Monday, August 27, 2001 Government cannot afford on-the-spot counting SoS Touray declares by Pa Malick Faye The secretary of state for tourism and culture, Yankuba Touray who is also the APRC national mobiliser has said the APRC Government would not accept the on-spot counting in a nationwide election simply because it has a potential of causing trouble and that the cost involved was prohibited. He put the cost at over D8 million which he said would be better used on developmental projects like digging wells and building public institutions in the provinces. SoS Touray was addressing a mass APRC rally in Mansaringsu in Brikama, Friday. He said that the APRC Government could not provide adequate security at each of the 800 polling stations across the country for the on-the spot counting. He said during the Jawara regime, elections were held without an independent electoral commission moreso the on --the- spot counting but those elections were acclaimed free and fair by the International community. SoS Touray added that it was President Jammeh and the APRC that first established an independent electoral body in The Gambia's political history which showed that they wanted transparency. SoS Touray noted that those who are calling for such a system of counting were here during Jawara's regime when permanent secretaries presided over elections. Government, he went on, was only able to provide the IEC with D2.7 million for the centralised counting which was opposed to D8 million earmarked for the on-the-spot counting. He said the opposition were asked by the IEC whether they could provide the remaining D6 million to which they answered in the negative. On Fisheries, SoS Touray disclosed that a new fishing port would be built in Gunjur plus a multi-purpose sport facility. A new power house would be also built in Brikama in the year 2002 with a new 12 mega watt generator installed to supply electricity to the southern Kombo area as well as an arts and craft centre opened in Brikama which would include training facilities for youths in tye and dye among others. On the opposition, SoS Touray said it was irony for them to decry the price hikes for a bag of rice, because it was the same PPP which is now UDP that failed to develop the rice sub-sector. He said The Gambia imports rice the price of which was determined by their countries of origin which the government could not do anything about. SoS also said that the students riot was engineered by the opposition parties who continue to sponsor the student union president, Omar Joof, who ran away to Dakar, Senegal. He cautioned the Gambian people that the peace and stability of this country can be adequately guaranteed by the APRC regime. He finally warned the rally not to allow impostors to even win a seat in the National Assembly. Speaking earlier, Justice Secretary Joseph Henry Joof thanked the women of Mansaringsu for their turn out and for staying lately in the night. He said that showed they appreciated the good work that President Jammeh had done in Brikama. He advised the UDP to opt for another presidential candidate because Darboe was not qualified under the 1997 Constitution to run for such an office. For her part, the director of press and public relation at State House, Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay, also thanked the women of Mansaringsu for their loyalty to the APRC. She reminded them that President Jammeh had done a lot to improve the status of Gambian women. She urged them to come out in large numbers and vote for the APRC in October. Several people spoke at the rally including Lamin Kaba Bajo, Major Momodou Bojang and Dr Lamin Saho. The rally was attended by other senior government officials. Also present was Mr Seedy Alamie a nephew of ex-president Jawara. Gibril Jassey contributed to this story. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------