Faal Says Criticism of Barrow Was Political, Not Personal, as He Joins NPP Alliance

By Makutu Manneh

Essa Mbye Faal, the leader of APP-Sobeyaa, said Sunday that his past criticism of President Adama Barrow was rooted in his responsibilities as an opposition politician, not in personal animosity toward the president.

Speaking at State House during a ceremony formalizing his party’s alliance with Mr. Barrow’s National People’s Party, Mr. Faal sought to explain his decision to join forces with a president whose administration he had repeatedly criticized.

“I criticized President Barrow because it was my responsibility as opposition, not because I hate him,” Mr. Faal said.

He said opposition politicians had a responsibility to speak out when they believed a government was acting against the national interest, adding that political criticism had flowed in both directions.

Mr. Faal noted that President Barrow and several of his political allies—including Demba Sabally, Momodou Sabally and Dr. Ismaila Ceesay—had also criticized him. He acknowledged that he had responded in kind.

“That is politics,” he said.

Mr. Faal, who had sought to challenge Mr. Barrow for the presidency, said he had now put aside his own presidential ambitions to work with the president.

“President Barrow has seen that I am someone who wants to be president, but I have now left it to him and will work alongside him to develop The Gambia,” he said.

Mr. Faal characterized the alliance as an example of political rivals setting aside their differences in pursuit of a common objective. Political disagreement, he said, should not prevent opponents from working together when they believe doing so is in the country’s interest.

He said that reasoning informed APP-Sobeyaa’s decision to enter the NPP-led alliance ahead of the presidential election.

Mr. Faal also defended disagreement as an essential feature of democratic politics, saying a political system in which everyone spoke with one voice would cease to be genuinely political.

The important thing, he said, was for political opponents to disagree respectfully and conduct their differences in a civil manner.

Mr. Faal said his decision to join the NPP-led alliance was ultimately driven by what he described as a desire to help move The Gambia forward.