By Buba Gagigo
The final election of the executives at National Congress of the United Democratic Party (UDP) presently underway in Janjanbureh, CRR, is pushed to Sunday, December 11, 2022, to allow nominated candidates to vie for six contested positions.
The Congress, which started on Friday in Janjanbureh with fanfare, suddenly turned chaotic in the early hours of Saturday evening when the master of ceremonies announced that Karafa Sonko, the incumbent National Campaign Manager, was duly elected to the same position. Mr. Sonko was at the time of the MC’s announcement nominated by two delegates, making the announcement premature. Delegates supporting the nomination of Momodou Sabally, upon hearing the announcement, forcefully rushed to the dais and demand for the master of ceremonies to rescind the announcement he made. This led to skirmishes between the party delegates supporting the nomination of the two men.
When the dust settles, the delegates supporting Momodou Sabally were granted the opportunity to nominate their candidate for the position of National Campaign Manager. Upon the nomination of Mr. Sabally, the delegates to the National Congress took a unanimous decision to postpone voting on all remaining nominations to Sunday, December 11, 2022, to give nominees the opportunity to dialogue.
In addition to the National Campaign Manager executive position that incumbent Karafa Sonko and Momodou Sabally are vying for, the following executive positions and candidates are on the ballot tomorrow morning.
1 Wandifa Mbaye and Bubacarr Loppy Jammeh are on the ballot for the Deputy Campaign Manager position
2. Sheriffo Bayor Sonko and Yankuba Darboe are on the ballot for Deputy Head of the Media team.
3. Kemo Bojang and Haji Suwaneh are on the ballot for National Youth President position.
4. Maimuna Gaye and Mariama Suso are on the ballot for the Secretary General of Female Wing.
5. Abubacarr Nimaga Ceesay and Lamin Manneh are on the ballot for Administrative Secretary External Affairs position.
The elections for the contested positions were initially scheduled to be held today, Saturday, December 10, 2022, but due to the chaos that ensued in the premature announcement of Karafa’s election to a contested position, delegates to the congress unanimously agreed to move the election to tomorrow, Sunday, December 11 2022 to allow candidates to discuss among themselves and let cooler heads prevail.