The Gambia
The Republic of the Gambia is a new democracy that transitioned from 22-years of authoritarianism under Yahya Jammeh to democratic status in 2016, when President Adama Barrow was elected. It exhibits mid-range performance across all categories of the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) framework. Over the past five years, it has experienced notable improvements in Representation, Credible Elections, Gender Equality, Personal Integrity and Security, Civic Engagement and Freedom of Expression. During that time, it has not suffered any significant declines. The Gambia is one of the world’s poorest countries, and its economy is primarily agricultural. It also relies on tourism and remittances.
The Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. The Barrow administration inherited a country that faced bankruptcy and an urgent need for debt relief after Jammeh allegedly stole $11.4 million (USD) before going into exile following his initial refusal to accept electoral defeat. Jammeh’s regime infamously maintained power through severe repression of civil rights, violations of human rights, and concerted control over the institutions of governance and media. One of the key challenges for democratic consolidation is providing redress for the victims of Jammeh’s regime and improving the country’s rule of law more broadly.
In 2018, the Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was launched to redress Jammeh-era human rights atrocities and its 2021 final report encouraged the prosecution of former Jammeh officials, for which there is strong support among Gambians. The government accepted almost all the Commission’s recommendations in May 2022 and Germany instigated a universal jurisdiction case against Bai L – an alleged paramilitary member accused of crimes against humanity. However, government prosecutions have not yet been announced. Although The Gambia does not have a history of ethnic or religious conflict (despite its high ethnolinguistic diversity), there have recently been concerns of increasing ‘tribalism’ in political discourse and disagreements between the minority Christian and majority Muslim communities about enshrining its secular status into its new constitution. Another point of unrest has been land conflicts, which are worsened by the lack of governmental measures to regulate land ownership.
Advances in Gender Equality can be attributed to improvements in GSoD Indices measures of women’s participation in civil society, access to schooling, and power distribution. Two of the Supreme Court’s five judges and the President of the Court of Appeal are female, while women outnumber men in literacy. Still, the context is marked by higher unemployment rates for women, early marriage, the prevalence of gender-based violence and low rates of women in high-level government positions.
The Gambia’s democratic and human rights performance has improved since 2016, partially illustrated by its adoption of the Access to Information Bill, which legally safeguards against the repression of the media. Going forward, it will be important to watch how the government acts on the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, which could impact Political Equality. Another concern is the effect of climate change, particularly coastal erosion and extreme weather events such as heavy rainstorms. The Gambia’s reliance on its agricultural sector also renders its economic growth subject to extreme weather events. Corruption and climate change are barriers to The Gambia escaping its status as a least developed country and servicing its debts. The fact that Gambians increasingly perceive the state to be showing favouritism toward some ethnic groups over others suggests that another trend to watch is the salience of ethnicity and religion as political divisions. Importantly, the lack of regulations for land ownership risks future escalations in land disputes.
Monthly Event Reports
December 2022 | Government claims to foil a coup, eight charged with plot
The Gambian government claimed to have foiled a plot to stage a coup d’état against President Barrow in late December. In all, eight members of the military (all junior rank) and three civilians were charged with treason and conspiracy to commit treason. The accused pled not guilty to the charge of treason. A well-known opposition politician (Momodou Sabally) was arrested around the same time in response to comments he made on social media, but he was released without charge. This is the second alleged coup plot since 2016. The government announced that it had created an investigative panel which will report on the coup plot within 30 days.
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