Fabakary Tombong Jatta, interim leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, has said that Gambians were better off under Jammeh than the current government.

Jatta said that The Gambia has moved from “the frying pan to the fire” adding that Gambians were now realising that electing Barrow was a mistake.  He said Barrow was a “disappointment”.   

“Criminality is rampant. Burglary, killings at all levels of our society. Go to the provinces, herd of cattle are being stolen. That’s The Gambia we are in today. And we as a party believe that the country has moved from the frying pan to the fire.

“President Jammeh’s herd of cattle were sold and we didn’t know what happened to it. Nobody is questioning it. I understand people were here, selling his properties to business tycoons from Egypt and other places.” 

He said the APRC as a party was suffering from a witch hunt meant to cripple the party adding that their properties were being seized, supporters arrested and bank accounts frozen.

He cited the death of Haruna Jatta, the mass arrests of APRC supporters as some of the persecution the party was suffering under the Barrow government.

Jatta said the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission was a political witch hunt against former President Jammeh and the APRC party.

“If the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was fair enough, why (start) from 1994? Why not the 1981 coup? There was an attempted coup here in 1981 and so many Gambians lost their lives. So many were killed and buried in mass graves. Why are we not investigating that? If the current government is claiming the APRC were involved in human rights violations then they must not repeat the same mistakes.

“I want us to move away from the idea of what the APRC has done and they cannot question it, because it is not progressive and it will not take us anywhere. Even if the allegations are true the role of this administration is not to repeat the same mistakes.

“If you said we have done something bad and you are doing the same thing then we are better. I have said times without number that we have restructured for the better.”

Jatta said all the alleged human rights violations against his party were just allegations.

“I can only agree that they happened during the reign of the APRC but those who committed those crimes are Gambians and other nationals for one reason or the other. We are not perfect; this is why I said we want to improve from our weaknesses.”

He said the APRC as a party will “forever cherish the achievements of President. We will never forget him.”

Jatta said that the APRC knew from the start that Barrow was not telling the truth about the Coalition agreement.

“We knew he was not going to honour the agreement.

“We no longer hear about Barrow’s praise singing. We no longer hear about those things. People are now thinking with their heads, thinking about their standards of living. These are the facts of life.

Jatta renewed his attack on the IEC chairman, Alieu Momar Njie, accusing him of being bias against the APRC. He said Njie should not preside over the next elections.  

He listed the construction of 123 high schools, university, hospitals, GRTS among some of the many achievements of the APRC party.

Fabakary Tombong Jatta was speaking at the APRC party press conference yesterday.