Gambia, now governed by a coalition led by President Adama Barrow after Yahya Jammeh’s violent dictatorship, appears to be making better progress than other African countries recovering from similar long-term dictatorships. Barrow is building democracy, inclusivity and a sustainable economy, though his increasing use of autocratic measures to battle critics raises fears of a backslide.
Jammeh, who seized power in a military coup in 1994, left the country of two-million with 130% of GDP debt. Not only did he leave Gambia bankrupt, he hollowed out the state and institutions, and fostered a culture in which clientelistic-based relations became the norm.
In 2016 seven of the country’s opposition parties united for the first time to form an alliance, Coalition 2016, under Barrow, then a leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP). The aim was to take on Jammeh and his ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). The coalition won.
However, in 2019 it collapsed after Barrow refused to honour a promise that he would call an election he would not contest after three years. He fired all UDP ministers who criticised him and formed the National People’s Party (NPP).
That year, opposition parties, civil society organisations and democracy activists organised protests under the slogan “Three Years Jotna” (Jotna means the time is up) because of this. Barrow responded by banning the “Three Years Jotna” movement and arresting protesters. After repressing his detractors, members of the NPP rebelled by, among other things, voting with Jammeh’s party to oppose a new draft constitution prepared by Barrow.
However, in 2019 it collapsed after Barrow refused to honour a promise that he would call an election he would not contest after three years.
Ahead of the 2021 elections, Barrow controversially formed an alliance with the APRC. Jammeh opposed this, instead supporting Mama Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Congress. This caused a split in the APRC.
Barrow’s NPP-APRC coalition won the 2021 elections, though the opposition UDP appealed the results in the supreme court, alleging voting irregularities. The court dismissed the appeal on procedural reasons, saying the UDP did not file papers within the stipulated five days.
In 2018 Gambia established a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission to investigate the Jammeh regime’s brutality. It finalised its report in 2021. Barrow’s critics now say his alliance with the APRC has led him to be unenthusiastic about holding his new allies accountable for human rights violations under Jammeh, who has fled to Equatorial Guinea. These violations include rape, murder and extrajudicial killings.
An investigation while Jammeh was in power — conducted by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project — found he had looted at least $975m (about R16.4bn).
Jammeh’s declaration of Gambia as an Islamic state has been overturnt by Barrow's government, with all faiths allowed to worship, but its 2019 draft constitution has been rejected as fundamentally flawed by civil society organisations, the opposition and media.
Among its shortcomings is that it does not make clear that Gambia is a secular state. Muslim leaders have recently criticised Christian events, who make up just under 5% of the population. It is crucial the Barrow government firmly implements religious freedom.
Gambia has seven major ethnic groups. The Mandinka community is the largest, followed by the Wolof, Fula and Jola groups. Gambia’s politics runs along ethnic lines, as it does in most African countries, with political parties drawing support from specific groups. The UDP is often associated with the Mandinka, while the APRC is dominated by the Jola community.
The Barrow government has rightly banned ethnic, racial or religious-based parties, with the NPP styling itself as an ethnically inclusive party that appeals to members of all communities.
The government has taken steps to ensure more independence of the judiciary, which has pronounced against the government and parliament on several occasions. More courts have been established and they have been given more control over their budgets. The Judicial Service Commission, which could independently propose judges and magistrates, has also been re-established.
Barrow has lifted suffocating press controls that prevailed under Jammeh. However, the government continues to suspend media organisations and arrest journalists deemed too critical. Jammeh-era freedom of expression laws remain firmly in place.
The country’s Independent Electoral Commission post-Jammeh is seen as relatively independent, though it lacks capacity and finance. The Barrow government has introduced yet to be legislated reforms that will allow the diaspora to vote.
However, it has not made good on many promised democratic reforms. In July 2021 the National Assembly passed an Access to Information Act which civil society demanded, but it is not fully operational.
The government has introduced an ombudsman’s office to oversee public officials, but declarations in this regard are not made public and are therefore not open to scrutiny.
Barrow has lifted suffocating press controls that prevailed under Jammeh. However, the government continues to suspend media organisations and arrest journalists deemed too critical. Jammeh-era freedom of expression laws remain firmly in place.
Sedition laws which criminalise criticising the president, ruling party and government, whether in the media or on public and online platforms, are still on the books. In 2021 a Three Years Jotna movement leader was charged with sedition and violating the Public Order Act after criticising Barrow for failing to keep his promise to leave office after three years. He was cleared.
NGOs now have more freedom to criticise government policies and decisions. Nevertheless, legislation restricting their activities remains in place.
The right to strike is proscribed. The government has disallowed civil servants, security forces and domestic workers to do so, and the labour minister can ban any other sector from striking.
The Barrow government has reneged on a promise to establish an anti-corruption commission. Public procurement, thoroughly captured under Jammeh, has not been cleaned up and remains one of the biggest sites of corruption. The distribution of resource licences, which under Jammeh could only be distributed to his friends, family and business associates, remains untransparent.
Like in most African countries, women do not have equal rights. They remain underrepresented in politics, with only five holding seats in the National Assembly. Sharia law (Islamic law) in practice overrides property rights and discriminates against women inheriting such.
Like in most African countries, women do not have equal rights. They remain underrepresented in politics, with only five holding seats in the National Assembly. Sharia law (Islamic law) in practice overrides property rights and discriminates against women inheriting such.
The custom of a widow being married off to a younger brother is widely practised, and though female genital mutilation is banned, it is widely practised and government appears not to enforce the ban.
The LGBTQ+ community, again, as in most African countries, faces terrifying marginalisation. The country’s 1997 constitution prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. However, it criminalises same-sex relations and excludes the LGBTQ+ community from “adoption, marriage, divorce, burial, and devolution of property upon death”. Caste-based discrimination is also prevalent in many parts of the country.
During Jammeh’s reign Japan was accused of buying Gambia’s votes in the International Whaling Commission to secure support for whale-hunting in the country. Chinese trawlers also engaged in illegal fishing in Gambian waters amid allegations that the Chinese government was also buying Gambia’s support for this. Chinese-run factories are turning Gambia’s fish stocks into fishmeal for aquaculture. Local environmental activists say the Chinese may take too much fish too quickly, depleting stocks without oversight. Clearly, Gambia needs more effective management of its oceanic resources.
More than a third of Gambians live in poverty, with about 75% of the population living off subsistence agriculture centred on livestock, crops and fishing. Agriculture produces about 32% of GDP and supports the largest percentage of the country’s workforce. Gambia has no significant mineral resources, with tourism being a crucial income generator whose offering needs to be diversified. The country has very high remittance inflows from the diaspora. There is small-scale manufacturing in the processing of peanuts, fish and hides. The government needs a proper industrialisation plan to expand manufacturing and move from subsistence farming and fishing to export.
Gambia is at risk of debt distress, though public debt declined from 85% of GDP in 2020 to 82.9% in 2021. The country is heavily dependent on foreign development aid, which Barrow has promised to reduce. Russia’s war against Ukraine has moved development funding away from Africa to Eastern Europe. Gambia is among the countries deeply affected. The Covid-19-induced financial crisis, with rising fuel and food prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war, have slowed efforts by the government to reduce poverty.
Gambia is one of the few African countries that have been able to improve their tax systems to increase revenue. The International Monetary Fund has praised improvement in the country’s public finance management. The government needs to make the public service and procurement more merit-based to improve service delivery and use the diaspora’s talent to come up with ideas, skills and resources to tackle poverty.
William Gumede is associate professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of 'SA in Brics' (Tafelberg)
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