NPP DEBUNKS UMC’S CLAIM THAT BARROW OFFERED VICE PRESIDENCY TO TALIB
The ruling party has rejected claims that Presidenct Adama Barrow offered Kanifing mayor Talib Bensouda the positions of vice president or minister in a bid to lure him to join the National People’s Party.
A statement issued last evening by a spokesman for the party, Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie, explained: “NPP has noted with concern a recent interview circulating on mainstream and social media featuring Kemo Bojang [spokesman of Unite Movement for Change] in which he alleged that the secretary general and leader of the NPP offered Talib Bensouda the positions of vice president and minister of trade during a meeting he claimed to have attended. The NPP categorically rejects these allegations as false.
“The party has never entered into negotiations or engagements with Mr Bensouda regarding joining or aligning with the NPP. At no time has the party leader met or offered such positions to him or to any individual under such circumstances. Since 2021, no member of the NPP has been authorised to negotiate with any party or individual on matters relating to the position of vice president. Any person purporting to have held such discussions did so without the knowledge or approval of the party leader and the NPP.
“Official negotiations, where necessary, are conducted strictly by a team formally appointed by the party leader. No such team was ever constituted in relation to Mr Bensouda. The NPP leadership remains unaware of any purported negotiations with Mr Bensouda or his associates. While the party continues to mobilise support through its established structures, all engagements must remain consistent with official party policy.”
‘Embarrassing’
Earlier contacted for comment on the matter, Special Presidential Adviser Momodou Sabally categorically denied Kemo Bojang’s claims.
He told The Standard: “The UMC spokesman’s claim that President Barrow offered Talib Bensouda a VP position is false. Why would a sitting president offer such a position to a mayor whose party was defeated with a huge margin in the previous election? Rather, what we witnessed was the over-ambitious mayor kowtow to President Barrow in the wake of the incumbent’s landslide victory in 2021. Talib openly congratulated President Barrow on this election victory at the very time that his party rejected the results and initiated court proceedings to that effect.”
“True to his self-serving nature, Talib did not only go against the official stance of his party, UDP, he went further to seek audience with President Barrow purportedly to seek favours from him as his municipality was struggling to make progress amidst widespread corruption allegations. These kind of wild claims have now become a characteristic of the UMC. Recently, the UDP party leader broke from his usual reticence on personal allegations and went on the media to refute claims made by Talib and his surrogate Kemo Bojang calling them by their names and countering many false claims they made against him during their acrimonious contest for the position of flag bearer of UDP.
“Add these well-known embarrassing situations to the most recent one and anyone can conclude that the UMC and their surrogates can never be trusted. After claiming that they pulled together 30,000 voters to support their registration as a party, it is now public knowledge that this fledgling group cannot provide even one-third of the numbers they claimed to satisfy IEC requirements for party registration.”
Sabally said President Barrow knows that Talib Bensouda is a lightweight contender in the political field and therefore he is not worried about the embattled mayor in the current political cycle.
“A party whose chances of victory in the upcoming election have been forecast by CepRass at a paltry 2 percent cannot be a threat to an incumbent already polled to be the winner with massive transformational projects implemented nationwide including the historic electricity access project.”
While in deep shock, possibly regretting his untimely exit from UDP, Sabally added, Mayor Talib and his surrogates must accept the reality that the 2026 election is a two-horse race between the ruling NPP and the UDP; “and the only logical winner, as predicted by the polls, is President Adama Barrow, the nation’s electrifier-in-chief.”
Source: The Standard
