By D. A. Jawo
The decision by Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda to not only withdraw his application to become the presidential candidate for the United Democratic Party (UDP) for the 2026 elections but to also resign his position as the party’s National Organising Secretary, certainly has far reaching consequences both for him and the party.
Mayor Bensouda had always said that he was not going to apply to become the party’s presidential candidate if the Secretary General and party leader, Lawyer Ousainu Darboe applied for it. Therefore, it was quite a surprise to many people when it was announced that he was one of the eleven people, including Lawyer Darboe himself, who had submitted their applications, thus appearing to some people as “wakh wahet” (making a u-turn). However, his defense was that he had waited until the very last minute and that he only submitted his application when he was informed that Mr Darboe had not submitted an application.
Therefore, the question that some people tend to ask is why, if it was the case, did Mr Darboe had to wait until the very last moment before submitting his own application. He had known all along that both Mayor Bensouda and Chairman Yankuba Dabo had made it clear that they were not going to contest against him for the position. Having that information at hand therefore, Mr Darboe was in a position to prevent Mayor Bensouda from applying if he had submitted his much earlier, and may be even save the selection committee the trouble of having to consider all those applications when it is almost quite certain that he will likely be the candidate.
This situation has arisen either as a result of poor communication within the party or a cleverly crafted scheme to make Mayor Bensouda appear as someone who does not respect his word, after he had already declared never to contest against Mr Darboe.
Whatever the case however, it appears that Mayor Bensouda’s position within the UDP has suffered a confidence blow and therefore, his continuous membership of the party appears to be untenable.
While Mayor Bensouda has announced his resignation as National Organising Secretary, he has not said whether he would continue as an ordinary member of the party, which, to many people, seems unlikely. Even the tone of his speech sounded like someone who felt quite let down.
Some political analysts are pondering over the possible consequences of Bensouda’s withdrawal of his application, both to the UDP and to himself. It is quite obvious that he has a large support base, both within the party and outside, and the withdrawal of his candidature would certainly cause some disappointment amongst his supporters, and some of them within the UDP would no doubt reconsider their continued support for the party. Also, even if he continues to remain an ordinary member of the party, he is likely to scale down both his financial contribution and active participation in its activities, which is certainly going to negatively affect the party.
Other likely scenarios would be for him to quit the UDP for another party, form his own party or even contest as an independent candidate. If ever he chooses any of those three options, it would still be quite detrimental to the UDP as a cohesive party. His departure from the party would certainly create quite a big vacuum which is likely to negatively affect whatever chances the party ever had in defeating President Adama Barrow in 2026. There are even rumours that some supporters of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) are celebrating the withdrawal of his application because with his demeanor and charisma, they saw him as a more formidable opponent to President Adama Barrow than Lawyer Darboe.
“Darboe has missed the best opportunity that he ever had to pass on the baton to the younger generation, and by insisting on contesting again, Barrow is assured of even a bigger victory in 2026 than everyone had anticipated,” said a frustrated member of the UDP, on condition of anonymity.
However, whatever action Mayor Bensouda eventually takes would have some possible consequences on his own political career as well. He is quite a young and inexperienced politician, and quitting the UDP at this stage to either join another political party or form his own, will take him quite a while to regain the composure and popularity he had enjoyed as a member of the UDP. Therefore, whatever the outcome of this apparent hitch between him and the party, it is certainly not going to be in the interest of both of them, at least in the short term, to part ways.
