Domestic Politics

The iec commenced national voter registration on 29 May. At the end of the exercise in the 53 constituencies and seven administrative regions, 856,000 were registered to vote at the 4 December presidential poll, the first of the post-Jammeh (1994–2016) era. Trivial bickering marred the process. This included allegations of Alkalos (chiefs) issuing attestations, as well as unsubstantiated issuance of voters cards to aliens. Gambians in the diaspora were denied voting rights as they were not factored into the preparations, while prisoners remained constitutionally disenfranchised. Customarily, undp funded the exercise.

Some members of the public were taken aback when the iec certified the principal opposition leader, Ousainou Darboe, a perennial presidential aspirant, fit to run for president, in view of the constitutional impediments confronting him. He and 18 others suffered imprisonment in 2016 for staging an unauthorised public demonstration demanding electoral reforms. While Darboe was incarcerated, Adama Barrow contested in his place as a udp member on a coalition ticket and won. Barrow subsequently granted presidential reprieve to all of the convicts associated with the demonstration. Darboe became the foreign minister in the new cabinet before attaining the position of vice-president. Subsequently, intractable political differences compelled Barrow to dispense with Darboe’s services. Given that he is an ex-convict who had earlier been found guilty of tax evasion by a commission of inquiry, coupled with his dismissal from the vice-presidency, some felt that he should be barred from running for public office. However, the iec clearance went uncontested.

Ultimately, Barrow formed the breakaway npp in 2019. The ‘bush telegraph’ was inundated with information of a secret political alliance between him and the exiled former president Yahya Jammeh which caused resentment among the latter’s adversaries. Barrow came under pressure to make public the report of the trrc, the commission that had investigated alleged cases of rights abuses during Jammeh’s regime. Critics were of the opinion that Barrow’s reluctance to release the report was a ploy to gain Jammeh’s support in the impending December poll. Jammeh eventually rejected the much talked-about secret agreement and allied with the Gambia Democratic Congress (gdc), a coalition led by Mama Kandeh.

Prior to the December poll, representatives of 18 political parties signed an agreement dubbed the ‘Janjanbureh Accord’. They agreed to abide by a code of conduct fashioned among themselves and also undertook to accept the outcome of the elections, provided it was in conformity with rule of law.

Thirteen political parties and 12 independent candidates were ultimately issued nomination forms for the December poll; of these, 14 were disqualified. Each of the remaining 11 consequently filed nomination papers. Of the initial 25 aspirants, four were allied with other parties. Among the 14 disqualified contenders, the only woman, Marie Sock, could not declare her assets and renounce her foreign citizenship due to time and other constraints while another candidate was ineligible owing to his having forged some documents. At least seven of the disqualified aspirants joined the npp before election day. The Citizens’ Alliance and the Gambia Moral Congress successfully challenged their disqualification legally but could not contest due to time constraints.

The five aspirants that the iec cleared to vie with Adama Barrow (npp) were Ousainou Darboe (udp), Mama Kandeh (gdc), Halifa Sallah (People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism/pdois), Ensa M. Faal (independent), and Abdoulie E. Jammeh (National Unity Party/ nup). As results trickled in, the udp, the gdc, and the independent candidate rejected the announcements.

Adama Barrow (npp) secured re-election with 53% of the votes (457,519), while the udp polled 28% (238,253). The other parties fared as follows: gdc, 12.23% (105,902); pdois, 3.77% (32,425); Ensa M. Faal, 2.00% (17,206); nup, 0.96% (8,252). Registered voter turnout was 962,157 (89.34%). Ousainou Darboe urged his protesting supporters to eschew lawlessness, as he planned to challenge the results legally. However, legal technicalities scuttled his efforts as the case was twice thrown out of court. On 19 January 2022, Adama Barrow was sworn in for a second term of office.

