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Alagi Yorro Jallow.Fatoumatta: Is it possible for bonafide ‘Sosalasso’ and another periphery ‘taf yengal’ political movements and their leaders vying to succeed President Adama Barrow on the December 4 election to distinguish themselves from the Barrow administration to redefine, reinvent and embark on the path of issue-based politics.
First, how responsive, persuasive canvassing impacts amongst Gambian voters, to underscore a methodological challenge for stimulating effects of a campaign by providing alternatives views to government policies, opposition leadership providing citizens with an alternative to the ruling government’s way of running the country, a far better alternative policy reputation, better governance style, and an executive, managerial leadership before the electorates better than the incumbent President in addressing dire the needs and aspiration of the people?
Fatoumatta: The presidency is a very political office. Those who contest for it often have to possess consummate political skills, not embark on political experiments representing ideological litmus tests that drove educated people from politics. However, it is a very administrative and strategic office that demands excellent managerial skills, insightful foresight, incredible experience, and organizational capability.
Alternatively, independents in history do still have the potential impact on winning election compared to the current crop of ‘tangal cheeb politicians in our body politics,’ in a sense, several eminent Gambian personalities who are non-political yet possess the salient skills necessary to turn our country around if they are given a chance. They are experienced in their area of expertise, are adept, are an intellectual force, have the sermonizing and sometimes radical ideas that would make them great presidents if Gambians knew what is good for them. They are educated, aware of what is wrong and how to fix it. They have the means and opportunities to organize.
People often choose the identity that is actually “independent” – not periphery taf yengal political parties. A considerable number of Gambians chose this label – in past elections. It is important to remember that identifying with a party is not the same as voting for that party. Some percent of Gambians are what we call “pure independents” – that is, people who identify as independents and claim not to favor parties with ideology have grown in recent years. This means that the vast majority of Gambians – are consistently non-partisans.
However, certain ‘taf yengal’ political parties must begin to draw a clear distinction between the conservative elitism of the ruling government of President Adama Barrow and the progressive reform the opposition offered to the electorates. They must do more than criticize the administration of President Barrow’s failings. Nevertheless, what the Gambian people need and expect from the Sosalasso opposition is the assurance that they have an intelligent, attainable, alternative program and vision for reforming the Gambia’s political economy.
Fatoumatta: It is challenging for ‘taf yengal’ opposition parties to win presidential elections in Africa. They have to confront the external challenge by incumbent parties that make it difficult for them to operate. They also face the internal challenge of forging unity among the opposition’s various leaders, most of whom believe agreement and harmony should only happen under their tutelage. When ‘taf yengal’ opposition parties effectively address the two challenges, their chances of defeating an incumbent ruling party is usually high.
The excellent fruit salad coalition and unity of the Gambia’s opposition in the 2016 gesture was widely hailed and described as an indication of great hope for democracy in Africa and particularly for The Gambia, which Jammeh had ruled with an iron fist for 22 years. That election was also perhaps the most important political development in The Gambia in 56 years – the government’s first change through democratic elections. President Adama Barrow was the product of a coalition of opposition parties who provided the platform for the people’s yearning for change.
The external challenge of the abuse of incumbency powers is powerful. All over Africa, there have been widespread cases of abuses of incumbency’s regime following the demise of authoritarian rule and the institution of democracy. It is clear that despite the signs of general acceptance of political pluralism and the conduct of electoral processes, many characters show continuity with the preceding post-colonial period of one-person and one-party rule. In many instances, presidents and their political parties tend to have a disproportionate influence on the judiciary’s operations, the legislature, and election management bodies. In particular, there are many cases of electoral malpractices that the incumbent government has perpetrated with the assistance of various governmental agencies and security agencies. Wherever strict presidential limits have been established, the incumbent presidents have often sought the option of making Constitutional changes that enable them to stay in power beyond the expiration of their tenure. Financial resources are unlawfully used to maintain the dominant party in power. The opposition is usually not allowed to flourish, thereby undermining the critical element of regular political competition in a democratic system.
Fatoumatta: In extreme cases, security forces are used to quell political dissent and establish an overt monopolization of power by the incumbent administration. The African Union (AU) held a summit of presidents and actual government figures in Durban in 2002 that brought into effect the Memorandum of Understanding on Security, Stability, Development, and Co-operation in Africa that features a code of conduct placing limitations on presidential term limits. However, what becomes evident in the African process of democratization is that, despite such binding regional agreements and domestic policies to deepen democracy, the formal commitment to democratic rules does not usually translate into political practice.
Similarly, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance adopted during the AU Assembly in Addis Ababa in 2007 had thirty signatories, but only three ratified the document. One study had concluded that despite the ‘theoretical possibility of a loss of elections by an incumbent president, the statistical probability of it occurring is around 14%. In 2010/2011, six of the nine presidential elections in Africa were won by the incumbent. In another study, 18 African presidents who had completed their constitutional two terms in power were examined. Half of them chose to alter the constitution for tenure elongation, and six of those were successful. The abuse of the power of incumbency remains a central challenge to African democracy in this era. The military dictatorships and single-party governments of the immediate post-colonial past have been transformed into dominant party systems that do not allow meaningful electoral contestation, political inclusion, and democratic consolidation through incumbency powers’ abuse.
Fatoumatta: In the Gambia, we have had an extensive history of incumbents using security agencies and anti-corruption organs to harass opposition members considered a threat. The most severe threat that incumbent leaders have placed on the opposition is engaging in extensive election rigging practices and voter intimidation through the participation of different society segments, particularly those who could be bribed through financial means, including security personnel overseeing the conduct of elections. Finally, the monopolization of various media platforms and control of information by the ruling party and the accompanying limitation of access of the opposition parties access to state-owned media platforms is another factor.
The extensive abuse of incumbency power in dealing with opposition parties is a sign of weakness rather than a ruling party’s strength. Parties in power are often corrupt and very poor in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people. They tend to have minimal legitimacy due to underhand ways they have used to get to power and therefore feel vulnerable to the opposition’s threat. Their strong-arm tactics against the political foe are consequently a sign of weakness. However, the opposition parties are often unable to take advantage of their chance to take over power because they get embroiled in internal bickering that demobilizes their capacity to unite and confront the incumbent effectively.
Our attention draws attention to certain tangal cheeb politicians’ ambitions, which might become a stumbling block to the unity of the opposition against President Adama Barrow and his National People’s Party (NPP). This is indeed true. It is in virtually every tangal cheeb politician’s DNA to believe he or she is the very best leader available. Therefore, others should stand down for him. The opposition parties’ merger is likely to happen. Each of the leaders is thinking they could use the new enlarged platform to carry forward their ambition. Such attitudes have bedeviled opposition politics in Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria, and the Gambia. Sometimes, however, opposition parties have successfully united and won elections in Malawi, Zambia, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, and Niger and a historic coalition of opposition in 2016 that finally exiled Yahya Jammeh.
Fatoumatta: It will be interesting to see if Salihu Lukman, one of the leading scholar and theorist in Democracy, Politics Power and Political Competition in Africa and his book “Manifesto of Opposition Politics,” he argues that Opposition Parties” can only provide sufficient reasons manifest their opposition to incumbency and to refocus on issue-based politics that go beyond the interest of a person as they prepare for the December 4 presidential election given the context of the on-going attempts to unite as a credible opposition against an incumbent behemoth, which has already threatened self perpetuate to rule beyond two-term limits.