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By Tabora Bojang
Veteran educationist and founding father of the All People’s Party (APP) Gumbo Touray has said considering The Gambia’s current political trajectory, no single party can on its own outvote the incumbent.
Speaking at the APP-Sobeyaa congress in Farafenni, Dr Touray argued that the Barrow administration is leading The Gambia on a “road to nowhere” and that that unity is needed among parties to produce a “better government” in 2026 that will be more “attentive to the issues and welfare” of Gambians.
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The APP has merged with Sobeyaa and Essa Mbye Faal endorsed as its standard bearer to challenge incumbent Adama Barrow in the 2026 president election.
“In his speech read on his behalf by Dr Barra Touray, Gumbo said: “The political situation of this country is polarised. We have waited for too long to get this country on the right footing. Therefore, let us forge greater partnership with similar parties as a wise way to effect political change in our beloved country. In my opinion, a strong united political force on all fronts is a leverage to effect the desired political change that we are all yearning for. In this country’s current political trajectory, no single party can reach the peak on its own. Unity makes you stronger in mind and as a body organisation. This maiden alliance of APP-Sobeyaa leadership gives us the opportunity to unseat a government which has been leading us on a road to nowhere.”
Essa Faal who also shared similar arguments, said it is difficult to change an incumbent government in Africa more so in The Gambia where all state resources are available to the president for politics citing the Meet The People Tour as a good example which he said is a “constitutional mandate carried out in a very illegal manner” to garner support for the president.
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“Being in the opposition, one is disadvantaged. The power of incumbency is too great in this country. We have seen all the scenarios that happened in the last presidential elections. There was only one party that was openly distributing cooking utensils, cooking pots and other things. That is illegal. Under the laws of this country, you should not do anything that would influence the vote apart from basic political canvassing. That is why it is difficult to uproot an incumbent in The Gambia.
“It took almost all the opposition parties to remove Jammeh in 2016. So the only political change that we have experienced in this country happened in two ways; one is illegal and the other one which is legal which is by way of coalition. This is why we are always and consistently calling for a coalition but politics is not a static affair, the wind of change is blowing and it has reached our borders and be rest assured that come 2026, political change will happen in The Gambia”.