On 24 December, the justice minister released the trrc report. This was after two and a half years of public hearings and investigations into cases of rights abuses allegedly committed during Jammeh’s rule. The Commission, which had received 20,600 statements and seen 393 witnesses, recommended the prosecution of Yahya Jammeh on the grounds that he should be held accountable for the assassinations of more than 200 people by state actors. Copies of the 16-volume report were submitted to the national assembly and the unsg’s office.

The judiciary announced plans to hold a median donors’ conference to raise funds to facilitate the implementation of its 2021–25 strategic plan. The proposal captured the vision of an independent, effective, and efficient justice system which would, inter alia, uphold the rule of law by ensuring the fair and impartial delivery of justice. It would also provide a framework for enhancing the delivery of justice to enable the judiciary to discharge its role as a key player in ensuring good governance.

Fatou B. Bensouda, the Gambian jurist who was criticised for her part in the icc’s ruling to open criminal proceedings against Israel in connection with alleged war crimes committed against Palestinians, was replaced by British attorney Karim Khan at the expiration of her tenure. The Assembly of State Parties of the Rome Statute elected Khan as the new chief prosecutor of the icc.

The Gambian appeal court ruled in the case of former minister Edward Singhateh vs Attorney-General pertaining to the Janneh Commission’s adverse ruling against him. The unanimous decision held that to enforce the adverse findings of the Commission, further judicial action was necessary, as it could not be enforced in isolation. Singhateh averred that he had been unaware of any adverse findings against him until they came to his attention when the white paper on the report was released. He asked the court to restrain the attorney-general from initiating moves to enforce the adverse report, as the appeal would be rendered nugatory if the attorney-general were not restrained.

In another development, a high court granted bail to eight leaders of the Three Years Jotna movement after they pleaded innocent to charges of unlawful assembly and riotous demonstration levelled against them by the state. In January 2020, during a riotous demonstration, protesters had demanded that President Barrow honour his campaign pledge to step down from office after serving three years to pave way for another election. However, in May 2021, the government dropped the charges on humanitarian grounds, and to foster peace and reconciliation in the political arena as the general election was imminent.

A protracted 2018 case of unlawful issuance of diplomatic passports to certain individuals continued. Consequently, a former driver at the state house, Mansa Sumareh, and Ebrima S. Sanneh, a protocol officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, subsequently appeared in court for conspiracy and forgery. On the order of the trial magistrate, the case was reassigned to the Special Criminal Division of the high court.

An online scandal centred on reports that $ 200,000 had been paid to some senior officials of the judicial service. The money was alleged to have been paid as honoraria to members of the judiciary involved in the Rohingya case at the icj. Unsubstantiated reports had it that the money had been misappropriated by certain top officials. However, meticulous investigations cleared those suspected of impropriety.

As a sequel to the seizure of cocaine weighing almost three tonnes in January, an international bench warrant was issued for the arrest of the principal suspect, Banta Keita. A police statement warned the public against colluding with or harbouring the fugitive. Meanwhile, the udp leader issued a press statement on the drug bust claiming that it was the largest seizure in a country enmeshed in drug-running by international drug cartels. However, in April, the udp dissociated itself from an incident involving the impoundment of one of its vehicles found to be transporting cannabis. The driver of the vehicle refused to stop at a police checkpoint because he did not have a driver’s licence on him. According to the party, no search was conducted before the police drove the impounded vehicle to Bundung police station. The party leader distanced himself and the party from the incident as, according to him, attempts to link both him and the party with drugs were politically motivated.

The four-year-old case of the ‘nia 9’ continued, as only two of the suspects had concluded their testimony. The accused were operatives of the dreaded National Intelligence Agency during the erstwhile Jammeh political era, facing 25 criminal charges including murder, torture, and conspiracy. Five of the defendants filed a motion asking the judge to recuse herself from the matter as, ostensibly, she seemed to be part of the prosecution team. The trial, which is one of the most prolonged that the judiciary has grappled with, is still at its formative stage.

Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow presided over a controversial 54.4 m dalasi (gmd) national assembly (na) loan case. It involved two civil society groups and the clerk of the na over the loan that parliamentarians had allocated to themselves. Gam Properties and Centre for Research and Policy Development filed the suit against the clerk, and against the auditor-general, finance minister, and attorney-general as co-defendants, over the loan that members of the house had inserted in the 2021 budget for their personal use. In May, the apex court, in a unanimous decision, declared the loan scheme unconstitutional. It held that the power to create a line in the budget estimates is vested in the president, not the na. The scheme was therefore null and void, declared the court. Any sum that had been disbursed from the gmd 54.4 m should be recovered, it concluded.

Two prison officers were detained over the escape from detention of a murder suspect. Buba Drammeh, accused of murdering Buba Jammeh during a communal land dispute between the inhabitants of Gunjur and Berending in March, escaped from lawful custody. Conspiracy was suspected in the manner in which the escapee left the prison yard, as there was no evidence of a breakout.

An angry mob set a police station and a Chinese fishing establishment ablaze after their colleague was stabbed dead while trying to apprehend a thief. Thousands flooded the streets of Sanyang in a display of solidarity with the deceased. The police took the alleged killer into protective custody, and 22 suspected rioters were later arraigned before a magistrate.

After considering the oral submissions and written briefs of both counsels and the amicus curiae, the supreme court held that murder suspect Yankuba Touray was not entitled to constitutional immunity from prosecution for the murder of Koro Ceesay during Jammeh’s period of military rule. Yankuba’s counsel, A. Sissohor, had in October 2020 applied an oral appeal calling on the high court to discharge his client on the grounds that as he had been a member of the ruling military junta from 1994 to 1997, relevant sections of the Gambian constitution granted him immunity from prosecution. On hearing submissions from the defence and the prosecution, the high court referred the matter to the supreme court for adjudication. Subsequently, Yankuba Touray was sentenced to death at the high court. The scenario arose following his refusal to cooperate with the trrc’s investigation into the excesses of the Jammeh administration. Touray was subsequently arraigned for the alleged role he had played in events leading to the assassination of erstwhile finance minister Ceesay in 1995. However, the defence counsel, insisting on his client’s entitlement to immunity, let it be known that he intended to appeal the judgement.

Family members of the late Sir Dawda Jawara instituted legal proceedings against his son over ownership of several properties, his estate, and other assets. The summons claimed that the deceased president had 15 heirs to his properties. The matter was scheduled to be heard at the Kanifing Cadi court.

Ibrahim Jallow, a legal practitioner, threatened to sue the government and the iec for using voter’s attestation forms to confer citizenship on non-Gambians. Speculation was rife, during the registration exercise, of foreigners meddling with the process. Jallow explained that there was no constitutional provision empowering Alkalos to issue citizenship through declarations on iec forms. Also, there were widespread allegations of Alkalos and the mayoress of Banjul issuing attestations to those lacking documentary evidence attesting to their citizenship to enable them obtain voter’s cards. Similarly, as a follow-up to preparation for the approaching presidential election, some opposition parties demanded that the iec investigate the discovery of voter’s cards in a street in Kanifing. An official statement subsequently asserted that the blank cards were left over from the previous two elections.

Socioeconomic Developments

An agonising fuel scarcity ravaged the country during the last week of 2021. A presidential taskforce investigated the causes and discovered massive cover-ups, corruption, and blatant disregard for procedures, contrary to the reports and figures presented by government-owned Gam Petroleum. Measures to forestall a future reoccurrence were recommended.

The discovery of the mutilated body of Marie Mendy at her residence in Busumbala mesmerised the country as another corpse, believed to be that of Zilson Gomez, tied with a rope, was recovered from a well. The health authorities confirmed that an international team of forensic pathologists had been contracted to examine the bodies and ascertain the cause of these deaths, which were the most baffling in recent times. Police investigations continue.

The national football team, dubbed the Scorpions, made history by securing a place in the African Cup of Nations to be staged in Cameroon in 2022.

