By Seedy Jobe
Fanding Baldeh, a former senior official of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), has urged The Gambia’s opposition parties to set aside their differences and unite behind a common front, arguing that a fragmented opposition will struggle to defeat President Adama Barrow and his governing coalition in the next election.
Speaking on the Grand Bantaba program on Friday, Mr. Baldeh, who previously served on the NPP’s West Coast Regional Executive Committee and chaired the party’s Fundraising Committee, said several major opposition parties had approached him about joining their ranks. He declined to identify the parties but said they shared a common desire to “rescue the country.”
“What The Gambia doesn’t need in the opposition sector is division,” Mr. Baldeh said. “What The Gambia needs in the opposition sector is unity to join together and be one.”
Mr. Baldeh said none of the parties aligned with the NPP-led coalition had contacted him. Instead, he said, nearly all of the country’s major opposition parties had reached out in recent months. Joining any one of them, however, would require him to campaign exclusively on its behalf, a commitment he said he is not prepared to make.
Rather than aligning himself with a single political organization, Mr. Baldeh said he intends to use his influence to encourage broader cooperation among opposition leaders.
He argued that the political reality facing the opposition demands a unified strategy. With President Barrow backed by a coalition of six political parties, Mr. Baldeh said no single opposition party is likely to mount a successful challenge on its own.
“The priority at this moment should not be individual party interests,” he said, adding that the focus should instead be on building a united movement capable of presenting a credible alternative to the governing coalition.
Mr. Baldeh said he would continue advocating for opposition unity until such an alliance is formed. Once opposition parties agree to work together, he said, he and others who share that objective would be prepared to lend their support to help unseat the NPP-led coalition and, in his view, put the country on a better course.
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