government was "reminiscent of the APRC government days" as "nothing seems to have improved the living standard of ordinary Gambians." The Office of the President issued a statement in response stating that "Comparing this government to the former dictatorial regime is a distortion of facts." Sallah visited Ohio University for three days in February 2018. On 8 March, Sallah met with the Cuban Ambassador to The Gambia, Lázaro Herrera, in his home. On 16 March, during a heated exchange over a proposed loan from China, Sallah was removed from the National Assembly on the orders of Speaker Mariam Jack-Denton. In November 2021, Halifa Sallah's candidacy for the presidential election of 2021-22 is validated by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). Personal life Sallah was involved in a car accident while touring the country in March 2016 and "suffered cuts to his face", but his injuries were not life-threatening. Gambia's political scientist, Amat Jeng, writes this about him: "Born in Serrekunda and educated in the US, Halifa Sallah returned home in the 1970s during the turbulent days of pan-Africanism and the Cold War, totally appalled at capitalism, neo-colonialism and the racism he saw in the US. Part of the founding fathers of the ‘Red Star’, commonly known as the People's Movement for Independence against Neo-Colonialism and Capitalism (PMINCC), Sallah began to espouse social democracy, believing that for a nation to realize its political and social freedoms, the masses have to, first, be free from external and internal oppression and domination, and second, be educated to become masters of state and society. For thirty years, Halifa was popular with the educated few, but failed massively to win the support of the masses, because they never understood his politics." References Gambian democracy activists Living people Members of the Pan-African Parliament from the Gambia People from Serekunda People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism politicians Gambian socialists Leaders of political parties in the Gambia 1953 births