🇬🇲🇬🇲: UDP official Lamin Manneh has rejected the idea that Essa Faal’s alliance with the NPP automatically delivers President Adama Barrow a second win. Speaking on Eye Africa TV, he accepted that Faal’s move helps the ruling party but said it does not settle the election. He likened Faal’s former platform to PDOIS: parties people praise for policy and competence but seldom actually vote for.
Manneh doubted whether Faal can take his supporters with him into the NPP. Voters, he said, already know how the government works and are unhappy with conditions on the ground. Farmers in Basse complain about a failing agricultural sector; urban businesses have collapsed under harsh economics and structural problems. Unreliable electricity is a particular burden: shops and supermarkets lose stock to spoilage or burn their profits on generator fuel, and struggling firms then struggle to keep staff. Those pressures, Manneh argued, are why some frustrated citizens protest rather than cheer alliances with the incumbent.
Politicians do not own the people, he said. Voters can withdraw support from leaders who abandon their principles. Faal and former presidential candidate Mama Kandeh were once among the most respected figures in the country; both now face criticism on social media after aligning with the government. Manneh warned other opposition leaders not to assume their bases will follow them into deals with the NPP. Recalling 2016, he noted that Yahya Jammeh had not expected to lose, and said Gambians now have more room to debate the 2026 contest openly.
(VOD Media)