Businessman Pa Njie Girigara says he onetime wanted to beat Mama Kandeh, the leader of The Gambia Democratic Congress Party (GDC). This followed what he called “Kandeh’s apparent disrespect towards him” during his failed Mayoral bid back in 2018. He says even though he was one of the main sponsors of the GDC, Kandeh was behaving as if he was his boss. But Mr. Girigara, a Gambian millionaire, said Kandeh, should instead accept that he (Pa Njie Girigara) is Kandeh’s boss since he was sponsoring his political party.
“If I am sponsoring you, can you be my boss? I am feeding you and your family and yet you said you are my boss? Is that not ridiculous? What kind of life is that?” Mr. Girigara told me during a phone interview, while calling out Mama Kandeh for his bossy and arrogant attitude.
Girigara said he was the one, who funded GDC’s 2016 Presidential election. He did not only spent over D3.5 million dalasis on the party, he also paid for the Mama Kandeh’s Presidential ticket deposit at the Independent Electoral Commission.
He also says he was paying the four GDC security officers, who were hired to protect Kandeh at the time.
“Pateh Jallow is alive. He can bear me witness. I used to handover some of the money to Pateh Jallow to hand it over to Mama Kandeh. Pateh Jallow was among the security officers, I was paying their salary,” he added.
Mr. Girigara has left the GDC. He is now a supporter of President Barrow’s NPP party.
Pa Njie’s relationship with Kandeh went south during his Mayoral bid. He said it was Mama Kandeh, Tina Faal and others who phoned him from his Dakar home and asked him to represent the GDC in the KMC Mayoral election. Njie was bit reluctant to accept the Kandeh’s proposal. He had to consult with his friends and loved ones, before making up his mind on the issue. He later accepted to run on a GDC ticket.
According to Mr. Girigara, Mama Kandeh, started playing games with him during his Mayoral campaign trail. He says Kandeh would give him an appointment but wouldn’t show up.
On two occasions Mama Kandeh has been scheduling to meet with him, but he wouldn’t show up on time. Njie had to leave the meeting venue when he didn’t see Kandeh. He said Mama was mad upon realizing that he left without waiting for him. There were few people at the venue, he said.
Mama then asked him to accompany him to the market to greet the voters. On their way to the market, while on board Mama’s car, Pa Njie said, Mama, started picking on him, by trying to disrespect him.
“I told him that I am not your agemate. Do not play with me. Pa, I am not the type of person, who would run around people. I am my own boss. Just like Pa Samba Jaw would say “no one hen’s produce him.” I live by that mantra. Mama Kandeh is not my match. He is not my mate. I can tie 100s of Mama Kandehs, just as Jabel Ceesay would say it,” he said.
“He started complaining about the way I conduct myself and my campaign. I cut him short, by telling him that he is a liar. I told him that if he wants, he can stop the car, and I will go to the IEC and withdraw my candidature for the GDC. He was quiet. He was quiet like a dead person. He never responded to me. I am talking to the world; I am on a radio that is widely listen globally. MC Cham, and Mama’s driver were present when this encounter happened,” Mr. Girigara added.
Mr. Girigara said to his dismay, Kandeh, and co started campaigning against his candidature.
“You know what they did after that incident? They conspired to campaign against me, asking people not to vote for Pa Njie Girigara. They went from house to house, asking people not to vote for me. That’s what the people of GDC have done to me, all of them with the exception of very few of them, who were not part of that hateful scheme to undermine my candidacy. Be it Mama Kandeh, MC Cham, and others, were all visiting people’s homes, telling them not to vote for me. How can you sponsor a candidate and campaign against him?” Mr. Girigara asked.
When asked whether he was being marginalized by the GDC party because of his bold move to stand up against their leader Mama Kandeh, Mr. Girigara retorted: “I don’t care about Mama Kandeh’s father. Pa, please do not get me irritated for God sake. You have never seen me, we have been talking , it was the struggle that brought us together, we have been in contact for fifteen good years, you know me, very well Pa, but there is some aspect of me, that you do not know. I am a temperamental person. Pa, I cannot work for a government. You know why? If I ask you to do certain work and you do not do it, I will not fire you, I will beat you. I am dead serious. I want President Barrow to listen to what I am saying. I want him to know that. I am a no-nonsense guy, please ask the people, who know me, I am a revolutionary, I am not a politician. I am a disciple of Kwame Nkrumah. I am Nkrumes.”
He says Mama Kandeh is running a dead party, with MC Cham, being his lone supporter running around everywhere.
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