05/09/2026
So, What Happened to the Sonko Inspiration?
UNITE came into Gambian politics promising something different. The movement presented itself as a new political force, inspired in part by the political transformation taking place in Senegal and the rise of Ousmane Sonko. Its leadership even travelled to Senegal to meet Sonko, apparently seeking to understand and draw from that new political model.
But after that trip, one has to ask; what happened to the Sonko inspiration?
Where is the promised rupture? Where is the new political culture?
Where is the alternative model of leadership and governance that UNITE told Gambians it wanted to bring?
Instead, UNITE increasingly appears to be entering the same political terrain it once criticised, coalition negotiations, political manoeuvring, rallies, branding and competition for political space. When a movement promises Gambians something fundamentally different, the difference must eventually be visible in its ideas, policies, organisation and political conduct.
And now, even holding a rally at a venue recently used by the UDP invites another question: if you promised to do politics differently, why does your political playbook increasingly look familiar?
There is nothing wrong with being inspired by Sonko. But inspiration is not imitation. Senegal has also shown that transforming an anti-establishment movement into a governing project is enormously difficult. The alliance between Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has fractured, while Senegal continues to face serious economic and governance challenges. The lesson is that political slogans and revolutionary language must eventually confront the hard realities of governing.
For UNITE, the question is therefore not whether its leaders once travelled to Senegal to meet Sonko.
The question is:
What did they bring back?
If the answer is a new political philosophy, Gambians should see it in the policies.
If the answer is a new approach to governance, Gambians should see it in the organisation.
If the answer is a new generation of politics, Gambians should see it in the way UNITE conducts itself.
Because changing the political packaging does not automatically create new politics.
The UDP has spent three decades building a political institution, developing grassroots structures, contesting elections, surviving political repression and putting forward policy alternatives. UNITE does not have to become the UDP, but if it claims to offer something better and different, it must demonstrate that difference rather than merely announce it.
You can change the venue. You can change the colours. You can change the slogans. But Gambians will ultimately judge the substance.
So, what happened to the Sonko inspiration?
