By Tabora Bojang
A physical fight nearly broke out in the National Assembly yesterday between Banjul North lawmaker Modou Lamin Bah and his colleague from Saloum, Sainey Jawara who accused Bah of leading youths to protest in front of the State House over power outages.
Hon Bah led the protest in Banjul which instantly spread to large parts of the Greater Banjul Area.
In a contentious debate during a matter of the day motion tabled by Abdoulie Njai of Banjul Central on the electricity crisis, many lawmakers lamented how the persistent power cuts are threatening lives and livelihoods of the citizens.
However others, mainly from the ruling party NPP blamed the opposition for the protest that erupted over the matter on Monday night.
Hon Sainey Jawara accused the opposition for the protest asking why the protesters targeted the NPP bureaus.
“We also saw the opposition UDP members of parliament leading the protest,” Jawara said, accusing the Banjul North NAM for leading the youths to protest in front of State House instead of bringing the matter to the Assembly.
In response, Bah was pushed back describing Jawara as “insensitive” to the plight of Gambians who are suffering from acute electricity shortages.
The two then hurled bitter words against each other and seemingly moved to engage in blows but were restrained by their colleagues
At this point Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie who was chairing the session called for calm and urged the duo to excuse the House if they want to fight.
The melee continued with NAMs from the NPP including nominated member Fatoumatta Jawara accusing the opposition of instigating the protest while the opposition pushed back.