By Demba Ali Jawo
As we approach the 2026 presidential elections in about 18 months’ time, we seem to have entered another political “transfer window” with fortune-seekers criss-crossing between the various political parties in search of opportunities and privileges, in most cases through the exchange of gifts and promises.
In addition to the movement of individual politicians across the political divide, we have also recently been inundated with news of the formation of new political parties and splinter groups, all seeking for converts and followers. However, just like the individuals seeking privileges in different parties, some of the creators of those new political parties and entities also have similar objectives; to mortgage them to the highest bidder, which in most cases is the ruling party, which seems to have more to offer. We can all recall what happened in the past when most of the leadership of those “briefcase” entities joined President Adama Barrow’s so-called Grand Alliance, no doubt hoping for jobs and other opportunities.
Among the rumours currently making the rounds is the possible formation of a breakaway faction of the National People’s Party (NPP) led by Kebba Madi Bojang, a prominent member of the party. It has not only caused a lot of unease amongst some grassroots NPP supporters, but it also seems to have rattled some of the big wigs in the party. We have seen, for instance, the NPP recently issuing a press release warning the “dissidents” against recruiting from their members, which certainly does not make much sense, considering the fact that the NPP itself recruited most of their members from the other parties, particularly the United Democratic Party (UDP). Therefore, it is hard to see what means they can use to prevent any other party from recruiting from their membership. In fact, such a stance by the NPP would be seen by many people as a manifestation of lack of respect for their members, treating them as if they do not have the mental capacity to decide which party they want to support.
However, some people are also quite skeptical whether this so-called breakaway group is a genuine internal power struggle to challenge the NPP leadership’s hegemony or merely aimed at deflecting the opposition’s sustained onslaught on the party.
We have also seen that some opposition supporters, especially members of the UDP, seem to welcome the prospects of a breakaway faction within the NPP and some of them even seem to be encouraging Kebba Madi Bojang and his alleged co-conspirators to go ahead with their project.
However, there are some political analysts who are not quite convinced about the genuineness of the talk of a breakaway faction, seeing it as a possible tactical ploy on the part of the NPP to blindfold the UDP, in particular, and lead them to drop their guard. In fact, even watching the actions and comportment of some of those who pledged allegiance to the breakaway faction, one would not fail to see that they are still fully behind President Barrow and the NPP. In fact, some of the skeptics are of the view that the breakaway faction could be a Trojan Horse by the NPP with the sole objective of causing the UDP to drop their guard, while also believing that a party led by Kebba Madi Bojang would be quite likely to make some inroads in the West Coast Region, which happens to be the UDP stronghold. The analysts therefore feel that the NPP would anticipate the move to likely cost the UDP a lot of their support to the breakaway faction, thus giving advantage to the NPP candidate to easily win the elections, being assured of victory in the rest of the country. Let us therefore hope that the leadership of the opposition, particularly the UDP, would not be so complacent to the extent that they would be completely caught off-guard by such a possible scenario
