Dear Editor,
For years, and with particular intensity in the period leading to the 2026 presidential election, you positioned yourself as one of President Barrow’s most outspoken critics. In January this year, you described your political mission as being a voice for the people, “speaking truth to power” and holding the government accountable. You accused the administration of corruption, maladministration and violations of rights.
Only months ago, while addressing Gambians in Foni, you warned that another Barrow term would mean greater hardship, shortages and increasingly expensive food. In 2025, you publicly criticised the administration’s ministerial appointments and questioned its competence and ability to deliver.
So, Essa, my question is simple:
What, fundamentally, has changed?
Has the economy fundamentally changed? Has the governance you criticised fundamentally changed? Has the corruption you complained about disappeared? Has the administration suddenly become competent in the areas where you repeatedly argued it was failing?
If the system you so vigorously criticised has materially improved, Gambians deserve to hear precisely how. If your assessment of President Barrow’s leadership has changed, explain what changed it. If the policies you condemned have been corrected, identify them.
Because, Essa, you cannot spend years vehemently telling Gambians that a system is failing them, warn them against giving that same government another term, and then join forces with that government without giving those same Gambians a serious and convincing explanation.
For many who believed your words, such a dramatic reversal risks being seen not merely as a change in political strategy, but as a betrayal of political trust.
These questions become even more compelling because your political project was built around the language of “Turn Around.” Your party presented a blueprint promising to fight corruption, improve healthcare and education, reform the public service, create jobs and transform infrastructure.
Today, therefore, “Turn Around” confronts perhaps its greatest test: can a political movement built around changing the system credibly enter an alliance with the very administration it spent years arguing needed to be changed?
Of course, you possess the same constitutional and democratic rights as every Gambian. You may associate with Barrow, the NPP or whichever political organisation you choose.
But political freedom does not eliminate political accountability.
Your voice has grown beyond Essa Faal the private citizen. People listened to you. People trusted you. People defended you. Some joined your political movement because they believed what you told them about the direction of their country.
That is why this is bigger than your individual right to political association.
What changed between the Essa who warned Gambians against another Barrow term and the Essa who is now prepared to politically align with him?
Essa, allow me to remind you of your own political message: “Turn Around.”
Perhaps this is the moment to reflect deeply on those very words.
Barrow will not be President forever. No president will. Governments come and go. Elections come and go. Political alliances come and go.
But your name will remain. Your words will remain. Your record will remain.
You have spent years building a reputation nationally and internationally. There are moments when political expediency must be weighed against consistency, credibility and the principles upon which one’s public identity has been built. I believe this is one of those moments.
And please, Essa, don’t allow the familiar phrase “there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics” to become the answer. Political alliances may change, but principles should mean something. Otherwise, politics becomes little more than a competition for power.
You asked Gambians to believe that The Gambia could Turn Around. Today, Gambians are entitled to ask you to explain your own political turn.
Explain what changed.
Explain which principles remain non-negotiable.
Explain what this alliance offers ordinary Gambians.
Explain how you intend to hold accountable an administration you previously said needed to be held accountable.
And explain how a political movement built around transformation reconciles its programme with supporting the continuation of President Barrow’s administration.
Your international accomplishments cannot answer those questions for you. Your eloquence cannot answer them. Your past service cannot answer them.
Only you can.
History has a long memory, Essa. Political moments pass. Elections come and go. Governments rise and fall. But words, principles and choices remain part of the public record.
That is why, Essa, I respectfully ask you to reconsider.
Not because you do not have the right to make this decision. You absolutely do. But because the Gambians who listened to you, trusted you and believed the arguments you made against another Barrow term deserve consistency or, at the very least, a compelling explanation for such a profound political reversal.
Essa, you asked The Gambia to Turn Around.
Before taking a political turn that may redefine how many Gambians remember your public record, look again at the principles, words and reputation you have spent years building.
Please reconsider.
Foroya mun kanwo’leti.
Nobility is preserving one’s voice, principles and dignity.
Yours truly,
Karamo Conteh
A concerned Gambian