Abdou Sowe, National Assembly member for Kombo East, has said he left the United Democratic Party because he was disrespected, insisting that he was not politically groomed by the party.

Mr Sowe, who quit UDP and joined Barrow’s NPP, revealed that he left the party because he was undermined and disrespected.

He said: “This is what some members of the United Democratic Party failed to understand, if they didn’t see you in yellow, they would start gossiping and labelling you.

“The very day I was elected into office, that was the very day they started building their cabals trying to show me that maybe I am a single individual that they can single handedly handpicked and left me out. [But] I am a different person.”

“I have built myself before getting into that party. I am a well-built politician within my constituency and I have that rapport with my people before getting into UDP. I wasn’t brought up and I wasn’t groomed by the party. The party found me stable with my principle to work alongside them. And I was expecting them to know that they are dealing with somebody that’s already rooted.

“So, I was expecting that maximum respect from that committee that I was supporting entirely, but I was disrespected and lacked gratitude from the membership and they started building that up and became rebellious against me,” he added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba