By Alagie Manneh
Lawyer Yankuba Darboe, a prominent UDP loyalist, has announced his intention to contest the Brikama Area Council chairmanship elections, saying he can no longer sit and watch or remain just a critic.
The politician, who came into prominence during the struggle against the Jammeh dictatorship, told The Standard that it was friends who prevailed on him to throw his hat into the fray. He is seeking consideration for nominations by the UDP.
“I have since accepted the challenge and will be submitting my application for consideration to the UDP national secretariat,” Mr Darboe said.
Mr Darboe, also an executive member of the UDP, said that he is “not confident, but hopeful,” regarding his prospects for selection by the UDP.
“Because we have a lot of talented people, and they would certainly do a much better job there than Sheriffo Sonko had been doing for the last five years. So, anyone of us who wins I think, would be a better candidate than Sheriffo Sonko,” the political activist said.
He added that it would be business as usual even if his bid for the BAC chairmanship fails. “Hopefully, something else would come up at the right time and we would be chosen; we would have the opportunity then to serve. But it would be my main objective to be given that opportunity to serve the Gambian people and to make a difference because we need to make a difference in politics in the country.”
Generally speaking, Mr Darboe said, there is a “lot of corruption” in The Gambia.
“What we need at the moment is transparency, and probity in public office. And competency. Because there is so much lack of competency in the leadership of our country, and that is a fact. We have a lot of competent Gambians, but a lot of them are not given the opportunity or are not taking up the challenge because obviously, getting into politics is very, very nasty. You have to brace for all kinds of attacks, aspersions against all kinds of things. And recently, we’ve seen the sort of vitriols that our party leader is receiving,” Mr Darboe said.
