Hamat NK Bah, NRP leader

By Gambia Watchdog Writer

The opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP) has been denied police permit to tour 122 villages in the Upper River Region (URR) which should have begun on March 9.

Hamat NK Bah NRP leader told journalists at a press conference at his political bureau in Kanifing that it was based on the Public Order Act of The Gambia that they sent an application for a permit to the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on February 24.”

Registering his disappointment about the rejection, Bah said the IGP office replied on 11 March that the permission is not granted due to numerous activities going on in the said region.

He added that the office of the IGP proposed in their denial letter that they should reschedule their programme.

According to Bah the event they know is scheduled independent celebration in Basse on Saturday which will not find them in Basse.

Bah said if they did not see any activities in Basse they will give the police a fitting response.

In Bah’s own words: “It is rather unfortunate and regrettable that political parties who wish to carry out their constitution responsibilities are refused permit.”

He said his party will reschedule it programmes as suggested by the police as it will be difficult for them to maintain the scheduled date for the convention slated for May 4 due to the cancelation of their URR tour.

NRP leader said the decision of rejecting their request for permit is not only done out of politic but meant to frustrate their efforts in sending our messages across.

“Nothing can frustrate us as we are determine to send our messages across the country,” said Bah.

He said NRP is going back to the drawing board to see what their next step is going to be if their next request for permit is refused.

For Hamat, rejecting of opposition parties’ permit request is a serious blow to the country as the Gambia can never be a one party state.

“If the APRC believe that they can hold rallies and deny the opposition parties right to hold their rallies, they are making big mistakes,” He emphasised.

He further urged the APRC to go back to its drawing board to adopt another strategies, but not to deny opposition parties permit to hold their activities.

Concluding, Bah said they will re-applied the permit and will not be discouraged or impede on everything we are doing.