Prominent citizens who died during the year included Rev. Fr Emil Sambou (of the Gambia Pastoral Institute), Fr Peter Gomez (of the Catholic Diocese of Banjul), and The Gambia’s ambassador to Guinea-Bissau. Two prominent journalists – Pa Nderry Mbye, pioneer online newspaper proprietor, and veteran journalist Ba Trawally – also passed on within the year. Others included the serving police inspector-general, Mamour Jobe; a former police inspector-general, Landing ‘13’ Badjie; and the commander of 1st Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Pierre J. Mendy.

In July, an 80 km/h windstorm followed by a downpour swept across parts of the country during which trees, buildings, and power lines were damaged, causing traffic hold-ups on some highways. The governor of North Bank region, Lamin Saidykhan, donated gmd 2 m to the victims, while a finance ministry news release announced that a sum of gmd 10 m, which would be increased after a full assessment was completed, had been set aside to respond to contingencies.

Economic recovery, particularly in the tourist sector, was retarded due to increased incidence of Covid-19 infection. Consequently, the government launched a mass vaccination campaign supported by the World Bank and with additional vaccine donations by the USA and France. As part of relief support, medical supplies worth more than gmd 31 m were received through the South–South Cooperation Assistance Fund, with the aid of the People’s Republic of China.

The Freedom House world index (2021) placed The Gambia 46th out of 100 (‘partly free’), while the country’s score on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index remained at 37%, ranked 102nd/180, for the fourth consecutive year.

During the first nine months of the year, there was a remarkable increase in the import and re-export trade in items such as foodstuffs and fuel, followed by a corresponding increase in prices. Revenue generated in the first nine months of the year declined by 24% from gmd 15.5 bn in 2020 to 11.8 bn due to reductions in project grants by 48% and programme grants by 73%. For the first nine months of the year, total expenditure decreased by 6%, from gmd 16.8 bn to 15.9 bn. Public debt stock was gmd 81.8 bn at the end of the second quarter, compared with 68.5 bn in the previous year. Domestic debt was gmd 46.3 bn, while external debt was 35.5 bn. The inflation rate stood at 8.2% as the dalasi depreciated against the euro, pound sterling, and CFAfr by 8.2%, 11%, and 8.1% respectively and appreciated marginally against the US dollar by 0.6%. Remittances from Gambians abroad totalled $ 403.6 m as of June. The current balance of payments improved from $ −41.1 m to −5.6 m from the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021. For the second quarter of the period, imported goods amounted to $ 141.5 m while exports were $ 7.0 m. The AfDB and the French Development Agency assisted in improving the Revenue Authority’s capacity for generating revenue, while the Gambia Strategy Revenue Board was created to enhance the efficiency of public investments. In the same vein, the agriculture ministry developed a National Agriculture Extension Policy to promote, inter alia, sustainable agriculture production and value chain development. The government of Japan donated gmd 125 m’s worth of food and farming implements, as well as solar-powered piped water systems. With funding from the EU-Gambia Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Programme, the fisheries sector was equipped with a vessel.

On rural road expansion, Lot-1 (Sabach Sukoto – Bambali – Sara Kunda – Ngayen Sanjal), totalling about 38 kilometres, was 40% complete, while Lot-2 (Kaur – Jimbala, Kaur – Kerr Chaindu, Kerr Gibbi – Nyaga Bantang) was concurrently underway. In Kiang West, an 80 km road project was commissioned. Nationwide, over 1,000 classrooms and toilets were constructed in madrassas (Islamic schools) and convectional schools, part of educational assistance rendered by unicef, the wfp, the idb, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (badea)/opec Fund for International Development (ofid), and the mrc Holland Foundation.

