The nation will recall that by midmid-2016 hearts were in flames and minds were in turmoil as political forces on different sides of the political spectrum traded dare straits that sought to set the nation in flames. Political leaders like Ousainou Darboe and many members of his party leadership were incarcerated. Many political activists went into exile. Arson attack was orchestrated and many plots hatched in Senegal and in the diaspora for ways and means of including Gambia in what was then referred to as a trend of the Arab Spring without any visible local force that was mobilizing or could mobilise the Gambian people into a mass uprising for any sort of change. Hopelessness and helplessness were the order of the day. Opposition parties were seen as irrelevant and incapable of removing an entrenched government.
It was during this period that the PDOIS presidential candidate-initiated dialogue with five other presidential candidates aimed at combining their collective weight in support of one among their numbers to be the sole candidate of the opposition for the presidential election of 1st December 2016 in order to bring about peaceful change through the ballot box.
After the first stage succeeded, he approached Dembo Bojang to convene a meeting of opposition parties so that they will select equal number of delegates to vote so that any of the presidential candidates with the majority of votes would be the flagbearer. Dembo Bojang accepted to convene the meeting of opposition parties that led to the establishment of Coalition 2016 and the selection of flagbearer for the 1st December, 2016 presidential election.
This is the initiative that made it possible for political prisoners like Ousainou Darboe who were incarcerated to be released and eventually became Vice President, and a number of the other prisoners became Ministers. Many people who were officers of opposition parties or political activists were released to become president, vice president, ministers, ambassadors, directors and officials of all categories. That was why Halifa Sallah said at his funeral that all these people owe their benefits to Dembo Bojang’s legacy of taking the right decision at the right time to effect change through the ballot box for the first time in the history of The Gambia since it attained the right to self determination on 18th February, 1965.
This legacy will now be sustained in history books for eternity. We join his family in mourning their loss while celebrating his legacy.
