By Arret Jatta
Gambia Participates director Marr Nyang has rejected claims that political parties or presidential candidates funded the organisation’s latest opinion poll.
Nyang said no political party or candidate has ever given Gambia Participates any money to conduct a survey.
He made the clarification on Friday during a question-and-answer session with journalists at the organisation’s head office in Kololi after the presentation of the survey findings.
Nyang explained: “Last year, we received allegations that candidates were funding the Gambia Participates. No candidate or political party ever gave a butut to Gambia Participates. The organisation has, instead, used its own resources to support political parties through training and other activities. Gambia Participates has invested resources in training representatives from different political parties, including their youth representatives. This shows that the organisation was supporting political actors rather than receiving funding from them.”
He said the latest survey conducted by Gambia Participates was funded by the United States National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
On the eve of the last UDP national congress, Mr Nyang’s organisation released results of a survey which his critics claimed was skewed to give Kanifing Mayor Talib Bensouda, who was attempting to become the party’s flag-bearer a favourable ratings.