GRTS TV Wednesday evening carried news of the NPP Banjul elders meeting with President Adama Barrow and that they declared their support for him to be the ruling party’s candidate in 2026 when we have the next presidential election in Gambia.
One needs to be circumspect in these matters and be very careful getting involved in such an activity.
Such a declaration must be seen as shortsighted and insensitive considering the nightmare Gambians went through under the 22 years of Yahya Jammeh.
People should be reminded that the pictures are still available when so-called elders from Banjul and the Kombos went to State House and invited the 1994 military coup leader to put aside his uniform, become a civilian, and contest for the presidency.
And, in this age of the Internet and the cloud, the videos, photos, and utterances will be there forever, for all to see and hear and for posterity to pass judgment.
Indeed, the faces and names of those who went to preach Yahya Jammeh to run for President in 1994 are still fresh in our minds – most, if not all, have passed on, and we hope the Almighty will have mercy on their soul.
This NPP meeting at the State House on Wednesday is happening when there is a debate for a two-term limit for our presidents in West Africa.
We witnessed the continuing instability in Senegal, where controversial calls by his sycophants for Macky Sall to run again in 2024, and how his words and actions helped generate tension and threats to national security there.
The NPP Banjul elders declared support for Barrow to go for a third term also comes at a time when the debate about good governance or the lack of it is hot in the region and beyond, amidst all the coups and reported coup plots (as written in Gambia by the very authorities) in West Africa.
Also, after the debacle of the draft Constitution 2020, this NPP meeting is happening at the very time when Barrow’s government is seeking a face-saving formula, with the help of the Committee of Eminent Persons and international partners, to create consensus on adopting a new national constitution.
That was the purpose of the meeting at State House held this week, when members of the Inter-party Committee, IPC, also went there.
Thus, Wednesday’s NPP meeting at State House could not have been more poorly-timed and ill-advised.
