Ousman Gaye, the outgoing chairman of the Brikama Area Council, has spoken of the need for members of the ruling APRC to work towards consolidating the unity in the party. This, he said, will further increase the gains already registered by the party in the political arena.

Mr Gaye who lost the party's contest for councillorship for the Banjulunding Ward made this remark at a political meeting of his successor, Mariam Bah-Saine in Banjulunding village, Kombo North District on Sunday. According to him, having finished his first five-year term as the councillor for the ward, he accepted the party's decision to drop him in good faith and this has not shaken his loyalty to the party.

He added, "I will give my unalloyed support to my successor as the APRC comes first to any genuine member of the party. There is nothing permanent in life and once you hold a public office you should expect change at any given time."

Gaye said that the 1997 Second Republican Constitution is not gender-biased and gives equal chances to men and women in the field of politics.

"So I wonder why some people are using gender tactics to achieve their aims and objectives," he said.

He also used the occasion to condemn politics of 'origin' describing it as alien in the politics of President Jammeh and the APRC.

"Every Gambian has the right to hold political office anywhere in the country as far as he meets the criteria enshrined in the electoral laws of the country. So let us not say Mr X originates from another part of the country and so he should not hold a political office in this part of the country. This is really discriminatory. The Gambia is one and we should bear it in our minds," he stressed.