By Fatou Sillah
Lamin Manneh, a senior official of the United Democratic Party, has placed responsibility for the collapse of The Gambia’s 2016 opposition coalition squarely on President Adama Barrow, accusing him of abandoning key commitments that underpinned the alliance that brought him to power.
In an interview with Teledal TV, Mr. Manneh, who serves as the party’s deputy administrative secretary for external affairs, said the coalition had been founded on an agreement for a three-year transitional presidency — a promise he said was never honored.
“The failure was on Barrow because he was the president,” Mr. Manneh said. “The coalition started with promises of a three-year transition, but that didn’t happen.”
Mr. Manneh also accused Mr. Barrow of marginalizing members of the United Democratic Party shortly after assuming office, a move he described as a turning point that weakened trust among coalition partners.
“In 2017 he was advised to jettison UDP members so he could do what he wanted — that’s when the coalition problems began,” he said.
The 2016 coalition, formed by several opposition parties, succeeded in ending Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule and ushered in hopes of democratic renewal. But tensions soon emerged between President Barrow and the UDP, the largest party in the alliance, eventually leading to a political split and the president’s formation of his own party, the National People’s Party.
Mr. Manneh said the Barrow administration had also squandered a critical opportunity to enact sweeping reforms in key institutions, including the security services, the judiciary, and the constitution — changes he argued were essential for consolidating democratic gains after decades of authoritarian rule.
“Security sector reform, judiciary reform, and constitutional reform didn’t even start,” he said. “That was a missed opportunity for a stronger democracy.”
Comments are closed.