By Amadou Jadama
Special adviser to President Adama Barrow and a former campaign manager of UDP has said Kanifing mayor Talib Bensouda who left his party to set up a rival political movement, will not win a presidential election in 2036, talk less of 2026.
Speaking to The Standard yesterday, Sabally, who has been a fiery critic of Bensouda, reacted to the formation of the mayor’s United for Change movement, thus: “It’s quite a strange development. What we know of movements in African politics is, they are usually born out of the streets led by people on the fringes of society who are deprived. But here you have an over-privileged, over-pumped young man who’s grown up in the very higher echelons of society, occupying public office as mayor in a two-term period that has been characterised by rampant and outrageous corruption, which is documented by an ongoing commission of enquiry.
“So if it’s going to be a movement, definitely it’s going to be a movement without groups, because Talib Bensouda has no connection with the grassroots, with the kind of population that feeds into such political establishments. And look at the timing of creating these movements”.
Asked about Bensouda’s chances of winning next year’s election, Sabally stated: “I am not talking about 2026, even in 2036, Talib will not win the presidential election because he does not have a political base. Talib actually does not have political experience in the real sense. Everything he’s gotten on the political platform has been given to him on a silver platter by the UDP. Even in 2018, it was confirmed by the UDP regional chairman for Kanifing Municipality that Talib was the last guy to apply to become a candidate for UDP, but it was given to him because he is over-pampered, over-privileged.
“His campaign was spearheaded by the poor youths and women of the of UDP, who actually literally pulled out their resources and expended their energy to put him on that platform. And we must never forget that Talib at the time enjoyed the patronage of President Barrow.
“So Talib enjoyed that patronage in the 2018 run. He came back in 2022, and again it was the UDP that did everything for him. The people did not vote for Talib as an individual; they voted for him as the UDP candidate. So he doesn’t have a base.
“Talib has been protected by the UDP all these years even from political criticisms on the social media. So he is going into uncharted territory and he will get the shock of his life because the UDP has not been shaken. They may have bribed and corrupted a few individuals but I know the UDP very well. Their base is very loyal to the party and they will never move anywhere.
“Regarding 2026, Talib shot himself in the foot, and at the same time damaged the opposition at large, because it further disintegrated the opposition and strengthened the incumbency. So practically, what Talib did was to give licence and opportunity to the ruling NPP to declare victory in advance.
“What Talib did is not a random, unplanned act. Talib has been working on dividing the UDP. He has been working on quitting the UDP to establish his own political front, as far as I can say, for the past three years or even more. And that’s why, despite the fact that most people see it as unwise and untimely, he would do it, because he spent his time and money and energy to actually plan this. It’s an unwise idea, of course, for anybody who is familiar with Gambian politics. I said this in several interviews in the media over the past year that Talib was planning on dividing the UDP and setting up his own political party and he has done just that,” Sabally concluded.
