The Campaign Manager for opposition National Reconciliation Party in The Gambia, Dullo Bah, has said that his party’s Executive had met and unanimously agreed from the deepest of their hearts to welcome Sanna Manneh to the party.

In an interview with this reporter at the party’s bureau in the Capital last month,  Bah said the party believed that the coming of the veteran journalist would pay political dividends.

The veteran journalist, who was well known for investigating corruption during the former regime nearly, cost the former vice President of The Gambia  Saikou Sabally his job.

The NRP Campaign Manager therefore believed Manneh could still be a good political investigator for the party. He said Manneh was an experienced journalist and one of those who pioneered journalism in this country.

Bah said his party would readily sponsor him to contest in the National Assembly or Local Council elections if he so desired, using the old English adage, that “ Experience is the best teacher”.

    Asked whether Manneh, after having been out of the limelight for sometime, could be a force to be reckoned with, Bah quickly responded saying, Manneh still commanded great influence.

He described him as down to earth, “a man who could discuss with both the grassroots people and the top class.”

On the proposed opposition coalition against the ruling party in The Gambia, Bah said the NRP is committed for a coalition to remove the ruling party from office. He said a strong coalition would easily defeat the ruling party, which pulled 52 percent  of the votes cast in the last presidential elections. He added: “ The only way to remove President Jammeh from the presidential seat for good is a strong opposition coalition.”

   He therefore called on all Gambians to rally behind the opposition come 2006 elections.

  Meanwhile, the opposition parties are said to be working on the modalities for the coalition. But the ruling Alliance For patriotic, Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) has always maintained that the coalition was no threat to them.