Darboe Questions Barrow’s Alliance With Former Opponents of His Presidency

By Makutu Manneh

Ousainu Darboe, the leader of the United Democratic Party, has questioned President Adama Barrow’s alliance with political figures who opposed his assumption of office during the 2016-17 political impasse, saying he could not understand how some of Mr. Barrow’s fiercest opponents at the time had become prominent allies of his government.

In an interview with Kerr Fatou, Mr. Darboe singled out Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the speaker of the National Assembly, and Seedy Njie, the deputy speaker. Both men were senior figures in former President Yahya Jammeh’s government during the political crisis that followed the December 2016 presidential election.

Mr. Darboe recalled a motion introduced by Mr. Jatta in the National Assembly during the impasse seeking to declare a state of emergency. He characterized the move as part of an effort to prevent Mr. Barrow, who had defeated Mr. Jammeh at the polls, from taking office.

“Jatta really wanted to have democracy dethroned in this country,” Mr. Darboe said sarcastically.

He also pointed to statements he attributed to Mr. Njie during the crisis, saying the former ruling-party official had maintained that Mr. Barrow would not be sworn in as president in The Gambia.

Mr. Barrow was ultimately sworn in on Jan. 19, 2017, at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, as Mr. Jammeh remained in power in Banjul. Mr. Jammeh left The Gambia two days later after sustained diplomatic pressure from regional leaders and the deployment of a West African military force.

Nearly a decade later, the political relationships have changed considerably.

Mr. Jatta is now the leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, the party founded by Mr. Jammeh, and serves as speaker of the National Assembly. His party has aligned itself with Mr. Barrow’s National People’s Party. Mr. Njie, another former APRC official, serves as deputy speaker and is also a prominent ally of the president.

For Mr. Darboe, those alliances raise questions about the political principles that underpinned the effort to remove Mr. Jammeh and ensure that the results of the 2016 election were respected.

He argued that the embrace of figures who resisted the transfer of power undermined the sacrifices made by Gambians who opposed Mr. Jammeh’s attempt to remain in office.

Mr. Darboe said that if confronted with a similar political choice, he would rather lose an election than seek the support of people who had tried to prevent him from assuming an office he had legitimately won.

Mr. Barrow and the APRC leadership have defended their political alliance as being in the interest of national reconciliation and political cooperation. Mr. Jatta’s APRC recently renewed its alliance with the NPP ahead of the 2026-27 electoral cycle.

Turning to the UDP’s own history, Mr. Darboe urged younger Gambians to remember the role opposition activists played during Mr. Jammeh’s 22-year rule, when political dissent was often met with arrests, intimidation, and restrictions on political activity.

He said the political freedoms Gambians enjoy today were not simply granted by the former government, but were secured through years of resistance and sacrifice by people who challenged it.

“Gambia gained freedom because of us, and we say this with our heads up, and nobody can contradict that,” Mr. Darboe said.