By: Momodou Justice Darboe
President Adama Barrow is working on an exit plan a little more than two years before Gambians return to the poll to elect their next President, NPP officials were quoted as saying.
Already, the report that President Barrow has chosenpolitically little-known Muhammed Jah as his successor has caused consternation and trepidation among some top members of the ruling party.
Apparently, the news hit some NPP members and top-brass like a thunderbolt as it was just a fortnight ago that Mr. Barrow announced his intention seek another five-year mandate in 2026.
Reports reaching this medium intimated that ECOWAS has been averse to President’s Barrow third-term ambition at a time when the sub-regional grouping was dealing with the nerve-wracking challenges of coups d’etat and Islamic insurgency in the West Africa sub-region.
However, according to reliable information, President Barrow had since expressed his desire to relinquish power but was reportedly talked out of it by some NPP officials, who advised him that the unity and longevity of the NPP rested on his shoulders.
It has yet to be established whether the President did indeed choose the Q-Group Chairman to replace him at the poll in 2026 but NPP members and executives were passionately talking about the issue last weekend.
NPP deputy spokesman Seedy Njie told The Voice not to publish the President’s reported decision to not have his picture on marble boxes come 2026.
When contacted on Sunday as to whether he was aware that President Barrow has reportedly chosen a successor, Mr. Njie said: “You can quote the person, who said so. If the person does not want to bring disunity among the party members or put you into trouble, you can quote him or her name. If not, then the person is lying. Last week,you heard the President speak about a re-match between him and Darboe in 2026. I will not respond to your questions if your sources prefer to remain anonymous.”
Meanwhile, some opposition figures sometime this yearaccused lands and regional government minister HamatBah of taking a fight to Muhammed Jah due to reasons,bordering on Barrow’s reported succession plan though Bah has yet to respond to these accusations.
The NPP Spokesperson, Lamin Queen Jammeh, told The Voice last evening that the decision to choose President Barrow’s successor is a collective one, adding that the report that Mr. Barrow has chosen Muhammed Jah as his successor was news to him.
The NPP mouthpiece said since President Barrow was not the source of the news, it must be treated as a hearsay.
“This news must be treated with caution. We have heard series of time news from the blues but because of their unreliability, we treat them as hearsay,” he added.
When asked whether he was concerned about the news, the NPP spokesman said: “I don’t think I am much concerned. What is to be collectively decided cannot be decided, individually. NPP is a political institution in which decisions are not made by individuals.”