By Haddy Touray
UNITE National Campaign Manager MC Cham Jr has criticized former Coalition 2026 Chairman Prof. Yerro Mballow over his continued objections to the outcome of the coalition’s flagbearer selection process.
Cham argues that Mballow cannot resign from the process and subsequently seek to determine its outcome.
He said Mballow abandoned the chairmanship at a critical stage of the process and therefore relinquished the authority attached to the position before Talib was elected.
“He cannot surrender the office while attempting to keep its authority,” Cham said, arguing that stakeholders who remained in the process had the right to complete it and that their decision should take precedence over the objections of a former chairman.
He likened Mballow’s position to that of a referee who leaves the field before the final whistle and later attempts to cancel the result.
According to Cham, Mballow’s resignation brought his mandate to an end and did not constitute a temporary suspension of his authority.
He also challenged allegations reportedly made by Mballow concerning vote buying in the selection process, saying serious allegations must be supported by credible evidence.
Cham said Mballow should identify the alleged payer and recipient, disclose the amount and date of any payment and demonstrate that it was intended to influence the outcome of a vote.
“Without that direct connection, his claim remains unsubstantiated,” he said, adding that repeated public statements or anonymous testimony could not substitute for evidence.
Cham further questioned the status of any report prepared by Mballow after his resignation, arguing that the former chairman could not present a personal assessment as an official coalition report without proper authorization from stakeholders.
He also raised questions about Mballow’s own political affiliation, noting that he entered the first coalition sitting as a declared member of APP-Sobeyaa before subsequently becoming chairman of the talks.
Cham argued that holding the chairmanship did not automatically erase Mballow’s political affiliation and called for the same scrutiny of his neutrality that he had applied to other participants in the process.
“A person questioning the neutrality of an entire process must be willing to answer reasonable questions about his own neutrality,” Cham said.
He maintained that Mballow’s resignation did not prevent stakeholders from completing the selection process and urged the former chairman to accept that the process had moved beyond his authority.
Meanwhile, Dr Omar Malmo Sambou has also intensified his criticism of Mballow, questioning his continued attacks on UNITE following his resignation as Coalition 2026 chairman.
In a statement, Sambou described Mballow as “the real definition of fake it till you make it” and questioned how he came to chair a major opposition coalition process.
Sambou also challenged the use of the title “Professor” in reference to Mballow, alleging that it was a nickname dating back to his Armitage days rather than a formal academic title.
He criticized journalists and media organizations for using the title without, in his view, adequately verifying Mballow’s academic credentials or institutional affiliation.
Responding to questions about why he raised the issue only after the latest controversy, Sambou said he had previously assumed that a professor was leading the coalition process and had therefore accorded it the respect associated with the title.
“I always thought some professor was running it and gave the process the respect based on the title of the head,” he remarked.
Sambou further argued that while individuals may use nicknames privately, presenting an unverified academic title at formal events or allowing it to be used in news reports without clarification could be misleading.
The comments by Cham and Sambou come amid continuing disagreements within opposition political circles over the Coalition 2026 flagbearer selection process and the subsequent formation of the UNITE movement.