United Democratic Party (UDP) regional spokesperson Karamo Njie has maintained that economist and political analyst Musa Basad Jawara “is out of touch” with The Gambia’s political direction.
To Njie, Mr. Jawara has not been observing the metamorphosis of the UDP from its “grand” launch in Brikama in 1996 to the “historic” enthronement of a UDP-backed President a little more than 20 years later in 2017.
In a write-up published by JollofNews, Mr. Jawara argued that Gambians cannot bank on the UDP to remove the NPP administration “because they have already failed”.
“They [UDP] have tried several elections and failed, and this coming election will not be any different. A new approach is needed, one that brings together a coalition of willing parties and individuals who are committed to change,” Musa Basad Jawara said last week.
The UDP North Bank Region mouthpiece described Jawara’s opinion as a feeble and shallow attempt at analysing The Gambia’s political trajectory since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1996.
In an interview with JollofNews on Friday, Njie emphasized that the UDP had never been a spent political force in The Gambia, and that if the chain of political events that preceded President Barrow’s election as President in 2016 and those that unfolded in the aftermath of the 2021 declaration of him as president are anything to go by, then UDP is on the upward trajectory.
“Remember, it was the UDP that put forward Barrow for the coalition primaries at Kairaba Beach Hotel and ensured his victory. From there, we put him under our wings and went round with him across The Gambia to market him and he was not a hard sell because he was a beneficiary of Ousainou Darboe’s popularity among the masses. So to suggest that the UDP is a spent political force is the height of mis-characterization and ignorance of the country’s political direction,” Njie explained to this medium.
According to the UDP regional spokesperson, only a few people, like Jawara, needed a degree of enlightenment about UDP’s “growth in popularity”.
“Barrow was given a commanding lead in the 2021 general election by the IEC, but we won his party in the popular vote in the subsequent legislative elections. Except for the Old Yundum legislator Abdoulie Ceesay, Barrow’s NPP candidates could not capture any seat from Banjul to Kalaji in Foni. The United Democratic Party won more than 15 seats in those elections for a Parliament of around 40 elected members. Is this progress or retrogression?” he stated. “And we did this without leaning on any political party, unlike the NPP that campaigned on a so-called grand coalition of political parties.”
Njie further argued that the UDP “further shocked and stunned” the NPP and its allies in the local government elections that followed the legislative elections.
“UDP went into the local government election also singlehandedly and what we did in those elections was both humiliating, shocking, devastating and eye-opening for the NPP. From the capital, Banjul to Lower River Region in rural Gambia, the UDP denied them all the city councils. Is this a downward trend or an upward trajectory for the UDP? I would like Musa Basad Jawara to answer that question for us. Jawara is probably obsolete when it comes to Gambian politics because we heard that he was away for many years, working for the US government. Mr. Jawara should be told one truth and that is that Gambian politics can neither be learned at the university nor analysed on theories, delusions and illusions,” he maintained.
According to Karamo Njie, the UDP can singlehandedly accomplish the job of “uprooting” the NPP government.
“We proved our strength in the 2016 election of President Barrow and in all the elections that followed his declared re-election. And God willing, we will do it all over again in 2026,” Njie told JollofNews, adding,”And most of these developments unfolded when the NPP was just given a “clear lead” in the presidential election by the IEC.”
The UDP NBR spokesperson said, it’s his personal opinion that it makes more political sense for other opposition parties to gravitate towards the UDP and not the otherwise.
“I see no problem with coalition building, but there must be a consensus that UDP should lead any coalition,” he stated.
Meanwhile, former US State Department official Musa Basad Jawara wrote last week that “The Gambia stands at a critical crossroads”, arguing that years of misrule have left the country bogged in corruption, poverty, and underdevelopment. He asserted that the time for regime change cannot wait for the future but forewarned that this opportunity could be lost as President Barrow could be returned to No. 1 Marina Parade in 2026 if a united front is not formed against the NPP with the UDP taking a backseat.
“It is almost too late to mount an effective campaign to challenge the ruling party from power. However, there is still a narrow window of opportunity to call on the willing to come together, organize, and wage a national campaign to defeat them,” he pointed out. “The main opposition party, UDP, and its sister political parties will not do the job because they have already failed. They have tried several elections and failed, and this coming election will not be different. A new approach is needed, one that brings together a coalition of willing parties and individuals who are committed to change,” he opined.
