UDP’s Lamin Manneh Overrides NPP’s Seedy Ceesay Attempt to Overrule Him

Mr Seedy Ceesay NPP (left) and Mr Lamin Manneh UDP (right) © Askanwi media

By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT

Mr Seedy Ceesay of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) failed to overrule a question from United Democratic Party (UDP) representative Lamin Manneh at the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) stakeholder engagement earlier today, 10th September 2026.

After asking a question during the first round of questions, which was duly answered by IEC Chairperson Mr Joseph Colley, Mr Ceesay attempted to overrule Mr Manneh during the second round. However, he was rebuffed by Mr Manneh and the IEC’s Communications Director, Mr Pa Makan Khan.

As Mr Manneh got hold of the microphone and started speaking: “I have a concern about the revising courts in the Mansakonko area…”

Mr Ceesay unceremoniously interjected, asking: “Is that something we are discussing today? I think you said that we should look at what is on the…”

This started an exchange of words, with Mr Manneh firing back: “Excuse me, I have the floor. Can you be courteous enough to allow me to continue?”

As Mr Ceesay attempted to respond, the IEC Communications Director and Mr Manneh prevailed on him to allow Mr Manneh’s question to proceed. Mr Khan informed Mr Ceesay to “please address the Chair”.

Mr Manneh addressed the Chair, asking: “Can you ask him to be courteous enough to allow me to speak? He is not presiding [over] this meeting.”

In response, Mr Khan noted: “Number 1, let’s address the moderator, and number 2, the issues are part of the discussions.”

Mr Manneh then proceeded by first insisting that “the revising courts are being discussed here, so hold your peace”.

UDP’s Mr Lamin Manneh © Askanwi Media

Proceeding with his question, Mr Manneh explained that it concerned UDP representatives in Mansakonko who went to the revising courts. According to Mr Manneh, they were first at the Magistrates’ Court on 3rd September 2026, but the proceedings were moved to the High Court without notifying them.

After their lawyers received the information by midday, they scrambled to the High Court, and the proceedings were adjourned to 14th September 2026.

The UDP representatives at Mansakonko then sought information from an IEC officer, Mr Amadou Taal, who refused to provide them with the relevant information. This forced their lawyers to go to court to subpoena the documents. After the court adjudicated in their favour, Mr Taal still refused to provide the documents.

Mr Manneh explained that the Magistrate had to provide copies of his documents for photocopying, which he labelled “unacceptable”.

He noted: “These cases have been happening too many times. We had similar cases by this gentleman and another gentleman in CRR South refusing to give us what we are entitled to, and each time I reported it to the IEC and they took relevant action, it was corrected, but this is happening again. It shouldn’t have to be that way. We shouldn’t have to ask for something we are entitled to.”

He explained that he believed these issues were being caused by senior officers who ought to know the law. In that regard, he insisted that they must comply with the law and hoped that “this is corrected so that in the future our witnesses will not be hindered in any way by somebody withholding information”.

The full video of the question and response from the IEC Chairperson will be published on @AskanwiGambia YouTube and TikTok pages, as well as the Askanwi Facebook Page.