Saihou Mballow, who advises the president on political matters, says anyone who is not in support of the commission of inquiry established by government to look into the conduct of local government councils is biased and have a hidden agenda.
Speaking on the King FM morning news on Thursday, Mr Mballow said the commission is a constitutional requirement and it doesn’t violate any law.
“Not only that, but we all have seen what happened in some of these municipalities, like KMC and Banjul. It is not a secret that there were queries of corruption which led to the issue of Sainabou Martin. These are the types of things which led to our country getting labelled on the international scene. So the president cannot sit-down and fold his hands, and he is the principal. The president has done the right thing, and this is just the beginning.
“People are accusing his government of corruption, he should not waste time because an election is coming, or other things are happening. We cannot eradicate corruption completely, but we can fight it. This government has taken a step. People were saying there is corruption in the government, so let them support this. If they don’t support the commission, we will see them as people who are biased and not ready to eradicate corruption in the country. People wanted to protest against corruption. We are fighting it now, let them support us. If they don’t do that, we will see them as people who are biased and have a hidden agenda,” he said.
Asked why the president didn’t start fighting corruption in his government first, he said; “The president started with Gam-Petroleum. He asked the police to investigate them and, if they are found wanting, let them prosecute them. All of us witness that here. That was the first step”
The government of president Adama Barrow has recently established a commission to investigate the conduct of local government councils, however, since the establishment of the commission, a lot of people have criticized it, calling the commission a ‘Witch-hunt’ commission.