By Momodou Krubally

This is Mai Fatty a former opposition party leader, a one time fierce critic of Adama Barrow, and someone I personally worked closely with during the struggle against the Yahya Jammeh dictatorship.

That history makes what I am hearing from Mai today particularly disappointing.

In Gambian society, Mai has long been regarded as an educated, well travelled, and experienced political figure. With that background comes a responsibility to conduct oneself with a certain level of dignity, professionalism, and principle.

Politics is about winning hearts and minds. It is about persuasion, competition, and sometimes very sharp disagreement. But politics should never require us to surrender our principles or our dignity. There must be a line between political advocacy and allowing oneself to become an “attack dog” for others.

Our reputations are built over many years and can be diminished in a matter of moments. Political loyalty should never come at the expense of personal integrity. Neither should financial or political gain.

Mai and I stood together during some of the darkest days of our country’s history. We worked toward the same objective: ending Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship and creating the possibility of a better Gambia. I remember those days, and I remember the principles that brought many of us together. I remember the conversations, how we hated what yaya and his people were doing to our people.

That is why I am not merely disappointed. I am genuinely saddened. And my sadness goes beyond Mai.

I am saddened by what this says about the political culture we are creating in The Gambia. Many of us who opposed Jammeh did so because we believed the country deserved better than politics built on intimidation, personal attacks, political expediency, and the pursuit of power at any cost.

We cannot say we fought to change the system only to reproduce the same political habits under different people.

The real test of political leadership is not how aggressively one can attack an opponent. It is whether one can maintain principle when political interests are at stake.

We expected the leaders who emerged from the struggle against dictatorship to set a higher standard. We expected better. The Gambia deserves better. Mai was expected to do better.

Those of us who were part of that struggle have a responsibility to say so not out of bitterness, but because the principles we fought for should not be forgotten simply because the political landscape has changed. I have no doubt that Mai will one day look back and realized that he disappointed many and he is no different than the dictator he fought.