Dear Editor,
Caveat: I do not support nor endorse any party. This is just a sincere and rational appeal to transform the Gambia.
On 5th December, Gambians will decide whether a president who promised one term gets a third. Under first-past-the-post, there are no second chances and no runoffs. The candidate with the most votes wins, even with 40%.
That is how the opposition lost in 2021. Not because Gambians wanted five more years but because the opposition split its votes more than three ways, and handed the incumbent a victory he could never have won against a united front.
We cannot make that mistake again. And the arithmetic is clear about where unity has to be built.
The UDP is the foundation, not one option among many.
– It is the largest opposition party in the country, with roughly 28% in 2021, more than every other opposition party combined.
– It has the only nationwide machine: polling agents in every constituency, grassroots structures in every region, and the capacity to protect the vote on election day.
– It has already built a coalition. Gambia First brings together the UDP and six partner organisations. The door is still very open for both Halifa and Talib for a sincere dialogue.
Every other camp starts from a smaller base and would have to borrow the UDP’s voters and organization to compete. A coalition built around the biggest party is not domination. It is common sense.
We have done this before.
In 2016, seven parties set aside their ambitions, united behind one candidate from the UDP, and ended 22 years of dictatorship. The UDP’s leaders were in prison when that coalition formed. They gave their endorsement anyway. That is the spirit we need now.
To the leaders of Coalition 2026 and Team Gambia:
Your supporters do not want three opposition candidates. They want one winner. A deal is still possible: a shared platform, a transition agreement in writing, cabinet seats for partners, and a commitment to the term limits Gambians were promised in 2016.
Nominations open in November. After that, every opposition candidate on the ballot is a vote for Barrow.
History will not ask who had the best logo. It will ask who was willing to unite. Wassalam and peace.
Ebou Jallow
USA
The Gambia is unfortunate to have Barrow as a president and NPP as a party
Dear Editor,
The highest office in the country has been destroyed by Barrow because its level has been reduced to insults, tribal remarks, personal attacks, caricature and personal attacks.
NPP is an institution that has no leadership, it typically suffers from confusion, low productivity, and a complete loss of direction. The whole plan is to plunge this country into chaos as a reason to postpone the December presidential election, because Barrow has no chance of winning.
Barrow will never condemn any of the speakers, because they are speaking for him. Taxpayers money that is wasted on insults and personal attacks is a lost to our battling economy.
We are very unfortunate to have Barrow as a president and NPP as a party, because Barrow and NPP will plunge this country into a serious problem.
Today, Barrow himself was insulted by his own NAM Honorary Sainey Jawara as he attacked the Mandinkas. An attack against Mandinkas is an attack on Barrow because he is a Mandinka.
We have the opportunity to end all the crazy things coming from the Barrow’s government by December and let us not miss the chance.
It is funny that, NPP can no longer convince or confuse people to vote for them, and now they are forcing IEC by force to declare Barrow as the President re-elect in December. You stole the election in 2021 and that will never happened this year.
Gambians must decide this election and not few scrupulous individuals subverting the will of the people.
Tribalism is a threat to our peace and we need a united nation.
Ebrima Nyang
Former GDC admin manager
Condemning the NPP’s continued divisive politics!
Dear Editor,
As a Gambian, a Wolof by tribe and a proud descendant of Ballanghar, I strongly condemn the derogatory remarks by Sainey Jawara against Mandinkas and Lebanese Gambians. Such divisive and tribal rhetoric has no place in our democracy.
The Gambia belongs to all Gambians, regardless of tribe, ethnicity, religion or origin. Leadership should be determined by competence, integrity and vision, not by tribal identity. Those who seek to divide us along ethnic lines underestimate the wisdom and maturity of the Gambian people.
I fully echo the words of Major Momodou Bojang: the next election is not between Adama Barrow and the UDP or Unite. It is between Adama Barrow and the Gambian people, who alone will judge his record and decide the country’s future.
Equally, I warn Sainey Jawara that in Saloum, this election is not between Adama Barrow and the UDP or Unite, as he suggests. It is between Adama Barrow and the people of Saloum.
The people of Ballanghar, Kaur and the wider Lower Saloum are capable of making their own decisions based on performance, policies and results, not tribal appeals.
Let us reject tribalism, divisive politics and ethnic insults. The future of The Gambia will be decided not by tribe, but by the sovereign will of the Gambian people. We are one nation, one people, and our unity must always come first.
Alagie Ebou Ceesay
Ballanghar
