The chairman of Three Years Jotna, has said their planned protest on December 16, calling for President Barrow to step down, will be ‘peaceful’.

Abdou Njie, who leads the anti-Barrow pressure group, told Foroyaa in an exclusive interview that the group had done the necessary preparations for a peaceful protest.

He said the protest route will be Westfield to McCarthy Square in Banjul where the group will make their statement and convey their message to President Adama Barrow. He added that the protest will end in the evening.

Mr Njie said: “We will all converge at the Westfield Youth Monument in peace and tranquility. But I warn everybody that nobody should come with even a ‘pen’ (except for the journalists), more so a stone or any metal or any other object that can hurt people.

“If anybody comes to the protest with any object that can hurt people or to create violence, we have our own people who will handle such people and hand them over to the police, because we have people in our midst whose role would be to observe the people during the protest”.

He said they will work with the police to ensure a peaceful protest and have already applied for permit.

“We are relying on the country’s security officials as their role is to ensure peace and stability in the country. They are paid by the taxpayers.”

Mr Njie said the only objective of Three Years Jotna, which means, three years is up in the Wolof language, is “to ensure that leaders see Gambians as human beings who must be fairly treated with dignity and respect”.

He said the movement is formed and financed by Gambians both at home and abroad.

Three Years Jotna, is a political pressure group that claimed to hold President Barrow to account over his 2016 election promise to step down after three years if he was elected president.

The President has already made his position clear that he won’t step down as the constitution guarantees him a five year term.