28/11/2023
Mayor Lowe and the UDP - no longer at ease?
D. A. Jawo
The recent visit of Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe to President Adama Barrow in his native village of Mankamang K***a, to βpresentβ to him two awards that she had won, and which ceremony was given unprecedented prominence by GRTS, has quite a lot of political significance.
While it is quite normal for any citizen to make a courtesy call on the head of state for whatever reason, but the time and manner it has happened in the case of Mayor Lowe, is a bit weird and unconventional, especially when she was quoted praising the NPP for their stance on her awards and hardly mentions anything about her own party.
We have all been hearing rumours of a possible rift between Mayor Lowe and her party, the UDP, and this visit not only seems to have strengthened those rumours, but with almost complete silence from the UDP camp about her, indicates that there is much more than we can see with our naked eyes.
It is now quite obvious to everyone that it is βno longer at easeβ between Mayor Lowe and her own party and it would not be a surprise to many people if things eventually fall apart. The apparent rift between her and the UDP was even quite evident during the last mayoral elections when she was virtually left on her own while the UDP seems to have concentrated all their campaign efforts on KMC and the West Coast Region. There is absolutely no doubt that Mayor Lowe was unhappy about that and she was said to have complained about being abandoned by her own party.
Of course, some NPP militants like Seedy Njie seem to have capitalized on such an apparent rift between her and the UDP in order to drive a much bigger wedge between them. From the look of things, Seedy Njie and his NPP colleagues seem to have succeeded in luring Mayor Lowe to their side. It would therefore not be a surprise if the rift eventually leads to separation between her and the UDP. Whatever happens however, it is unlikely that she would resign from the UDP b
