Tambajang Preaches Coalition Unity, Blames Tactical Alliance for Disarray

The co-chairperson of the governing Coalition 2016, Fatoumata Tambjang has called on the members of the coalition to remain together as a family, arguing that no single party can win future elections by 51 percent if the new constitution comes into force.

She was speaking to journalists at the end of Saturday’s crunch meeting of coalition stakeholders at Kairaba Beach Hotel. The ex-Vice President said the creation of tactical alliance led to the disarray in the coalition when political parties in the coalition contested last parliamentary election individually.

“In a new institution, particularly when it is so diverse and people have different political ideologies and commitment, you cannot have 100 percent common front,” she said. “But we’ve tried as much as possible during the parliamentary elections. This is a lesson that we can learn from for the way forward if we’re going to remain as a coalition till 2021”.

Tambajang promised to look at the challenges and push for the revival of the coalition that unseated ex-president Yahya Jammeh and brought the Barrow administration to power.

“It has made history. It has become a model in Africa and the world at large. It was historically unprecedented. So the best way again is to reconcile us.”

“Right now we all know the reality. Let’s not fool ourselves. We have read in the media, we have heard people talking on audios and we have heard political leaders saying different things. As a coalition we want to remain as a family and speak with one voice,” Tambajang told the media.  

Meanwhile, the discussion on the coalition MoU has been moved to Monday after most of the key stakeholders failed to show up on Saturday.