The head of the Brikama Area Council, Yankuba Darboe, claims that President Adama Barrow’s administration wants to put him in jail, but he also says he is unafraid of these threats.
Following a confrontation between merchants at the Brikama market and Bakary Manneh’s Operation Clear the Roads effort, the chairman made a statement. Manneh’s activities are illegal and retaliatory, according to Darboe, who also claims that their main goal is to imprison him. He emphasised the upheaval brought about by their seeming goal to have him imprisoned, as well as the negative consequences of their actions on neighbourhood market merchants.
The actions of Manneh and his people in Brikama are nasty, unacceptable, and against the law. Their sole goal is to put Yankuba Darboe in jail. They just want that, which is why our market vendors are having difficulty at our markets. Although they claim to be clearing the roadways, they don’t just stop there. They entered the market, but they don’t even go there anymore. They approached the gate of our workplace. They continued after that. They visited the new location we constructed two weeks ago. Furthermore, since the location is still under construction, we previously said two weeks ago that no cars should be allowed inside for 28 days. According to the law, we can use it as a market whenever the council wishes to, such as when Tobaski is coming. Chairman Darboe stated, “That was all we did.”
The chairman of the Brikama Area Council made it clear that the council has authority over its usage of minor roads for “Wanterr.”
The people have voted for me, and I have stood by my promise that I will work for them fearlessly and impartially, as I promised not to be scared. I will not return to the folks who threatened to kill me or put me in jail if they didn’t go back. Every day, we shall rise to the occasion to ensure that our market is valued. We let merchants to sell in the market since it is our market. Since it’s a secondary road, we as a council are the ones that blocked it so that people might do “Wanterr” there,” he said.
He claimed that instead of having a conversation with the Operation Clear the Roads team when they arrived, they started shooting tear gas.
When they arrived, if they were men, they ought to have informed the council that their purpose was to clear the roads. Instead, they arrived carrying weapons, accompanied by numerous military, and began firing tear gas at women and market traders. I am the one in charge of the area, and I can hear them constantly coming in and ruining the market. They are also not even trying to get in touch with me at this time. That’s the reason I told them today that it must end. If someone dies, we will leave. We will accept it, and if we are to survive, we must accept it as well. However, I am unable to get elected, and those who supported me are not doing well. I swear not to use fear or favour when serving that position. Let’s go out and confront these folks, I told them. The market is under us, according to the law, therefore who are these guys to enter ours? They were scared to talk to me when they saw me. They began to fire tear gas at me, and they doused everyone in the area with it as well,” he added.
The chairman, who described the act of dispersing tear gas on them as cowardly, challenged Manneh and his team to publicly display the law that supports them in removing the women vendors from the market.
It is cowardly of them to be blasting tear gas on us while brandishing guns. They ought to have stood up and spoken to us if they were men. They disregarded the law, even though if they were supported by it, they ought to have stood and spoken with us. They arrived with power, and they immediately demonstrated that power by using it to shoot tear gas. They kept spreading until we were into the clinic. The tear gas was still being sprayed inside the facility. That is unacceptable. What I will tell President Adama Barrow today is today, but tomorrow is coming,” he said.
Darboe informed President Barrow that he’s not afraid of him and that if he’s imprisoned, he will one day be released and become a President, just like Sonko and Diomaye in Senegal.
“The fight that you are bringing on Yankuba Darboe, You can kill me, but you can never erase my name in this country, you will know that Yanks Darboe stood for defiance, and he died for that and will meet hereafter. I’m not afraid of you, and I will never be afraid of you. Even if you bring ‘Sardicombat’ in Brikama I will never be afraid of you. Let me make that clear to him. Let him know that I am not afraid of him. You are sending Manneh and sending soldiers. If you are a man, come and meet me in Brikama.
“They arrested my Councillor without a reason. He confronted them for the same reason we did. Jawo Jallow is the Market Committee Chairman. This week they allocated the space to the vendors, so if he finds people removing them, he has the right to intervene and tell them it was the council that allocated the space for the vendors. They tore his shirt and arrested him. They think when they jail us, they are humiliating us. I was jailed at mile 2 and more than 77,000 people voted for me later. If he jailed me, I will come out one day and become president,” he said.