Lamin Waa Juwara Flatly Denies Allegations of Appointment
"It'sTotally Preposterous Rubbish"
By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief
Hon. Lamin Waa Juwara, NDAM
Following combustible combination of rumours and wild allegations that the popular politician of Niamina Dankunku and leader of the opposition National Democratic Action Movement (NDAM) Hon. Lamin Waa Juwara (a.k.a Mbarodi-Fula for lion) has been appointed as Deputy Permanent Secretary by President Yahya Jammeh, this reporter called Mr. Juwara to confirm the rumours.
No sooner had Lamin Waa Juwara picked the phone than I congratulated him on his allegedly new appointment and to my dismay, he dismissed the allegations as “utter nonsense, totally preposterous rubbish.” “Ebrima” he went on, do you really believe that I will be a Deputy Permanent Secretary?” he asked. I apologized and explained that I was a journalist and just wanted to verify the rumour. “That is fine, but you know me very well and you know what I stand for; my records are there for every genuine Gambian to see. Mr. Sankareh as you well know, I have served as Divisional Commissioner in all five Regions in The Gambia-in Brikama, Mansakonko, George Town, Basse and Kerewan and my record is there for Gambians to see. When I left government to enter politics as an opposition candidate against the PPP, I was receiving the salary of a Permanent Secretary and after all these years, you think I will stoop so low as to become a Deputy Permanent Secretary? It is unfortunate, it is very pathetic,” he argued.
“As a senior citizen and Secretary General of an opposition party”, Juwara elucidates, “it is an honour to be invited to work with the local community of Brikama as a nominated councilor. I have no salary, it is a grassroots, community honour and since this country is so dear to me, I accepted the honour to serve my community and quite frankly, the local people here are highly appreciative of this. My wealth of experience in divisional matters has been very useful in our development programmes thus far and I hope Gambians abroad will begin to differentiate local nominations from government appointments. I do not receive any monthly salary even though the papers make it look like Waa is now an employee of the APRC regime. Mr. Sankareh, after all that I endured for my country and its people, is this the prize that Gambians have to offer? He asked rather emotionally. I have been inundated with unending phone calls from friends, politicians, family and well wishers both locally and abroad following this ridiculous allegations probably orchestrated by my enemies to score political points but they will fail miserably.
Editor’s Note: While The Gambia Echo never alleged that Lamin Waa Juwara was appointed by the Jammeh regime, our own Associate Editor Mathew K. Jallow did comment on the allegations and in fact, ended up lambasting Juwara. We deeply regret this and convey our profound apologies to Mr. Juwara for Mathew’s scathing commentary based on unsubstantiated allegations. Like the wise men and women of ancient Rome, we at The Echo say to Mr. Juwara “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”