With scale, every organization faces new challenges alien to its organizational culture. The prospect for conflicts, and actual conflict increases and interactions of individuals within the group become more complex. As that happens, trust diminishes, suspicions around each other’s ambitions increase.
This fact about group dynamics has manifested itself within the United Democratic Party (UDP) of The Gambia. Tensions that have been simmering not so quietly beneath the surface have the lid blown off them and are now on full public display.
With the widely held notion that a leadership transition is imminent within the UDP and by extension potential national leadership being that the UDP stands the best chance of unseating the current incumbent, many within the party have been named in the public square as potential successors to current party leader Mr. Ousainou Darboe since the 2021 elections and the debate as to who should be his successor never waned.
The two most spoken about and probably most favored contenders are the two term Mayor of the Kanifing Municipality Talib Ahmed Bensouda who sought and won the leadership of the large metropolis on his first run after the 2016 election defeat of exiled tyrant Yaya Jammeh. The other is the Chairman (a mayor’s equivalent) of the largest regional administrative region in the country, Mr. Yankuba Darboe, who, like Mr. Bensouda sought and won his election to office on his first run and is currently serving his first term. Both gentlemen have been doing tremendous work for their respective regions and both are very young, educated and charismatic leaders amongst their constituents.
Following what many considered a damaging interview for the UDP by the Mayor of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe, another principal of the UDP who also won two consecutive terms as the first female mayor of the capital city, social media erupted into analysis and opinions on what her views, and the claims she made on that interview with Eye Africa TV meant. As a member of the party’s national executive, her claims that she has personally been at the receiving end of unsavory comments from party supporters and there was no intervention from the party executive on her behalf or in her defense earned her much condemnation from party supporters who feel a public interview is not the occasion for such damaging claims against a body one serves on. She too has been named by some as a potential successor to Mr. Darboe should he choose to step away from the national limelight.
This marked the highest profile public display of discontent within the party, at least in recent months. In the ensuing social media frenzy, there were lots of claims, accusations, finger pointing and counter claims against personalities within the party.
But one post stood out and the discontent and the war of words escalated. stated in a Facebook post.
“They want to overthrow our party leader overnight with their illogical Mandinkaphobia! It’s not happening! If you hate Mandinka leadership of UDP, form your own party, and get your non-Mandinka leader for your party, it’s called democracy!!!” – Chairman Yankuba Darboe
For this, he received much backlash prompting a follow up sit down interview with journalist Pa Modou Bojang on his popular Suu FM Radio, where Chairman Darboe made further clarifications and offered more context as to what he meant.
His Facebook post was in reaction to, and a response to another Facebook post by Mr. Nanama Keita, another UDP member and active supporter who openly backs a Mayor Bensouda ticket for UDP flag bearer.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Keita made a general analysis of the dynamic of tribal politics and laid out a break down of Gambia’s ethnic composition and how it factors into tribal identity when it comes to politics. In that post, he made the following conclusion.
“I often tell anyone who cares to listen behind closed doors that UDP has a Talib dilemma. A Talib dilemma in that any attempt to leapfrog Yanks over Talib would be widely perceived – and resoundingly countered at the polls – as a Mandinka “fassa,” [Mandinka favoritism] especially when it was Talib who first proved his political mettle before Yanks who, despite his on-going excellent work at Brikama Area Council, is still fairly new in the leadership arena.”
With that ethnic reference, this statement was largely interpreted as echoing the sentiment that if UDP selects anyone from the Mandinka ethnic group as its flag bearer, the party will be defeated at the polls and the perception that emanated from the party’s false labelling as an ethnic supremacist entity would be entrenched.
In his Suu FM Radio interview, Chairman Darboe did not just clarify his reaction post, many questions were asked centered around the leadership issue in the UDP and the unfolding crisis around the flag bearer. He made very strong claims against Mayor Bensouda and made revelations regarding how Bensouda is perceived by his colleague Mayor of Banjul amongst many other claims. Understandably, the social media frenzy escalated and reached fever pitch.
In reaction, the UDP leader Mr. Ousainou Darboe stated, “I intend to put forward my candidature for the party’s flagbearer position.” This declaration now leaves no room for speculation as to whether he will seek another term or not, the source of all the insinuations as to who would replace him. Chairman Yankuba Darboe, one of those named as potential candidates and a successor to Mr. Ousainou Darboe (no relation) has already declared he is backing the candidacy of Mr. Ousainou Darboe. For now, there is a degree of calm, albeit a temporary one, and a major crisis has been temporarily averted.
As we await the decisions of other party members and presidential aspirants as to what path they will take; one can only speculate on whether any of them will directly challenge Mr. Darboe’s candidacy in an open, democratic process as the UDP claims to adhere to, or whether they will fall in line and back his candidacy fearful of a backlash from those loyal to Mr. Darboe. Some are already calling for people they hoped would rise to that leadership position to quit the UDP and seek allies in other parties or seek the presidency on their own ticket. The next eighteen months will reveal much as we watch the test of true leadership unfold.
In the midst of that unfolding crisis, the disappointment and anger within the support base of the UDP was evident, but in a somewhat surprising twist, the concerns coming from outside the party also speak volumes.
Many neutral or unaffiliated observers raised concerns that a fractured UDP only enhances the chances of the incumbent come 2026 and the concerns were very genuine. This is because the UDP is a major stakeholder in Gambian politics and whatever issues the party has, has potential national ramifications. A lot of good advice was offered by such concerned commentators. This level of concern and goodwill toward the UDP as they deal their internal crisis, speaks to the silent acknowledgement that without the UDP, the task of unseating the current administration would be almost certainly impossible.
If any individual party has what it takes to unseat the Gambian incumbent, it is the UDP. But if a coalition offers an even better chance, as many predict, no coalition will be successful at that task without UDP being a party within that coalition.
As the UDP gets its house in order with a more permanent fix to the issue of conflicts within the party, I hope those concerned and the decision makers within the party, see in such voices valuable suggestions and genuine desires to see a better, more democratic and a more formidable UDP, because ultimately, that is better for the Gambia.
To the party’s supporters and vocal mass on social media, recognize the sincere critics and objectively assess their viewpoints. Not all are motivated or driven by hate or tribalism as we often accuse some of, there is a lot we can embrace from the suggestions of people not associated with the party.
Mankajang 