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| On 17 September 2016, Piratenpartei's Parliamentary candidate Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu joined the national solidarity action against UNFAIR global trade (Photo Credit: Sankanu/Facebook) |
Prince Bubacarr
Aminata Sankanu, an award-winning Gambian film scholar, producer and
journalist, has become his first countryman to be democratically chosen as
candidate in the 2017 elections in Germany.
Sankanu, who
enjoys dual citizenship as a Gambian and a German national, was chosen on 5th
September 2016 by the German Pirates Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland) during
its primaries as its candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections of the
federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW).
“I would like to
thank my fellow Pirates for the trust and confidence in me. I have been living
in this country since 1998 and I understand the mentality of the people,” Sankanu
said.
“I will avail
myself to the concerns of my constituents accordingly. We the Pirates have
progressive policies that we are articulating in our manifesto and on the
streets.”
Parliamentary
elections in European country are scheduled for 14 May 2017. Sankanu will be running for Wahkreis 17
(Constituency 17) in the south-east district of Cologne-Porz covering 19
boroughs.
It has a combined
population of 139,432 and is home to strategic institutions such as a garrison
of the German army (Bundeswehr) and air force (Luftwaffe) base, national
aeronautics and space research centre, the European Astronaut Centre, the
historic Deutz AG engine factory, the Merheim teaching hospital of the
University of Witten/Hardecke and the Cologne-Bonn international airport.
“The best way of
challenging the growing right-wing sentiments is to allay the fears of the
populations,” said Sankanu, the Pirates Party’s Commissioner (Beauftragter) for
Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Germany is the
destination of choice for countless refugees and ‘back way’ migrants [and] with
about one million new arrivals over the past 12 months; this influx is making
sections of the population uneasy.”
TNBES understands
that Germany’s migration debate has seen growing opposition to German
Chancellor’s policy on migration. Merkel herself admits to “mistakes” this week
to allowing the influx of refugees.
Last week, Mr.
Sankanu said the debates on the pressure on social services, safety and public
infrastructure are getting emotional. The German Chancellor Dr. Angelo Merkel’s
popularity is affected. He said her governing Christian Democratic Union and
the Social Democratic Party coalition partners are losing votes to the right-wing
populist parties.
The German
Pirates Party was founded in 2006 by a group of progressive and dynamic men and
women who want to break-away from the obsolete political practices. The party
is represented in the EU parliament.
It has 205 seats
in municipal and rural councils across German states of Baden-Württemberg (10
seats municipal seats), Brandenburg (16 seats), Hamburg (4 seats), Mecklenburg-Pomerania
(9 seats), North-Rhine Westphalia (114 seats), Rhineland-Palatinate (12 seats),
Saarland (13 seats), Saxony (6 seats), Saxony-Anhalt (11 seats) and Thuringia
(10 seats). At state levels, the Pirates have 19 seats in the parliaments of
NRW, 15 seats in Berlin, 4 seats in Saarland and 6 in Schleswig Holstein.
The Piratenpartei Deutschland is part of the
Pirate Parties (PPI) International. A global network of pirate parties in
Iceland, Canada, Finland, Italy, Holland, Serbia, Ukraine, Austria, Chile,
France, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, UK, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Peru,
Switzerland, Croatia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Greece, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Poland,
Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and USA.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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