By Makutu Manneh
A senior official of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has questioned what he described as repeated allegations of unlawful conduct involving Seedy Njie, a deputy speaker of the National Assembly and a senior official in the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), asking why such actions appear to go unpunished.
Lamin Manneh, the UDP’s deputy administrative secretary for external affairs, made the remarks during an appearance on Kerr Fatou’s civic education program, responding to claims made by journalist Omar P. Jallow.
Mr. Jallow recently alleged on social media that Mr. Njie had pressured him to deny being questioned by the State Intelligence Service (SIS), having his passport seized, and being prevented from traveling with the vice president. He later said in a Facebook post that the account was accurate.
Speaking on the program, Mr. Manneh said the allegations raised broader concerns about the equal application of the law.
“We need to apply the law equally and fairly across the board. Nobody should be above the law. Nobody should be allowed to break the law and get away with it,” he stated.
He suggested that Mr. Jallow may have acted under pressure and cited earlier, unspecified incidents in which he claimed Mr. Njie had engaged in similar conduct.
“Why is Seedy Njie always around when you talk about violations of the law?” Mr. Manneh said. “Why is he always involved in this sort of thing, and why is he allowed to get away with it?”
Mr. Manneh stressed that, as a citizen, Mr. Njie should be subject to the same legal standards as any other Gambian, and should not be perceived as immune from accountability.
He also criticized what he described as the misuse of state security institutions to intimidate individuals, arguing that such agencies should operate strictly within the law.
“These agencies are supposed to implement the law and hold people accountable based on legal procedures. They cannot be used to intimidate people,” he said.
Mr. Manneh further warned that, in his view, the country risked a gradual erosion of democratic gains, drawing comparisons to practices under former President Yahya Jammeh.
“This is where we got to under Jammeh, and it is a creeping phenomenon. It starts in small doses. We have to stand up for our liberty in this country. For God’s sake, in 2017 we said never again. It has to mean something. We don’t have to sit back and start backsliding gradually back to where we were,” he said.
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