By Kebba Ansu Manneh, Reporting from Basse in URR
President Adama Barrow defended the Barrow Youth Movement, Barrow Youths for National Development, and the President Barrow New Direction accusing anyone who criticize these movements as harboring a hidden agenda they’re yet to show publicly.
President Barrow made this defense at a political rally organized by the people of the Upper River Region to express their gratitude for the launching of a landmark development initiatives his administration rolled out for the people of the region.
The rally was held on Sunday, 16 December 2018, in Wuli Foday Kunda located approximately 330 kilometers away from Banjul, Capital of The Gambia.
The president’s remark came at a time when many Gambians, both at home and abroad, are expressing their disapproval of the youth movements and also comparing them to — the Green Boys — the youth movement of the former president Yahya Jammeh who is accused of ordering and directing many of the crimes they perpetrated against Gambians.
The latest criticism against the President Barrow’s youth movements came from his Vice President, Ousainou Darboe, who is also the leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP). Speaking at the National Convention of his party, Vice President Darboe urged his party supporters to distance themselves from the so-called youth movement. The Vice President said he doesn’t recognized any youth movement other than the youth wing of the UDP. President Barrow had resigned from the UDP under an agreement to lead a coalition of seven opposition political parties with an independent presidential candidate which facilitated his victory in the 2016 election that ended the twenty-two year tyranny and dictatorship of former President Jammeh.
Mr. Barrow’s presidency is not a clear break from the old politics of the past as he mimics his predecessor of incumbent’s abuse of state resources for personal political ambitions returning Gambians to the well too familiar politics of patronage. President Barrow, like former President Jammeh, also founded his own youth movement to the consternation of many members of the UDP who saw his moves as a precursor for his own political party to run for reelection. Some political commentators argued that president Barrow’s latest jabs are directed at his political Godfather, Vice President Darboe, who came out publicly last weekend at his party’s National Congress in Banjul to dismiss the Barrow Youths for National Development.
In responding to those criticisms in Foday Kunda, in Wuli East Constituency, President Barrow said, “if you have youths who are patriotic and love their country to their heart and are willing to endeavor for the development of the country, I think you should give them all the support they deserve.”
President Barrow argued that the Barrow Youth for National Development are groups of youths who are endeavoring to change the lots of Gambians, adding that his youths movements are not engaging in activities that are not in line with the laws of the country. The Gambian leader emphasized that he will give Barrow Youth Movements all the support they deserves because they are out to complement the efforts of the government.
“We will support you because you are digging boreholes for the peoples, you are making gardens for the peoples, building public toilets for the peoples as well as providing milling machines for the peoples. I said it is only those who are not doing efforts for the country are the ones feeling angry about the movement,” Barrow said as he praised members of the Barrow Youths Movement for National Development, Barrow Youth Movement and President Barrow New Direction.
According to him, anyone who is bent on criticizing the youth movements is harboring a hidden agenda against the youths which only focus are to see the development of the country. He argued that there are many groups in the country who are not being subjected to criticisms, but asked why the Barrow youth movements are.
“There are many associations in The Gambia, every political party in the country has a youth movement, every tribe here has a youth movement and all these movements are here in The Gambia. But today all the focus is on only one movement just to destroy its name in their efforts to disintegrate the movement — and that is the Barrow Youths for National Development,” Barrow said as he lashed out at the critics of his youth movements.
Barrow said the youth movements have already started threatening the political prospects of many peoples in the country just because of the works they are engaging in to develop the country. He disclosed that the youth movements planned to bankroll 150 projects across the country which he said are all meant to change the lives of the people of The Gambia.
President Barrow encouraged officials of the youth movements to open offices in every village of the country to ease communication between them and the peoples they intended to support. Many members of the UDP see this latest authorizations as a subterfuge for forming branches for his future political party.
With no irony lost for being at a political rally, he concluded by saying that he is not in URR for politics but to map out their challenges and help attract meaningful developments for the people of the area and beyond.