BARROW: I REFUSED TO WITHDRAW FOR DR TOURAY 

President Adama Barrow has been telling a scintillating story about the political climate in the run up to the historic 2016 presidential elections that saw him defeat strongman Yahya Jammeh.

As he continues to enjoy his holiday in his native Mamkamang Kunda, the president told national broadcaster GRTS that after his selection as the flag bearer of the United Democratic Party (UDP), former aspiring independent presidential candidate Dr Isatou Touray, who he subsequently appointed vice president, had wanted him to step aside and back her but he flatly rejected.

“Dr Touray came to my house with Amie Bojang-Sissoho, Aunty Yam Seck and Ramzia Diab and asked me to cancel my bid and rally behind her. I told her we cannot back any candidate who is not a UDPian and we can only accept that if she was willing to be part of UDP. But Dr Touray was not ready to accept that because none of them believed that UDP was going to win,” Barrow told GRTS.

He disclosed that Dr Touray left when they could not reach a compromise. “As she was leaving with her team I overheard her saying: “everything is now spoiled. We cannot escape this,” the president narrated.

Lawyer Darboe’s wife intervention
Continuing his story, Barrow said a few days after the meeting with Dr Touray, “while I was sitting home, I got a call from Aunty Mai, the wife of then imprisoned UDP leader Ousainu Darboe who advised me to withdraw my candidacy and instead support Dr Touray. I told her that would only happen if Dr Touray agrees to be a UDP candidate. But Aunty Mai told me people don’t want UDP and that UDP cannot win so we should instead back Dr Touray,” President Barrow narrated.

Despite this, he went on, Dr Touray invited him to her campaign launch at Kairaba Beach hotel still as of plans to persuade him. “But I did not attend even though many people tried to persuade me to go. My decision in all these was not personal but a collective decision by the party that whoever they were to back was going to be a UDP candidate,” Barrow said.

Foreground
Barrow stayed as the UDP candidate and was elected at a convention of opposition parties as the flag bearer of the Coalition 2016 which included Dr Touray, and went on to win the elections against Yahya Jammeh. In his first cabinet, Barrow appointed Dr Isatou Touray as minister of health, and later, as vice president.

Source: The Standard