Foreign Affairs

President Adama Barrow travelled to Saudi Arabia in June on the occasion of the inauguration of the newly constructed Gambian embassy building and the ambassador’s residence at the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh. During the course of the year, the state house and the foreign ministry were beehives of activity. In January, the EU ambassador accredited to The Gambia, Corrado Pampaloni, presented letters of credence to the foreign minister. On another occasion, UK high commissioner David Belgrave obe, while presenting letters of accreditation, discussed the situation with regard to Covid-19 in both countries and how efforts could be synchronised to combat the pandemic. Muhammed Manu, the Nigerian high commissioner, and ambassadors of the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, and Sierra Leone presented credence letters on different days. In February, the Portuguese ambassador presented his; this was followed by those of Spain and Belgium. Others included the ambassadors of Guinea-Conakry, the Netherlands, India, and Venezuela, as well as Lindiwe Khumalo, acting executive secretary to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights at the African Union, Banjul. Dr El Hassan Ould Awan, the Mauritanian ambassador, bade the country and the Mauritanian community farewell on completion of his tour of duty. He assured the Gambian government of his country’s continued efforts to strengthen the cordial relations between the two countries.

On the military front, the leader of the gdc, Mama Kandeh, voiced disenchantment over an ecowas decision to transform its military presence in the country into a police force. This he did while questioning the rationale for propping up the presence of foreign troops in the country when the lost peace and stability that necessitated their presence in 2016 had been regained to the fullest.

Following an Advanced Advisory Visit (aav) that was conducted virtually in December 2020 by the UN Department of Peace Operations, the chief of army staff, Lt Gen. Yankuba Drammeh, and other staff officers were in Dakar, Senegal, on invitation to consolidate the existing cordial relationship between the armed forces of the two countries. Meanwhile, in another security-related matter, the Gambian and Nigerian navies renewed commitments to collaborate in combating piracy and illegal fishing in the sub-region. The commitment, which reinforced their collaboration since 1996, was made during a stop-over of the latter’s French-built war vessel nns Lena in Banjul en route to Nigeria from France for delivery.

In June, the vice-president led an official delegation to Dakar, Senegal, to attend the African Platform for Women Empowerment forum.

A former member of the Gambian armed forces, Bai Lowe, was arrested in Germany for the role he had allegedly played in crimes against humanity committed during the Jammeh administration. He was suspected of having driven the car which targeted assassinated Deyda Hydara, a newspaper proprietor, and a legal practitioner, Ousman Sillah, who survived another ambush.

The minister for youth and sports, Bakary Badjie, and Reuben Abelenda, Cuban ambassador to The Gambia, signed a sports cooperation agreement. Also, the foreign minister and the ambassador of China signed a gmd 1.2 bn economic and technical agreement for a grant to cover priority areas critical to The Gambia’s economic development.

Joint business and industry representatives of The Gambia and Poland discussed economic and other prospects for fostering trade ties and business opportunities between the two countries. Also, in the area of collaboration, in March the na established friendship groups with its counterpart parliaments in Serbia, Venezuela, Mauritania, and Senegal to strengthen bilateral relations and interparliamentary diplomacy.

In February, the Spanish government donated vehicles and assorted items to security institutions in The Gambia to boost existing bilateral relationships, and foster cooperation among institutions engaged in stemming organised crime and illegal migration. The embassy of the People’s Republic of China donated information technology and office equipment worth over gmd 2.3 m to alleviate hardware constraints.

In October, the unga elected 18 member states, including The Gambia, to its Human Rights Council for its 2022–24 term.

The government condemned the September coup d’état in Guinea-Conakry and called for the restoration of constitutional order and the rule of law and for the immediate release of all detained leaders and guarantees for deposed president Alpha Conde’s safety.

The Gambia Congress called on the government to sever diplomatic relations with the State of Israel and demanded a conference of Islamic states to deliberate on the deteriorating situation in Palestine, calling attacks on Palestinians, including those living in Jerusalem, totally unacceptable and a cause for alarm for the Muslim world. Hundreds of Gambians who took to the streets protesting against attacks on Palestinians converged at Buffer Zone. They also called on the government to initiate a global campaign against the Israeli government, as it had against Myanmar for persecuting the Rohingya Muslims, saying that Gambians were concerned about incidences of the mass murder of Palestinian women and children by Israeli forces and citizens.