As we all are aware, the Coalition which comprises of (UDP, NRP, PDOIS, PPP, NCP, GPDM GMC and Isatou Touray and team) was the product of a desperate desire to oust former president when the coalition received the victory platter from the IEC and President Barrow took over the realms of Government, little did we realise that a turbulent wind was about to sweep away the very core of the coalition
According to the MOU the political parties agreed “to put all differences aside to put a transitional government in place that would initiate constitutional, electoral, institutional, administrative and managerial reforms to create a democratic system which enables each party to seek the mandate of the people in a free, fair and genuine election after a THREE YEAR TRANSITION”.
The UDP, GMC, NRP parties have made a clean break from the Coalition. Whether there are bonds of affinity between the remaining coalition members we cannot tell. Henry Gomez has accepted a salary at the office of the President as a youth adviser when he was removed from his ministerial position. Poor thing! For him it is still better to hang on.
On many platforms, VP Ousainou Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party has endorsed President Adama Barrow’s stay in office for 5 years because that is what the Constitution says. Yet still the Coalition Partners were not at any one time ignorant of the Constitutional provision of 5 years during their discussions, but that after much discussion, they chose 3 years.
There is nothing gentlemanly in telling the electorate that you will rule for 3 years when you meant 5, especially when the fresh breeze of the Atlantic blows across the lawns of State House.
Having resigned from his party to contest the elections against Jammeh as a Coalition candidate, one wonders why Mr. Barrow cannot win the respect and admiration of his coalition comrades. The President should still remember that he is technically not a member of the UDP. We will wrap it up with two pertinent questions; ”Will the President rejoin the UDP any time soon?” or “will the UDP elect President Barrow or VP Ousainou Darboe as its flag bearer?”