Fatoumatta ‘Touma’ Njai, the NAM for Banjul South has rubbished her expulsion from the PPP party as nonsense as she vowed to defend the party until her last breath.

The alleged fraud of the PPP congress which led to the election of Kebba Jallow as the standard bearer.

The Banjul South NAM shared her expulsion letter on her Facebook page yesterday while in Freetown. The letter was signed by kebba Jallow the new party leader and It reads “Your actions have proven gross and serious violations of the constitution, principles, norms and decisions of the party. Consequently, acting on the recommendations of the national disciplinary committee, the National Executive Committee of PPP, regrets to inform you that you are expelled from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) with immediate effect.”

Commenting on the letter, Touma Njai said: “This is utter nonsense and I take it as such. I stand by my communications to the public via my press conference on the 1st March 2021 as proclaimed after the agreement of all the regional chairpersons of the party. I maintain the position of the SG and the party leader pending free and fair election. I am still waiting on the response from the IEC and for now, I will just ignore the letter.

As far as I am concerned, I am still the interim leader of the PPP pending another congress. The corrupt practices have been further emphasised by the High Court ruling of the 1st March. For me, as always demonstrated, accountability and transparency are always uppermost. I published this just for the information of the public but it is of no importance to me as my position remains the same. We do not recognise Mr Jallow as a leader and as such, this letter is of no significance and of no value”.

Concurrently, the led executive of kebba Jallow issued a statement saying the current high court judgment has no aftermath on its congress which was held in Brikama.

The High Court delivered a judgment in the 2018 congress between BB Dabo and Papa Njie, among other things  the judgement says that the lawyers of both Papa Njie and Yaya Ceesay who filed the grumbled at court,  agreed that a congress should be held.

The statement of the PPP said the media misread the judgement and it has no repercussions on the election of Kebba Jallow. “Following the media publication regarding the consent judgment which was wrongly reported, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wants to inform and assure its members, supporters and the general public that the said judgment has absolutely nothing to do with the recent National Congress held in Brikama-ba from the 26th-27th February 2021 where Hon.

Kebba E Jallow was elected Secretary General and Party Leader. The plaintiffs that brought the 2018 congress before the courts never filed an injunction to stop all future congresses of the party.”

The PPP press release added that the party was forced to conduct  a congress which is required by law. consequently, the IEC and the party  can only be stopped from holding congress in 2021 by a court order.

“Now that a congress was held and a new leadership elected, the courts cannot nullify the elections based on the outcome of the 2018 congress while there was no injunction to stop it. The Independent Electoral Commission sends observers to all party congresses and normally does not play any role in the way and manner parties conduct their congresses. We thank the IEC for sending representatives and their patience throughout the congress until a new leadership was elected.

Besides the above, the party leader and Executive will embark on a nationwide tour to thank all delegates and members for the trust they have in them to run the affairs of the party for the next four years.” he concluded.

 

By: Fatimah Sonko