By Tabora Bojang
The United Movement for Change, UNITE, has announced its withdrawal from the APeX Initiative, a different and first ever opposition coalition talks that also included the UDP, APP-Sobeyaa and Gambia For All among others.
News of UMC’s exit from the initiative first emerged in a statement by APeX issued yesterday.
According to APeX, they have concluded more than 18 months of negotiations involving opposition parties and movements leading to the formation of a coalition dubbed CHANGE- (Coalition for Hope, Accountability, National-renewal, Good governance, and Equity).
It said the parties involved are expected to formally adopt a coalition agreement next Sunday with the flag bearer selection of a presidential flag bearer to begin immediately.
Contacted on the reported exit of Unite from the initiative, coming in the wake of Talib Bensouda’s declaration as flagbearer of the CMC coalition, the party’s campaign manager MC Cham said: “We cannot have Apex and coalition 2026 at the same time. One process has been concluded and the same parties that took part in it are the ones in the other one too.”
Chairman Mballow’s conduct
Responding to allegations of inducement at the recent CMC coalition talks, and the declaration of chief negotiator Professor Yerro Mballow dissociating himself with the flag bearer selection ‘due to lack of transparency’ among other claims, and calling for an investigation, Cham said the conduct of Mballow should be closely examined.
“He entered the talks by introducing himself as a representative of APP-Sobeyaa and later became chairman of the broader coalition process. Given the importance of neutrality in such a role, that progression was always likely to attract scrutiny. His decision to resign and then called for an investigation after the process had concluded, now raises legitimate questions about why those concerns were not raised earlier,” Cham said. He said Mballow’s latest intervention has revealed more than he may have intended. “It appears he was prepared to chair the process while his preferred candidate remained in contention, but began questioning it after that candidate failed to emerge as the winner, Gambians are now entitled to question the consistency of his position. A chairman cannot appear satisfied with a process when events are moving in a direction he prefers and then seek to reopen it when the final outcome becomes inconvenient,” MC Cham argued.