Gambian president Adama Barrow will launch his own political party early next year, according to an official of a movement named after him.
Speaking in an interview aired on Star FM radio on Monday, Essa Dampha of the Barrow Youth Movement said the Gambian leader will form his own party as early as January 2020, a year before the country heads to presidential election.
Barrow, 54 was elected to the presidency as an independent candidate, having resigned from the United Democratci Party shortly before running against then incumbent Yahya Jammeh.
However in the weeks and months following his shock election victory, he had left Gambians in no doubt that his loyalty was with the UDP.
Through the course of this year, estranged relations with the UDP had quickly followed the sacking of its leader Ousainou Darboe as the country’s vice-president and other members of the party who were cabinet ministers.
Darboe recently issued a statement on behalf of the party demanding that President Barrow respect his word about standing down after three years as he had promised while leading an opposition coalition during the election campaign of 2016.
Last month what was left of the coalition had announced that Barrow would go for a full five-year term as constitutionally mandated.
In recent months, sharp divisions had emerged between Gambians who hold that President Barrow should be allowed to complete a full five-year term and others sympathetic to the Three Years Jotna Movement which has not hidden its intentions to shoot down his bid to go beyond three years.
WN/as/APA