{"id":94302,"date":"2026-02-17T17:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:38:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:38:57","slug":"mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change, said on Monday that presidential hopefuls should be judged by their character, competence, and experience\u2014not by their age.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Coffee Time With Peter Gomez, Mr. Bensouda was asked whether The Gambia is prepared to entrust the presidency to a younger generation. He dismissed age as a meaningful benchmark.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat matters are your character, your reputation, and your capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are the things that speak to your ability to run a country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bensouda noted that The Gambia has previously been led by relatively young presidents, pointing to Sir Dawda Jawara, who assumed office in 1965, and Yahya Jammeh. The frequent use of the term \u201cyoung,\u201d he suggested, is often imprecise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn The Gambia, when people say \u2018young,\u2019 they might be referring to someone in their 50s, 40s, or even 20s,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what does \u2018young\u2019 really mean in terms of age?<\/p>\n<p>The mayor emphasized the country\u2019s demographics, noting that an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the population is youthful. Asked whether that demographic is ready to support a leader as young as himself, Mr. Bensouda replied in the affirmative, citing his record.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt generally is. That is why I mentioned President Jawara and Jammeh. I am older than both when they were vying for office. I am 40 this year, and I am a two-term mayor. I am not just any young person. I have run local governance for 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bensouda argued that his electoral victories were based on merit and experience, adding that no Gambian president before him had won office after governing at the local level. He contrasted that path with political trajectories in countries like Turkey and the United States, where aspiring national leaders often serve as mayors, governors, or legislators before seeking the highest office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that experience is needed as that capacity is built over time. The learning curve is a lot smaller,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Calls for younger leadership, Mr. Bensouda added, should be understood as a reflection of the country\u2019s population\u2014not a dismissal of experience, but a demand that leadership mirrors the nation it serves.<\/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, the mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change, said on Monday that presidential hopefuls should be judged by their character, competence, and experience\u2014not by their age. Speaking on Coffee Time With Peter Gomez, Mr. Bensouda was asked whether The Gambia is prepared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":94301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-94302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","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>Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...\" \/>\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\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\",\"name\":\"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness - Gambia","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness","datePublished":"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness"},"wordCount":388,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness","name":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-17T17:50:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T18:38:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the may ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1771353296.144404.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-advocates-age-and-presidential-readiness#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mayor Bensouda Advocates Age and Presidential Readiness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}