{"id":93681,"date":"2026-02-10T18:19:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/a-political-party-should-not-follow-only-one-person"},"modified":"2026-02-10T19:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:37:39","slug":"a-political-party-should-not-follow-only-one-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-political-party-should-not-follow-only-one-person","title":{"rendered":"A Political Party should not Follow only one Person"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change (UMC), has emphasized that political parties should be driven by ideas and national development rather than individual personalities.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a party meeting in Nema Jola, Mayor Bensouda stressed that UMC is not built around his personal leadership, noting that political organizations must be grounded in principles, laws, and collective thinking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a party for the people. It is not the party of Talib Ahmed Bensouda,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one comes to UMC to follow Talib Ahmed Bensouda. People join us to develop the country. A political party should not be about one person; it should be about ideas, laws, and collective thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He further urged party supporters to maintain discipline and respect, particularly on social media, and to avoid engaging in online confrontations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am urging our supporters not to respond to insults or negative comments. We are a party built on respect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Bensouda also reaffirmed that the party\u2019s progress does not depend on his personal involvement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith or without Talib, UMC will move forward,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>He encouraged members to actively participate in the party\u2019s regional and national congresses while promoting respectful political engagement and avoiding insults or confrontations online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter what is said or what accusations are made against me, I will not respond,\u201d he added. \u201cYou do not respond to someone you are ahead of. Talib does not go back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change (UMC), has emphasized that political parties should be driven by ideas and national development rather than individual personalities. Speaking at a party meeting in Nema Jola, Mayor Bensouda stressed that UMC is not built around [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-93681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Political Party should not Follow only one Person - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-political-party-should-not-follow-only-one-person\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Political Party should not Follow only one Person\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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