Demba Sabally Refutes 2021 Election Rigging Allegations – Kerr Fatou On-line Media Home

By Buba Gagigo

Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture, has categorically denied allegations that the 2021 presidential election in The Gambia was rigged. 

Speaking throughout an interview on West Coast Radio, Mr. Sabally defended the credibility of the electoral course of and criticized the United Democratic Party (UDP) for supporting claims made by Mbemba Drammeh, who just lately alleged election tampering.

The minister emphasised his confidence within the transparency of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and described President Adama Barrow’s victory as “clear as white.” Sabally famous that he personally noticed the counting, tabulation, and announcement of outcomes on the IEC for greater than 48 hours.

“The victory of His Excellency, President Barrow is as clear as white and the election system in this country is rig proof. You cannot steal the election, elections are local. Your registration is verified. You go and vote. Every party has its agent sitting there. The IEC is there. The police are there. Votes are counted tabulated and agreed upon by all these agents, signed off on paper, and posted right there locally. That is why the political parties even know the results, even before the IEC, and no political party has disputed the numbers.” He acknowledged

Sabally additionally addressed the UDP’s authorized problem following the election, stating that their case failed as a result of a scarcity of substantive proof. He dismissed accusations of voter inducement, together with claims that cooking pots have been distributed to affect voters, as baseless. 

“Yes, UDP went to court. They lost the case based on so many other factors. However, even UDP did not dispute the numbers. They may dispute circumstances probably if they had gone to court, they would have talked about it. They say we gave cooking pots to some Yaye Compins (as inducement) those were among their evidence. But look which political party has not given anything to any voter? We did not give them cooking pots for them to vote for us and they were not done within the campaign period,” Demba Sabally mentioned.

The minister rejected claims by Mbemba Drammeh, asserting that Drammeh was not in The Gambia through the election interval.

“So for somebody like Mbemba, who was never an NPP executive, either at the national level, at constituency, a regional or village and Mbemba was not in the Gambia for the entire year of 2021. He was not in the Gambia six months before the election, during the election, and six months after the election, he was not here. The Gambian election is not digital. If he’s sitting in France with other people, how can he rig a polling station in Dippakunda where voters used marbles, and it was counted on the spot, and the results were posted for public viewing? I cannot use any adjective to describe the mindset of the man when he was talking,” he mentioned.

Sabally counseled the arrest of Drammeh and known as for an intensive investigation to find out the validity of his allegations.

“I want to make this thing very clear, every genuine Gambian should be happy that Mbemba is arrested. Because if somebody says, your national election (is rigged), this is not an NPP election or a UDP election. This was a national election of the Republic of the Gambia, for which the election determines the credibility of the government of a country. If somebody says I was part of a criminal syndicate because to rig an election is criminal, if he confess on television that he was part of a criminal syndicate that rigged our election, our Gambian election, not NPP election, not President Barrow’s election. I am surprised to see UDP people celebrating,” he mentioned.

He criticized UDP supporters for celebrating Drammeh, urging them to deal with him as a legal till confirmed in any other case.