Political adventurist, Marie Sock, shocked the nation over the weekend when she bolted out of her bachelorette pad to announce her pipedream of replacing President Barrow next year.
Self-absorbed Ms Sock who appeared to be suffering from a midlife crisis wants existing, established political parties to shelve their plans for the 2021 election cycle and back her simply because she is a WOMAN. She didn’t advance any other reason besides being a woman for decades-old parties to come crawling behind her as if those parties do not have competent women in their ranks to lead them. “Boldness,” her Facebook Clappers say, “madness” I would say.
Knowing thyself, they say, is the height of wisdom and the Wollofs have an equivalent “Hamsa Boppa si jamu yalla la bouka”. People must understand that not everybody can be a President. In The Gambia though nurses, merchants, carpenters, masons, journalists, students are all being touted as presidential candidates. All you need is just one or two good gestures or give a motivational speech before you know it – Lamin for president, Demba for president, Fatou for president will be trending on social media. You don’t have to be a president to contribute your quota to national development.
Almost all her Facebook clappers are not genuine, but they will clap nonetheless to give her a false sense of security. She will soon learn, the hard of course, how pretentious Gambians are. They say her choice of clothing does not matter after getting heavily criticised for her revealing, skimpy outfits. Interestingly, 24 hours later she changed her wardrobe, new pictures she posted had her covered up with even a matching turban.
Let me be cynical for a second and say the reason why she opted to stand as an independent candidate instead of registering a political party is to dodge the D1 million registration fees and other costs involved in running regional offices in compliance with IEC regulations. That act alone makes me conclude she isn’t serious at all. She should perhaps check the success rate of independent candidates since the change of government in 2017.
A political analyst told me that her shenanigan could be a bait for Team Barrow knowing how desperate they are. He went to say I shouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year presidential aides Lamin Cham or Dou Sanno reach out to her to bring her “virtual support” to them in exchange of money and job/contract. Or she is just banking on the new constitution to get passed before the presidential election, so she can back one of the two leading candidates in an event of a second-round in anticipation of securing a ministerial position. Shout out to Mai Fatty and Henry Gomez. Your formula is being copied.
Gambia’s female version of Tounkara?
Fame got into the head of Mamadou Sy Tounkara, a university professor and popular TV presenter at 2STV in Senegal, and he decided to lead a coalition of independents to contest last parliamentary elections. Boy oh boy, not only did he failed to secure a single seat but got zero votes in many voting units. In the aftermath, he was nicknamed “Tounkara zero”. A similar fate awaits Ms Sock.
PS: To the confused feminists and their useless backers, please spare me your nonsensical tired defence line #misogynist.
By Saul Sarr
UK