By Tabora Bojang
Following his party’s withdrawal from CMTC opposition coalition talks, Peoples Alliance Party PAP leader Ebrima Tabora Manneh has ruled out any possibilities of joining President Barrow’s grand coalition.
PAP withdrew from the talks after 14 weeks citing concerns over the coalition’s model and decision making process which it said no longer reflected the terms under which it agreed to partake in the discussions.
The party stated that the subsequent inclusion of unregistered political parties, movements and civil society organisations and granting them the same voting rights as duly registered political parties altered the initially agreed framework communicated to them.
Following their departure, reports in some media circles rumoured that PAP was in discussions to join the NPP alliance and this follows a high level talk between Manneh and some NPP chiefs which went positive and that a formal announcement is expected soon.
But Manneh categorically denied these reports as “false and fabricated.” He said like any other person, he also read this rumour online and regarded it as a mere conjecture. “Yes, we have left the coalition but we are not in any way negotiating with the NPP. We are still talking with some opposition partners on a possible alliance or coalition but there is no way we will join the NPP,” Manneh told The Standard.