By Lamin Cham
The Standard has received irrefutable information that the governing National People’s Party NPP and one of its arch rivals, the Gambia Democratic Congress of Mamma Kandeh, are poised to sign an alliance ahead of the December presidential elections.
According to our source, the two parties have finalised negotiations and will formally sign the agreement at an unveiling ceremony later this week. Our source said this followed a national consultations tour by the GDC with majority of its members agreeing to a proposed alliance with the NPP, though a few voices raised concern and called for caution.
The leaders of the two parties President Adama Barrow and Mamma Kandeh come from the same constituency, Jimara.
In 2007, they fought a local derby in the National Assembly elections for the Jimara seat which Kandeh won for the then ruling APRC against Barrow’s UDP.
However in 2016, the two met, this time on the national level in a three-man contest with Adama Barrow winning both Kandeh who came distinct third, and incumbent Yahya Jammeh.
Despite this last laugh, Barrow could not easily tame Kandeh, even after eating up most of his political bases.
An attempt to forge an alliance with ever stubborn Kandeh failed last year. This time though, the two men seem to have successfully agreed to work together. It is not immediately known what has been offered or accepted, with both sides tightly holding on the details of the proposed agreement from the public eye.