Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Ousainou Darboe has firmly rejected claims by Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) leader Ahmed Mai Fatty that he played a role in developing a government policy to issue national identity cards to Gambians living abroad. Darboe described the ongoing overseas issuance exercise as illegal and accused Mai Fatty of misleading the public in an attempt to justify it.
Darboe made the remarks during an interview on Coffee Time with Peter Gomez, responding to comments Mai Fatty made on the same program in August.
At the time, Mai Fatty, a former Minister of Interior and now a key figure in the ruling coalition, said it had been a “longstanding policy” of the government since 2017 to extend access to national identity documents to the Gambian diaspora.
Mai Fatty claimed that such a policy was discussed in a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when Darboe served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to him, both ministries agreed in principle that immigration officers could eventually be stationed in Gambian embassies abroad to issue ID cards and regularize documentation for Gambians, including those who had lost their papers or travelled irregularly.
“His Excellency Honorable Ousainou Darboe will attest to this fact,” Mai Fatty asserted, describing the policy as a constitutional responsibility to ensure all Gambians, regardless of location, have access to public services.
Darboe: “No, That Is False”
Responding on Monday, Darboe rejected both the policy claim and the implication that he endorsed ID issuance abroad. He clarified that the meeting Mai Fatty referred to concerned only the renewal of passports, not national identity cards.
Darboe said Gambians in the United Kingdom had complained to him about difficulties renewing their passports because the country was transitioning to biometric passports. He invited Mai Fatty to his office to discuss ways to ease the hardship on diaspora Gambians so they would not fall into irregular immigration status in their host countries.
“It was never a policy of the government to issue national identity cards abroad. What we discussed was facilitating passport renewals,” Darboe stated.
He argued that the issuance of ID cards outside The Gambia violates the National Identity Card Regulations, which require verification procedures that can only take place within Gambian administrative structures, including governors, alcalos, district chiefs, and local authorities who can vouch for a person’s citizenship.
“Do you have an alkalo in Mauritania? Or a National Assembly Member in Congo? Who will authenticate citizenship claims there?” Darboe asked.
He insisted that any such issuance outside the country is illegal, regardless of whether the government labels it a pilot project.
“Any policy that contradicts the law is not a policy. I, as a lawyer, would never support violating the laws of this country,” he said.
Mai Fatty vs. Darboe: A Growing Political Fault Line
The exchange adds fuel to a widening political divide between Darboe’s UDP and figures in the Barrow-led governing coalition, a divide shaped by the 2026 electoral horizon.
By framing the diaspora ID program as a constitutional service, Mai Fatty has argued that criticism from the opposition is designed to preemptively discredit the 2026 election results.
Darboe, however, maintains that the UDP never claimed the ID cards were intended for election manipulation, only that the process violates the law and risks undermining national identity integrity.
With diaspora political engagement rising and the IEC expected to face pressure over voter registration processes, the question of who can issue what documents, and where, is poised to become a central election issue.
And for now, Ousainou Darboe is uncompromising: “I never approved, I never agreed, and I will never support the illegal issuance of national identity cards abroad.”
