Darboe Says UDP Will Survive Without Him and Outlive Its Members

By Fatou Sillah

United Democratic Party leader Ousainou Darboe has rejected suggestions that the UDP has become inseparable from his leadership, saying the opposition party is an institution built to endure beyond him and its current generation of members.

Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Darboe said the party’s future does not depend on any single individual, including himself.

“The UDP will survive without Ousainou Darboe,” he said. “Ousainou Darboe is not UDP, and UDP is not Ousainou Darboe. UDP is an institution.”

Darboe was responding to questions about his long-standing leadership of the party and whether the UDP, which he has led since its founding, could maintain its political relevance without him at the helm.

He pointed to the events of 2016, when he and several senior UDP officials were imprisoned during the final months of former President Yahya Jammeh’s rule. Despite the detention of much of its senior leadership, Darboe said, the party continued to organize and carry out its political activities.

For Darboe, that period demonstrated that the UDP’s strength rests in its institutional structure and membership rather than in the personality of its leader.

Darboe also addressed questions about his readiness to govern, arguing that he is better prepared for the presidency today because of the experience he gained after the change of government in 2017.

Following President Adama Barrow’s election, Darboe served as foreign affairs minister before becoming vice president. He said those roles exposed him to the workings of government at the highest levels and broadened his understanding of both domestic governance and international affairs.

“I’m just not bringing the experience of managing a party as a government, but also at least two years of experience in very significant cabinet positions,” Darboe said.

The UDP leader also discussed the Gambia First Coalition, saying the alliance is focused primarily on finding solutions to the country’s challenges rather than negotiating government positions.

Darboe said the UDP had delayed the release of its manifesto to give its coalition partners an opportunity to contribute their own policy proposals and ideas.

His comments come as the UDP seeks to present both its leadership and its broader political organization to voters ahead of the next presidential election, while questions about succession and the party’s identity beyond its longtime leader continue to feature in the national political debate.