By Ebrima Mbaye
In a stirring 8-minute video address that has rapidly spread across social media platforms, prominent Gambian environmentalist and anti-corruption crusader Kemo Fatty issued a blunt ultimatum to the country’s fractured opposition: form a unified coalition immediately or risk President Adama Barrow securing another term in the December 2026 presidential election.
“The ruling system has the tools, the machinery, and the money to stay in power for decades,” Fatty declared. “The only force stronger than that machinery is the power of unity. We cannot wait until January 2026 to begin discussing this. Talks must begin today.”
Speaking directly to the camera in a calm but uncompromising tone that has become his trademark, Fatty warned that continued fragmentation risks deepening the dangerous voter apathy already gripping the nation. With youth unemployment hovering above 40 percent, inflation eroding purchasing power, and corruption scandals dominating headlines, many Gambians feel abandoned by the very democratic transition they celebrated in 2016.
“No single party, no single individual can unseat a government that has mastered the art of survival,” he continued. “Numbers alone will not do it. We need collective purpose and, above all, moral integrity.”
Fatty specifically named nine opposition heavyweights he wants around the table: UDP leader Ousainou Darboe, PDOIS stalwarts Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta, GDC’s Mama Kandeh, independent Essa Faal, Banjul Mayoress Rohey Lowe, KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda, PPP’s Yankuba Darboe, and former Vice President Fatoumatta Tambajang.
“Put aside personal ambitions, put aside party colours,” he urged. “Form a government-in-waiting that can restore public confidence before a single vote is cast.”
In a dramatic gesture that stunned political observers, Fatty pledged to withdraw his own widely discussed independent candidacy the moment a “genuine, transparent, and inclusive” coalition is formed.
“This fight is not about Kemo Fatty,” he said, voice cracking with emotion. “If all opposition parties unite behind one flagbearer, I will step aside tomorrow. This is about The Gambia, not my ego.”
The activist, who first gained national prominence leading protests against illegal sand mining and Chinese fishmeal plants, turned his fire on the political old guard while issuing a battle cry to the country’s youth, who constitute over 65 percent of the population.
“If the elders fail to unite, the youth will not remain spectators,” he warned. “Even if our movement gets only one vote in 2026, that single vote will echo through history as proof that young Gambians will never again be silent while their future is auctioned.”
Fatty painted a grim picture of election season realities in one of Africa’s poorest nations, where voters routinely trade ballots for 50-kilogram bags of rice, campaign T-shirts, and envelopes containing 500 dalasi.
“You cannot defeat a system when your people are fighting for daily survival,” he charged. “They will choose rice today over promises tomorrow. We owe them more than charity; we owe them structural change.”
Weaving political analysis with spiritual reflection—a hallmark of his public speaking—Fatty described democracy as “a sacred trust, a spiritual practice that demands humility from leaders and citizens alike.”
“The Gambia is bleeding—not from bullets, but from division, mistrust, corruption, and arrogance,” he said. “We must return to the unity of 1965, when our forefathers dreamed of one nation, indivisible.”
Political analysts say Fatty’s intervention could prove pivotal. “He has no party machinery, but he has moral authority,” said University of The Gambia student Lamin Saidy. “For the first time since 2016, someone is speaking truth to both opposition leaders and the youth simultaneously.”
Whether Darboe, Kandeh, Sallah, and others heed the call remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: with 13 months until the polls open, Kemo Fatty has single-handedly set the 2026 agenda—and placed unity, not ideology, at its core.
The Gambia, he says, cannot afford another five years of broken promises. The question now is whether its opposition is finally listening.
