Political Commentary
Persistent rumors and social media commentaries are ripe with discussions about the inevitable retirement of Gambia’s vibrant constitutional lawyer and leader of the United Democratic Party for the past 20 years. Mr. Ousainou Darboe has clocked 66 years and from his emotionally touching birthday message, he all but bid farewell to the Gambian people on his long and difficult political journey. In his message to the Gambian people Darboe stated “At 66 , I am sure, I can still play a part in shaping the destiny of our country. But you the youths, the young people are the hope of The Gambia. You should not be complacent; don’t abandon your responsibility to your country; take up the mantle of leadership in all spheres of human endeavor” . Reading this statement from Darboe almost brought tears to my eyes knowing fully well that a decent citizen who loves the Gambia and has given it everything he had is almost calling it quits. But I was comforted by one thing; I accepted the reality that life is a journey that we all have to travel through. It is not what we accomplish that matters but what we stood for, the impact and difference we are able to make while traveling on this journey. Mr. Darboe certainly stood for justice, fought for justice and has defended his people and the Gambian nation to the best of his abilities. He may never be President of Gambia, but his noble place and contribution in the history of the Gambia cannot be disputed and will rightfully be recorded.
According to Jollofnews one of Gambia’s leading online newspapers published from the UK, the UDP party in a nonpartisan formal birthday celebration declared that Mr. Darboe will be chosen as the party candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections in 2016. The party militants stated “The members of the executive committee, youth and female wing, and a cross-section of the opposition United Democratic Party have asserted their resolve that secretary general Ousainou Darboe will be the party’s candidate in 2016 presidential elections” This declaration was made at the celebration of Mr. Darboe’s 66th birthday at his resident in Pipeline – Gambia. It was a clear indication that the party executive will insist that Mr. Darboe remain a party leader and is assured of being reelected as the Presidential candidate come 2016. It is to be noted that the official UDP party leadership selection is usually held at a party congress which has not been held yet.
The controversy surrounding Mr. Darboe’s eligibility to contest another election as a Presidential candidate is embedded in a constitutional provision in the 1997 constitution putting an age limit to citizens contesting for the Presidential seat. According to Section 62 subsection 1(b) of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, “a person shall be qualified for election as President if he or she has attained the minimum age of thirty years, but not more than sixty-five years”. The provision raised a lot of eyebrows and its fairness questioned especially when one consider the fact that the Jammeh government deliberately porch the Presidential two term limit and the second round of voting that was recommended by the Gambia Consultative Council (GCC). This was purely designed to give the young leader the advantage and to prevent formidable politicians from contesting Presidential elections. Pundits specifically pointed out to the late Assan Musa Camara of the GPP who was poised to emerge as a leading contender for the 1996 elections. It was on this background that Jammeh orchestrated the insertion of such provision – first to qualify him to meet the minimum age of thirty to contest the Presidency but disqualify well established candidates who may defeat him at the polls.
The sad and tragic results of such a provision to ban citizens like Darboe from further contesting Presidential elections after certain age, is part of the overall Jammeh scheme to dominate the political scene which he has successfully done in the last two decades. It underscores the general weakness of the political establishment both at the national level and the political party level. It also exposes the overall lack of civic and political awareness of the Gambian citizenry. For the simple fact that many of the political parties are formulated around individual personalities and the lack of clear structures within those parties for leadership succession paints a vivid picture of why the Gambian people are not able to develop a viable political system that can challenge any government in power for political succession.
The same problem existed during the PPP when everything rallied around Sir Dawda Jawara for 30 years. When he attempted to leave the leadership of his party at a Congress in 1992, the outcry showed how ill prepared party members were for a leadership transition. This eventually led to the down fall of the PPP two years later who were wiped out of the political scene within a short period of time. Many other political parties that existed at the time were also constructed around individuals. The NCP, GPP, NDAM died a slow death when their leaders faded away. Similar sudden death arguably awaits current existing parties such as the NRP, GPDP, and to some level PDOIS, GMC, APRC and UDP unless changes are instituted at the party level to allow young leaders to take over the leadership. It is undeniable that all these parties regardless of the argument party officials might advance, it is clear that they are all hanging on a life thread of their current leaders. There is no clear path to leadership succession from any of these parties as far as we know. Militants can deny this fact but it is a reality and the UDP situation lends more credence to that unfortunate narration.
Although this might be a difficult position to acknowledge openly within the UDP party, but it is in the long term best interest of the party, for Mr. Darboe to be allowed to step aside while he can still contribute towards the future of the party. He has paid his dues to the party and the nation and he doesn’t have to be President to go down in history as one of the greatest contributors to our political scene. It is certainly a daunting task for party militants to accept this reality but doing so does not mean betraying Mr. Darboe’s immense sacrifice. In fact he deserves to live the rest of his life away from some of the most difficult challenges he has gone through since 1996. As he said, he can still contribute immensely to the party and the political development of the nation. To clinch on to him as the leader and presidential candidate of the party against his desires either as sign of loyalty to him or lack of ready and able candidate to take over his position would be unfair to him, his family and the party.
The challenge is on the UDP party and its supporters to rise up to the occasion and come up with a strong candidate to pick up from Darboe and continue the legacy of the party. Many people are still strongly convinced that the largest opposition UDP party in the Gambia has the greatest opportunity and potential to win an election. They have consistently won more votes than any other opposition party since Gambia introduced multiparty pluralism. Whether UDP party executives and supporters can rise to this daunting challenge remains to be seen. Historically though parties who are able to internally transition leadership are more likely to attain power than parties who insist on having one person as the leader. As they say charity begins at home.
No matter what the UDP party decides to do, one thing is clear to all Gambians Mr. Ousainou Darboe has played his role to the best of his abilities and has answered the call to duty to lead his party. He has been the party leader, the lawyer and sustainer of the party during the last two decades; of course with the help of others who equally deserve credit for standing toe to toe with him. Nothing can diminish their valuable contributions towards Gambia’s political development. Noble citizens like the late Shyngle Nyassi (RIP) fought to their last breath for justice and political freedom for the party and Gambia. It should be an honor for Mr. Darboe, Shyassi and many older members of the UDP who paid the ultimate price for the party, if as Darboe puts it the youths can take “responsibility to your country; take up the mantle of leadership in all spheres of human endeavor”. Whether anybody can rise to such a challenge to carry the leadership baton remains to be seen. Only time can tell, but for now, Gambians should be grateful to Mr. Darboe and all those citizens who stood up to contribute their part. We can only say thank you for the service to our country.
By Demba Baldeh – Commentary