Gainako is in receipt of a press statement from the National Resistance Movement of the Gambia (NRMG) announcing a sudden change of leadership. The carefully worded brief statement only mentioned the movement’s spokesperson Capt. (Rtd) Alhagie Kanteh as being appointed the interim leader replacing the well respected Frm Colonel Pa Ann who headed the movement since its inception. Due to the brevity of the statement and inline with our commitment to our readers Gainako has decided to run it as a story so we can bring in more details to our readers so they are not left in suspense on what may have triggered the sudden change. Below is the Press statement:
NRMG Reshuffles Executive
In an on-going reorganization and restructuring, the National Resistance Movement of the Gambia, NRMG, herewith wishes to make it known that Capt.(Rtd) Alhajie Kanteh has been appointed Acting Secretary General of the Movement effective 01 August 2015. All members of the Executive remain in place pending confirmation by the Congress of general membership shortly.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Given the magnitude and amount of publicity this organization received at the time of it’s inception by the Gambian Diaspora and the International media and its broad appeal to Gambians for support, Gainako thought it was prudent to contact leaders of the movement on the brief announcement in an effort bring more clarity to our readers. We reached out to the ‘ousted’ leader Colonel Ann to get a clear story of what is going on. Our reporter called Mr. Ann to get his side of the story and to find out if in fact he resigned his position voluntarily or what exactly is the reason for the abrupt leadership change at the movement which consist mainly of former top security officials of the Gambia Arm forces.
In speaking to Mr. Ann about the press statement he initially referred us back to the person who send out the statement. He said he did not sign the statement and therefore it would be appropriate to speak to the originators of the statement. When quizzed that he was the official leader of the movement prior to the statement and that he should explain to Gambians what his position is on the brief statement, Mr. Ann said “as at this movement I don’t have anything to say about this, all I can say is that routine leadership change is something that should be welcomed, but that my commitment to the political well being of the Gambia remains steadfast”. Respecting Colonel Ann’s desires not to speak at this time, our reporter opined that this leadership change appears to be outside of any schedule elections or congress for the movement. Mr. Ann added that he will come out at the appropriate time to speak to the Gambian people who he feels he owes an explanation on his personal position and continuous commitment to Gambia’s political struggle.
Gainako further reached out to Mr. Kanteh through fb book messenger and a few other members of the movement but at the time of going to press we have not heard from anyone of them. We are hopeful that both Mr. Kanteh and Colonel Ann will come out and explain to Gambians as to what necessitated the sudden change of leadership and how Gambians some of whom have not only welcome the creation of this movement but also contributed their resources towards the movement.
At Gainako we felt that our readers deserve more information about the movement’s leadership shuffle than what is indicated in the press statement. Thus our initiative to reach out to leaders of the movement for more clarification. We are open to holding an interview with the leadership should they be more comfortable in talking about the change. Until then we urge the leaders to come forward and grant any medium an interview to explain to the Gambian people who deserve to know more about a group aspiring to represent them.
Readers may recalled that little less than two years ago NRMG consisting mainly of former security personnel came out and forcefully declared that they were given Jammeh an ultimatum to leave the Presidency or “they will forcefully remove him by any means possible”. The movement immediately attracted wide spread publication on whether it was an armed movement or another civil society group. Lot’s of pressure from the Gambian Diaspora media forced the movement to clarify that they were in fact a “political movement” and were not armed. Almost two years since it was formed the movement appears to be just another Gambian organization searching for ideas and seeking resources on how to fight the political stalemate in the Gambia. If anything the events of December 30th, 2014 which fatally failed to topple the Gambian government and landed many dissidents in legal tussle with the United States Government, this may have dealt a set back to the NRMG’s long term goals of toppling the Jammeh regime “by any means possible”.