By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The UDP spokesperson for the North Bank Region Karamo Njie has said that the “remarkable”performance of the Gambia’s main opposition party in three national elections held after the 2021 presidential election is a glaring indication of the party’s exponentialgrowth in popularity, adding that President Adama Barrow should be scared by this trend.
President Barrow was declared the winner of the 2021 presidential election with more than 400,000 votes.
However, many of the candidates that his party filled in the ward, local government, and legislative elections suffered crushing defeat in the hands of UDP candidatesbarely six months after Mr. Barrow’s declared victory.
“Those who were saying that the UDP can only mobilize crowds but does not win elections are out of tune with the country’s political trajectory. If at all, Barrow is keenly following what is happening in this country politically, he should be scared and worried about his political future,” UDP’s regional spokesman stated in an interview with The Voice on Tuesday.
“Let’s just assume that Barrow got 400,000 votes in the last general election and UDP 200,000. But come to think of it…It was less than one year after the presidential election that we humiliated them at the ward elections, walloped them at the council elections and crushed them at the parliamentary elections. To say UDP has the crowds but never blooms is the height of ignorance,” said Njie.
“Barrow is a product of the UDP and he was able to lead the coalition to victory. That’s a source of pride and inspiration for the UDP. I am, therefore, urging Gambians to turn their back to President Barrow and the NPP so that they can live a dignified life free from the shackles of avoidable poverty and deprivation,” he added.
The UDP’s NBR spokesman said Gambians should unite forces and banish Mr. Barrow from State House come 2026 to salvage their country from “the abyss of moral, economic, social and financial decadence that the Barrow administration pushed it in”.
“Barrow has shown the whole world that he is not the man for the job. It, therefore, behoves all Gambians to teach him a lesson at the poll that failure in governance is no longer fashionable to Gambians,” stressed Njie.
Meanwhile, the UDP leader and secretary-general Lawyer A.N. M Ousainou Darboe received a hero’s welcome on Monday as he returned home from the US.