By Saul Saidykhan
In a few days, the main opposition UDP – the only team currently capable of ending our nightmare through the ballot box, will announce its flagbearer for the 2026 presidential election.
Their decision could have far-reaching impact on both their party and our country. However, if history is anything to go by, Emotionalism or Sentimentalism will once again carry the day. It would really surprise me if the party breaks with the Gambian tradition of ignoring the rational.
From our very beginning as the Improbable Nation, we have consistently given in to our base emotions only to later regret the consequences and blaming it on Allah or Jesus. Yet, the potential of another 5-year term for Adama Barrow is a real existential threat to our country!
Our current plight is simply heart wrenching.
When I was leaving Gambia, one US dollar was less than D4.50. Just before leaving, the two bags of cement I bought to repair my dad’s verandah cost me D25 each; the 50kg bag of rice I bought at the same time cost me only D125. When Jakut from Kansala took over, the Dalasi was trading at under D9.50 to the greenback. Today one US Dollar is over D70; a bag of cement is around D600; and a 50kg bag of good rice goes for between D2,500-D3000! What a shame.
Worse, literally everything we own as a collective is on sale to shady foreigners as our country is now a haven for all types of criminals from Asia and our subregion. Thus, we are running out of land in all of Kombo and magnet towns around the country – for residential purposes, agriculture, parks and recreation, public institution/Admin offices, and even cemeteries. ALL these problems will only worsen under another Barrow term.
In the past week, I have read or listened to several sober-minded UDP members on this flagbearer issue. Two stand out to me though I do NOT know any of the gentlemen. First, one Sheriff Jammeh of the UDP UK Diaspora chapter hit the bull’s eye on ALL salient points with refreshing clarity.
His appeal is fact-based, deferential, and very rational. I agree with Mr. Jammeh totally. The second is the video appeal by Mr. Bundas Bayo from Scandinavia. Again, I find this other brother’s arguments to be thoughtful, truthful, compelling, patriotic, and rational. If we were a bright people who understand the Long Game others have mastered, this would be an easy decision.
That is because Barrow’s main enemy is not Ousainou Darbo or UDP, but the hunger, insecurity, joblessness, collapsed schools and hospitals, and desperation most Gambians are experiencing. Even those who supported him in 2021 or closed their eyes to the crude rigging of the poll are now openly hostile to him because of the disastrous effects of his misrule. Sadly, the two gentlemen are part of a minority in the UDP.
Many members of the party especially the elderly cadre still see any mention of a non-Ousainou Darbo candidature as a “betrayal” or heresy. Only Mr. Darbo himself can stop this but has so far not done so. How anyone can bring a 19th century mindset to a 21st century battle and expect to win beats me!
This is why the one person that many Gambians hate (for mostly unjustified reasons) more than Adama Barrow is most likely to become his key opponent once again. And it will be deja vu all over!
If the charade is not interrupted by the esoteric, a year from now, we will see a Voters’ Register telling us that hundreds of villages with less than a dozen houses somehow are home to hundreds of eligible voters. Even more ludicrous, we will see the tens of thousands of non-naturalized west Africans on our Voters’ Roll allowed to vote illegally once again. We have all seen the magic the D301 Million paid to the 7 Returning Officers for their role in the last Prez election did.
It only takes the addition of one number to change 120 to 1,200 (remember the Bartez Ward election where 48 was flipped to 84 until weeks of loud protests forced a correction.)
Like in 2021, with ALL the key public institutions involved in the electoral process (Judiciary, Police/Immigration, Electoral Commission, NIA, Vital Records Office of the MoH, and District Chiefs) headed by compromised lackeys of Barrow, we don’t need a clairvoyant to know what the verdict will be in 2026 if nothing changes.
I learnt about the withdrawal of Talib Bensouda from the race today.
The young man has the potential and temperament to be a good leader, but I’ve never bought into the hype of his “great performance” at KMC. Having lived through the 1981-1982 GPP-PPP split and the loud, empty haughtiness of the self-ascribed Urbanites, I recognize the tricks and Yo-ho-ho for what it is: gaslighting mind games. Bensouda will be sadly mistaken to buy the nonsense he is being sold.
It’s not an accident that we have not had a successful urban party in the Gambia in the past 60 years. Despite the endless loud chest-pounding, when it comes to sacrificing blood, sweat, money, or enduring years without paychecks, his most vocal urban associates today will be the first ones to bolt AWAY from him when the pendulum swings to the other side! Bensouda better learn from PS Njie’s experience.
Regardless, the painful reality for the UDP is that there is now no love lost between the ‘Stay-the-familiar-course’ Ousainou Darbo camp and the Young-dynamic-and-attractive Talib Bensouda camp. Much of the vitriol directed at both BJL Mayor Rohey M. Lowe and BAC Chairman Yanks Darbo is because the younger aspirant’s camp sees them as allies of their septuagenarian leader.
But if both camps are sincere about their loyalty to the party’s ideals, a competent compromise candidate WITHOUT close links to either of the two men exists.
Why not rally behind him to save Gambians from the misery we’re in? Borry Touray, Amadou Sanneh, and Dr. Manneh are all qualified gentlemen, but some folks are already painting them as Darbo surrogates.
As I’ve stated severally, Dr. Lamin J. Darbo ticks ALL the boxes we’re looking for in an effective leader. His long record of speaking out against injustice even when it was very risky- in writing and protest, defending the defenseless pro-bono, and unimpeachable character, make him a game changer.
No one can accuse him of being anyone’s puppet. With his native Must-Win Kombo likely to rally behind him enmasse, LD is the Magufuli type of leader who can pull us out of the deep mess we’re in. And for what it’s worth, I’m not the only professional who is willing to quickly relocate to volunteer and help him correct course by steering us away from the doomed trajectory we’re currently on. I fully endorse Dr. Lamin J. Darbo!
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