By Omar Bah
Lamin Manneh, the deputy secretary of external affairs of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), has clarified queries raised by prominent lawyer Lamin J Darbo about the party’s flagbearer selection process.
On Sunday, Lawyer J Darbo confirmed to The Standard that he had intended to apply for the UDP flagbearer position but because of certain complicated conditions requiring applicants to renounce their dual citizenship within fourteen days, the door is shut on him.
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But when contacted for comments yesterday, Mr Manneh made the following clarifications: “I think Mr J Darbo went too fast to pass his conclusions because his fears are not founded. That clause is a constitutional requirement by the Gambian Constitution. By virtue of the 1997 Constitution, you cannot run for presidency in this country unless you hold exclusive Gambian nationality. Without that you cannot run so we are fulfilling that requirement, not a UDP requirement.”
He said an aspirant who holds dual or multiple citizenship(s) will be required to submit to the UDP a letter of intent indicating that he/she shall renounce the other nationality (ies) if selected.
“This stipulation is to conform to the requirements of Section 62 of the 1997 Constitution, which states that a candidate for presidential elections shall be exclusively Gambian. Consequently, if the selected UDP flagbearer holds multiple nationalities at the time of his/her selection, he/she will work with the party to renounce the other nationality(ies) before the submission of his/her candidature to the IEC.”
Manneh further said: “Now, in our case considering that it’s a constitutional requirement, if we choose a candidate who has dual citizenship, he will be disqualified immediately. So what we do is anybody who has dual citizenship is free to apply but if you get selected before we submit your name to the IEC, you will be required to relinquish your other nationality. It doesn’t mean you have to do it now. You have until September 2026 to do so.”
He said Lawyer J Darbo must have misunderstood the provision.
“We are not asking anybody to renounce your dual nationality before you run. That would be unfair. We are saying you can run and if you get selected then you can renounce your other nationality. This is why we are doing our selection so early to give enough time to whoever is selected and happens to hold dual nationality the opportunity to renounce the other nationality before the last quarter of 2026.”
Demonstration of loyalty
Commenting on J Darbo’s query about the party’s decision to include proof of loyalty for aspirants, Mr Manneh said the issue of proving party loyalty was discussed at an executive meeting on Sunday and the executive concluded that it should be reversed because it is subjective.
“We discussed it on Sunday and concluded that it entails a lot of subjectivity. So we said for loyalty to be proven an aspirant would need some members of the national, regional, constituency or ward executives who can certify that he/she is a member and has been participating in the party’s activities.”
He said J Darbo is not in any way affected by that provision because he is a well-known member of the party. “As far as the UDP constitution is concerned even if you join the party today you can run for the flagbearer position tomorrow,” Manneh added.
Lack of fair hearing
Responding to J Darbo’s concern that aspirants going against Ousainu Darboe are usually not given a fair treatment, Mr Manneh argued that the party is committed to delivering a very democratic, fair and transparent process that would ensure due process is given to all candidates.
He said all candidates are required to submit a five page document to indicate what they intend to do for the country in the first hundred days of their presidency to make a change for the betterment of the Gambian people.
“Once that is done, we will conduct interviews with every single applicant to tell the committee what your plans and ideas are for the country. So everybody will have the same opportunity and nobody will be disadvantaged. Mr Darboe will be treated at the same level with everybody who applied,” he added.
He said all the applications will be vetted by the central committee and then to the executive for selection.
Further illustrating his point, Mr Manneh said UDP has been championing fairness and integrity in this country.
“So we cannot campaign for fairness at the national level and at our party level we do things differently. That would never happen. This is to make sure that all the rules are clear to everybody. There is nothing to worry about,” he said.
