The mayor of the Kanifing Municiplaity, Talib Ahmed Bensouda, has asserted that without reforms dictatorship could be easily restored and continued. He made this remark during his recent interview in Senegal with Senegalese media entity Seneweb.
Bensouda stated: "What we wanted when we voted for Adama Barrow was ensure reform. It is reform that guarantees democracy. But if there are no such reforms, dictatorship could be reinstalled. After we voted for him, he should have carried out a constitutional reform, civil sector reform, security sector reform.
"Also a lot of things happened, wherein Jammeh killed many, tortured many and imprisoned many, but the justice we anticipated has not been achieved until now. These reforms have not been achieved. That is why we stand and continue to oppose, saying that Gambians did not want this, and this was not why Gambians voted for Adama Barrow."
Bensouda stated that these are their reasons for opposing the Barrow Administration, and that if they come to power, they will ensure the reforms that Gambians have been expecting.
Quizzed over term limit, he said that contrary to what the journalist believed, Barrow did not say that he would not run for a third term. Talib explained that there is no term limit in The Gambia, adding that term limit has been one of the most desired reform of his party (United Democratic Party). He highlighted that it is an internationally recognised best practice in the sphere of politics, rationalising that when a national leader stays in power for more than two terms, he or she begins to jeopardise things and mess up.
He underscored that term limit is something earnestly desired by the general Gambian populace, citing a recent survey by Afrobarometer, which is co-founded by a political scholar, researcher and university lecturer Sait Matty Jaw, that revealed nearly 70 per cent of Gambians want a new constitution, that 86 per cent of Gambians want a two-term limit for the presidency, and that the support for term limit has persistently remained high since 2018.
"Still we don't have that constitution," he said, affirming that this means President Barrow could continue to run and stay in power "for even up to a hundred years". He lambasted this, telling the Senegalese audience that his party's struggle resembles theirs during the tyrannical Macky reign.
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