By Kebba Ansu Manneh
The Secretary General and Party Leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) which is the biggest political party in The Gambia, Ousainou Darboe, has on yesterday, 9 December 2018, began his renewed two-year mandate by sending strong warnings to members of his party declaring that it will no longer be business as usual in the party. Mr. Darboe, who is the current Vice President of The Gambia and was reelected as the leader of the UDP, has been its founding leader since in 1996. He was again, on Sunday, reelected to the position he’d long held without any challenge for the position at the National Congress of the UDP.
Mr. Darboe made the declaration addressing thousands of party supporters, well-wishers and sympathizers at a mass political rally held at the Buffer Zone in Tallinding in Sere Kunda, which is approximately 14 KM away from Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia.
“Any Chairman who thinks that you can hold UDP to ransom, you are deceiving yourself and this applies to all, be it councilors, National Assembly members, chairmen, mayors and all elective position holders of the UDP,” Mr. Darboe warned. He said it will never be business as usual any longer in the party as it prepares for the forthcoming elections cycle amidst internal political wrangling that is currently simmering within its ranks.
Before his reelection for the new mandate, Mr. Darboe himself came under fierce criticism over his age. Many party supporters are clamoring that the sixty-eight-year old politician should give way to the new breed of younger politicians within the party’s rank and file. The most vocal and visible contrarian faction within the party supports President Adama Barrow to take mantle of the leadership of the party to lead it to the next presidential election slated for 2021. Mr. Barrow, who was the Deputy Treasurer of the UDP and was later promoted to the Acting Treasure after the Treasurer Amadou Sanneh was imprisoned by Yahya Jammeh, had resigned from the UDP as its presidential candidate on 17 October 2016 under an agreement to lead a coalition of seven political parties that ended the twenty-two year-dictatorial rule of Yahya Jammeh.
“If anyone thinks that because you are a National Assembly member or because of the amendment to Section 91 (d) you can do something that may jeopardize the principles and values of the UDP, you are deceiving yourself,” UDP Party leader warns members of his party some of whom are accused of engaging in galvanizing support for Adama Barrow ahead of the next election in 2021.
He said the United Democratic Party will never compromise its principles and values, and will not hesitate to apply its rules to anybody be it National Assembly members, councilors, mayors or any elected official of the party.
“We will not hesitate to apply party rules on anyone be it National Assembly members, councilors, mayors, party chairmen. It will not be business as usual any longer, this is what I want you all to understand,” Mr. Darboe reiterated in his warnings.
In what seems to be a direct address, in the speech, to members of the National Assembly of the UDP, Mr. Darboe said the posts they occupy are positions of honors and integrity, stressing that the National Assembly members should not do anything that will put their integrities in question. He said, “National Assembly Members must be like Caesar’s wife, they must be above suspicion. Nobody should suspect them, they must not engage in anything that will taint their integrity because integrity matters a lot.”
The UDP leader added that National Assembly members must avoid at all times any activity that may lead to the tainting of their integrity, stating that members should always remember that they were elected to serve based on trust and confidence, and that they must not compromised these value under any circumstances.
Some political observers said Darboe’s comment is directed to some of his party’s National Assembly members who were recently accused of receiving ten thousand dalasis bribes from President Adama Barrow in exchange for support of the president’s personal and political agendas.
In October, Hon. Sanna Jawara, a member for Upper Fuladu West constituency said he rejected to take ten thousand dalasis bribery offered by to him by people representing the president. He alleged that his colleagues were asked to cue at the State House to receive cash payments. Hon. Madi Ceesay, a National Assembly Member for Sere Kunda West constituency, came under fierce public condemnation after he admitted that he received the ten thousand dalasis cash payments from Lamin Cham, a political fixer of the president.
In what many observers believed is a direct admonishment of President Barrow on establishing a parallel youth movement — the Barrow Youth Movement (BYM) — alongside the youth wing of the UDP, Mr. Darboe said, “UDP will not accept any youth movement except the youth wing of our great party.” The BYM is seen by many in the UDP as the forerunner of a political party for President Barrow should he breakaway from the UDP to run again as a candidate in the next presidential election without the backing of their party.
Alternating between English and Mandinka while speaking, the UDP leader assured his party members that he is optimistic that at the end of President Barrow’s mandate, he — Mr. Barrow — will resign and come back to his home which, according to Mr. Darboe, is the UDP. In his analogy, Mr. Darboe said, “usually when wrestling is organized by villagers, they identify their wrestler but at the end of the wrestling, the wrestler usually returns to his home. So, if Barrow finishes his term, I am sure he will come back to his home which is the UDP.” Mr. Darboe called on President Barrow to come back to the UDP after his mandate elapses.
Mr. Darboe also gave his account and narrative of events leading to the formation of the 2016 coalition of opposition political parties that led to President Barrow resigning from the UDP.
Mr. Darboe paid homage to the founding fathers of the United Democratic Party who, according to him, sacrificed everything including their lives in fighting against dictatorship and tyranny. He noted that their selfless sacrifices made the party to continue to stay vibrant and the force to be reckoned with in Gambian politics. He concluded by saying that UDP members must understand that Gambian peoples have strong respect and trust for the UDP and members of the party must jealously guide and nurture them at all times.