to guard against data being introduced from outside polling stations. Votes would be counted in the presence of all party agents, he said, with forms completed in front of everyone and result slips verified before any publication.

The party will also run its own verification and publish its own results compiled from result slips collected at polling stations, Mr. Manneh said, adding that the law permits it. Because all parties will hold identical slips that could be presented in court, he said, the electoral commission should be ready to account for any figures it announces.

Mr. Manneh dismissed claims that the election has already been stolen, saying such talk is meant to discourage people from voting.

“What people need to know is that the election will not be stolen this year,” he said.

He said that if what happened five years ago were to repeat itself, the opposition would have only itself to blame, noting that the party had spent the past five years working to prevent electoral theft.

He also warned against the use of invalid voter cards, saying UDP agents had been instructed to scrutinize every card, including the photo, to confirm that the bearer is its rightful owner. He challenged anyone to present a 2025 voter card at a polling station.

The party wants a fair and transparent election in which the winner and the loser are clearly known and accepted, Mr. Manneh said, adding that intimidation would no longer work.

“We said never again. So we won’t go back again. Nobody will scare us again,” he said.

Power deal criticized

Turning to the government’s recent arrangement to bring in additional power generators, Mr. Manneh called the deal illegal and unsustainable.

He pointed to the history of the sector, saying the contract had previously gone to another company, Unique Energy, which he said lacked experience in power generation and could not manage it.

“Before Karpower came, who was there? They gave it to another company here, Unique Energy. Unique Energy also doesn’t have any experience in power generation. They gave it to Unique Energy, and they could not manage it,” he said.

Mr. Manneh questioned the capacity of the new independent power producer and suggested, without offering evidence, that the deal was about money and about officials enriching themselves because they know they are on their way out.

“How do we even know who these people are? Do they have the capacity? Do they have what it takes to generate energy here?” he said.

A government that expects to lose power in December, he said, should not sign major contracts that pass liability on to its successor.

“At this time in the democratic process, they shouldn’t sign any contract like that,” he said. “You are leaving that debt for us and it is us that will pay it.”

Mr. Manneh said a UDP government would cancel the contract, arguing that it was not concluded according to law and did not go through Parliament.

“We will break that contract because it is not done according to the law,” he said. “So whoever is involved in this, be careful, you will lose that contract.”

He added that The Gambia still has no public-private partnership law to guide such agreements.

“If you are bringing this independent power producer, you should sign an agreement going through parliament,” he said. “We don’t even have a PPP law up to now.”

“These people are swimming in a sea of illegality,” he added.