By Makutu Manneh
Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and co-founder of the Unite Movement for Change (UMC), offered a detailed explanation Monday for why the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) declined to register the party.
Speaking to regional leaders at UMC’s Fajara office, Mayor Bensouda confirmed that the movement submitted 30,000 registration forms to the IEC. However, the commission determined that only 5,000 to 7,000 were correctly completed. To the party’s surprise, he said, the IEC did not return the properly filled forms, instead instructing them to restart the registration process entirely.
“Other parties report that the IEC typically keeps the correct forms and allows you to fix the rest, but that did not happen in our case,” Mayor Bensouda said. “We are not worried; we are conducting house-to-house campaigns and remain committed to contesting in the election.”
He cited additional challenges in the registration process, including inconsistencies in party naming and geographic identifiers. Some members reportedly used “UMC” instead of the party’s official name, “Unite,” while others listed incorrect locations, such as “LRR” instead of Mansakonko.
“Everything is a learning point,” he said. “We did not insult or mislead anyone. We simply returned to the ground, going compound by compound to correct the forms.”
Mayor Bensouda also stressed that the party would respond to any attempts to obstruct its progress through legal channels rather than physical confrontation. He urged members to remain focused on completing the IEC forms and advancing the party’s mission.
He called on supporters to view the movement as a collective endeavor rather than the personal project of its co-founder. “Do not wait for someone to tell you what to do,” he said. “We are building a party that will govern for years to come.”
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