Team Gambia Coalition Pledges New Constitution Within 18 Months if Elected

By Seedy Jobe

Team Gambia Grand Coalition 2026 has outlined an ambitious political and governance agenda ahead of the 2026-27 election cycle, pledging to introduce a new constitution within 18 months if elected and to select its presidential candidate through nationwide consultations.

The coalition, formally established on Sept. 12 after months of consultations, presented its plans at a news conference on Monday, Sept. 21, at a local hotel.

Sidia Jatta, the veteran politician, opened the gathering by describing the initiative as different from previous political alliances in The Gambia. He said the emphasis should be placed on the word “team” rather than simply viewing the organization as another electoral coalition.

A team, Jatta said, is a cohesive group whose members share a common purpose and understand the roles they must play to achieve it. Drawing an analogy to football, he cited Barcelona under Pep Guardiola and its possession-based “tiki-taka” style, saying every player was involved in pursuing a common objective.

Jatta said Team Gambia hoped to apply a similar approach to politics, with participating groups working toward an agreed-upon national agenda rather than pursuing individual interests.

Halifa Sallah, another veteran politician, later addressed the gathering on behalf of the coalition. He stressed that he was neither its leader nor its spokesman, but had been assigned to brief the media following discussions among its members.

Sallah said the coalition’s central objective was to “hand Gambia back to her people,” arguing that the country had endured 61 years of what the group considers poor governance.

He said Team Gambia grew out of consultations conducted from March 2 through Aug. 26 involving political actors, civil society organizations, and citizens. Following a review meeting on Aug. 29, participants agreed to formally establish the coalition on Sept. 12.

According to Sallah, the coalition currently brings together five political parties, while a sixth remains in consultations. It also includes eight political movements, two brokers, two independent presidential aspirants, four civil society organizations, and eight prominent Gambians who signed its founding agreement.

Sallah said the coalition was formed around a shared belief that Gambians do not exercise sufficient control over their country and its resources, leading the group to adopt “handing Gambia back to her people” as its central theme.

Among its priorities is constitutional reform.

Sallah criticized the current constitutional framework for not imposing presidential term limits and for allowing a candidate to become president without receiving an absolute majority of votes. He said Team Gambia would seek to establish presidential term limits and require a successful presidential candidate to receive more than 50 percent of votes cast.

The coalition also pledged to establish what Sallah called the Constitution of the Third Republic within 18 months of taking office.

“We will ensure that within 18 months we will deliver the Constitution of the Third Republic,” he said. “That is a promise.”

Sallah said coalition members should be held collectively accountable if they fail to fulfill that commitment.

He also sought to distinguish Team Gambia from the opposition coalition that defeated former President Yahya Jammeh in the 2016 election. This initiative, he said, was intended to extend beyond an alliance of political party leaders by incorporating civil society groups, workers, farmers, women and young people.

The coalition is also proposing an economic program focused on reducing poverty. Sallah said it would seek to eradicate extreme poverty during a five-year mandate by using the country’s land and other resources to expand access to housing, food, infrastructure and quality health care.

He described the coalition’s consensus-building process as a “nursery” in which participants are learning to work together while preparing for what he characterized as an extraordinary national task.

Questions about who will lead the coalition into the presidential election remain unresolved.

Sallah said the immediate objective was not to elevate any particular individual to the presidency but to establish a coalition capable of implementing its agreed program. Under the proposed selection process, presidential aspirants would form a forum and conduct consultations across the country before a flag bearer is chosen from among them.

Team Gambia also plans to extend its coalition model to National Assembly and local government elections.

Sallah said prospective candidates from political parties, movements and independent backgrounds would be free to seek support in their constituencies. The coalition would then seek to field a single candidate in each race, with successful candidates expected to remain accountable to the coalition’s broader agenda rather than solely to their individual parties.

Sallah said the coalition ultimately hopes that, within five years, it can reshape the country’s political landscape, strengthen its participating organizations and create what he described as a level playing field for multiparty competition after its administration.