{"id":95694,"date":"2026-04-05T08:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T08:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/darboe-reaffirms-presidential-ambition-amid-national-issues"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T10:00:27","slug":"darboe-reaffirms-presidential-ambition-amid-national-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/darboe-reaffirms-presidential-ambition-amid-national-issues","title":{"rendered":"Darboe Reaffirms Presidential Ambition Amid National Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>The Secretary General and party leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), Lawyer Ousainu ANM Darboe, has reaffirmed his intention to contest the presidency, citing enduring national challenges that, he says, necessitate his continued participation in the country\u2019s political leadership.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive interview with Think Africa on Friday, April 3, 2026, Mr. Darboe pledged to deliver meaningful change in The Gambia, highlighting persistent issues such as poverty, inequality, and poor governance.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining his decision to run again after multiple previous bids, Mr. Darboe stated that the conditions that motivated his first presidential contest in 1996 remain largely unchanged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m standing now because the circumstances that led me to contest in the 1996 presidential elections still exist. It would be a default on my part if I do not again respond to the call by the Gambian people\u2014by the majority\u2014to seek this high office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the presidency provides a critical platform to shape governance, noting that his background as a human rights lawyer would influence his approach to leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis office, which of course controls everything, because as a holder of that high office, my credentials as a human rights lawyer will really be stamped on the administration of this country,\u201d he added.Mr. Darboe criticized what he described as a disconnect between political leaders and the general population, accusing those in power of prioritizing personal comfort over national development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur political leaders, our leaders, they live flamboyant lifestyles; they live extravagant lifestyles at the expense of the ordinary people of the Gambia. Instead of our meager resources being properly harnessed and being properly used for the good of the common man, our resources are used to really pamper those in office,\u201d he asserted.The UDP leader outlined four key priority areas for his prospective administration: constitutional reform, economic development, civil service reform, and security sector reform.<\/p>\n<p>On constitutional reform, he emphasized the need to replace the current legal framework, which he argued is rooted in the country\u2019s past military rule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot continue to be governed by the constitution that the military dictatorship imposed on us. We have also amended it about 52 times just to ensure that the regime is self-perpetuated. We want to address that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe also pledged to revitalize the economy and strengthen public institutions, including reforms in both the civil service and the security sector.<\/p>\n<p>In a notable commitment, he reiterated his long-standing pledge to serve only a single five-year term if elected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want them to give me a five-year mandate, and I will seek no other mandate. That is what I asked the Gambian people to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that this promise dates back to his initial candidacy in 1996 and remains unchanged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see, if you go back to 1996, that was the promise I had given to the Gambian people when I was much younger. That was the promise I had given to the Gambian people that gave me the mandate, and I will serve only for five years,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe expressed confidence that key reforms could be achieved within a single term, particularly constitutional and security sector reforms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI certainly believe that the three areas can be completed within that five-year period, i mean, to give the Gambian people a constitution, that shouldn\u2019t take more than three years. To carry out a genuine and effective security reform, sectoral reform should not take more than four years, he said. \u201cI can assure you that within five years, I will address these three major areas, and then the reforms will continue to be carried out by my successors.\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. The Secretary General and party leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), Lawyer Ousainu ANM Darboe, has reaffirmed his intention to contest the presidency, citing enduring national challenges that, he says, necessitate his continued participation in the country\u2019s political leadership. In an exclusive interview with Think Africa on Friday, April [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","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>Darboe Reaffirms Presidential Ambition Amid National Issues - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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