By Yaya Dampha NPP Diaspora Coordinator
Fenda, your passionate concerns about President Barrow’s intention to seek a third term would have carried moral and political weight had they not been anchored in selective memory, selective outrage, and selective principles. But the truths you conveniently ignore are louder than the statement you issued.
Let’s start with the law, since you claim the “constitution” is being abused.
1. There Is NO Law in The Gambia That Bars President Barrow From Seeking a Third, Fourth, or Tenth Term
Your entire argument collapses on the foundation of legality.
The 1997 Constitution is unambiguous: there are no presidential term limits, because the 2017 Draft Constitution—which your own father championed—was rejected in parliament.
So how can a president be condemned for acting within the law, while your own father seeks a sixth attempt at the presidency, also within the law?
You cannot demand constitutional obedience only when it suits your family’s political ambitions.
2. If “Leadership Is Not Possession,” Why Is Your Father Seeking a 6th Flagbearership at Almost 80+?
You speak of leaders “clinging to power”—but your own father has clung to the UDP leadership for over two decades, losing five consecutive presidential elections, refusing to hand over the baton, and presiding over the most fragmented opposition party in Gambian history.
If Barrow running for a third term is “unsettling,” then what do we call:
Ousainou Darboe seeking flagbearership for the 6th time?
The party splitting three times under his watch?
Young, competent UDP leaders fleeing because there is no space to grow?
Talib Bensouda forming his own movement?
Lamin J. Darboe forming his own party?
You speak of “making room for new voices”—yet your father has silenced every rising voice around him, insisting on being UDP’s only presidential candidate until nature decides otherwise.
If your words are sincere, then the first place to preach this gospel of renewal is your own home.
3. You Mention “The Will of The People”—But the People Rejected Your Father by 200,000 Votes
In 2021, when your father finally faced President Barrow head-on, the electorate delivered a message that could not be misinterpreted:
A nearly 200,000 vote defeat.
Not slim.
Not ambiguous.
Not questionable.
But overwhelming—the will of the people in its clearest form.
So if respecting “the will of the people” is the standard, then your father should have retired in 2021, accepted that Gambians chose Barrow twice, and opened the UDP for younger, stronger, more electable leaders.
Instead, he is preparing for a sixth attempt, at nearly 80, with no strategy except nostalgia.
Where is your outrage about that?
4. You Invoke Morality, but Ignore Political Bullying Against Barrow
You lament that Barrow “fears what comes after he leaves,” yet you forget the years when:
He was mocked as an “accidental president,”
Insulted, belittled, and disrespected by the same people who rode on his popularity to gain relevance,
And then rejected them when he became his own man.
Your father was in prison when Barrow won in 2016, yet when Barrow governed independently, he was treated as a traitor—as if he owed his presidency to your family name.
That is not moral leadership.
That is political entitlement.
5. Democracy Means Choice—Not Selective Condemnation
The constitution allows Barrow to run.
The constitution allows Darboe to run.
The constitution allows Gambians to choose.
If Barrow is truly unpopular, the ballot box—not family press statements—will decide.
And if UDP truly wants change and renewal, then Darboe must lead by example and step aside, not insist on a lifetime monopoly over the yellow flag.
FINAL WORD
You speak of power being “borrowed” from the people. You are right.
But the same people who can reject Barrow can also reject your father.
And they already have—five times.
So before condemning Barrow for running legally, constitutionally, and with broad support, perhaps the better question is:
What is stopping YOU from telling your father—who has lost five elections, fractured his party three times, and is approaching 80+—to finally allow the youth of UDP to lead?
If third terms are undemocratic, then six attempts are not leadership.
They are obsession.
And if BarrowMustGo because he seeks reelection, then by your own logic—
DarboeMustStepDown.
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