By Tabora Bajang
Chief reporter
In this edition of Bantaba, we had a Q&A session with former Gambian diplomat, international lawyer and presidential hopeful Amadou Jaiteh, leader of the Peoples Reformist Organisation for Growth, Renewal, Equity, Security and Social Justice (PROGRESS), which aims to transform into a political party to contest 2026 presidential election.
Tabora Bojang: Mr Jaiteh. Could you tell us your background, education and worklife?
Amadou Jaiteh: My name is Amadou Jaiteh. I was born and raised in Brikama. I attended Brikama Primary School, and later proceeded to Pa Joof Junior Secondary School and then from there I went to St Augustine’s where I completed my high school. I spent my childhood with people like Rebellion the Recaller and I served as his manager. In fact, we did record his first famous recording, We Must Rebel. And then from there I travelled to the UK, where I did my undergrad in law and master’s in international relations and diplomacy. I returned to The Gambia in 2013 and started working at the Ministry of Justice as a public prosecutor and I rose through the ranks to a state counsel.
Tell us about your work as legal adviser at the Gambian Permanent Mission at the UN?
Former president Jammeh was at that time interested in tabling a resolution before the UN concerning reparations and restitution for crimes against humanity committed against Africans as a result of slavery.
So when I was given the file, I was very passionate and started working on it with a colleague. When we presented the draft resolution to the president. He was very happy and he wanted it tabled before the UN Assembly. But the Permanent Mission to the UN was understaffed and the ambassador communicated that he wanted a team that would support in pursuing that resolution. They needed a legal advisor and a political officer. So the Foreign Minister Neneh Macdouall Gaye recommended a very good colleague of mine, Ousman Njie as political officer and Justice Minister Mama Fatima Singhateh recommended me to go there as a legal advisor in 2016. That’s when I started my international career.
So how did the resolution end?
We were working on it at the Gambian Permanent Mission at the UN but then when change came in 2017 the new government was not interested in pursuing the resolution. So my responsibilities shifted into the transitional justice processes that were happening in The Gambia. So my file became even more bulkier. I started handling all the files on transitional justice – the famous TRRC, Janneh Commission, Constitutional Review, Security Sector Reform and the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission, which I can say is the only success story in our TJ processes.
What motivated you to become a politician and set up PROGRESS?
PROGRESS is borne out of frustration concerning petty politics in this country. The Gambia is a country lagging behind with development and politicising every issue really retards the progress of the country. That is why we thought about coming up with a political movement that will speak to the issues, and also bring this to the attention of our politicians to understand that today, 80 percent of our problem is party politics. Party politics brings division in communities and we want more cohesion within communities and more development. And how do we do that? In our view, the current political system was inherited from our colonisers and they are not ideas developed by Gambians based on the realities of The Gambia, so it may not necessarily work for us. We politicise everything from grassroots to the presidency. And that’s where PROGRESS wants to come in and talk about a new system, a new idea of governance that is completely free from party politics to see how best we can actually achieve tangible developments – by involving the people, giving power to the people, allowing the people to really be represented. But not people going into parliament and becoming party representatives instead of people’s representatives. It’s glaring when there are issues in parliament. They only speak on party lines, not what is in the interest of the people. We have seen it with the 2020 draft constitution. People were widely consulted and they expressed their desire for a new constitution just for politicians to go into parliament, argue among themselves, kill it and bury it without going back to the people. We see that as representation of parties rather than representation of the people. This is the solution that we are coming up with. By law, we have a system that is very simple. The village development committee system. In our view, this is what we need to strengthen, develop and restructure properly to withstand the political surroundings, so that you have people capable of becoming VDC and can actually speak to issues that affect them because they are from within the people themselves and the community where the issues that they are trying to fix affect themselves. And then you elevate that same system to district and regional levels and that way we can get rid of mayors, chairmen and governors who are only political tools.
So, PROGRESS started as a movement. Would it transform into a political party?
Yes, of course, very soon. So if you understand the history of many political parties, they start as movements where they will use the movement as a first phase of their development and transform into formidable political parties. So we are doing this because we are not known politicians. We are just ordinary Gambians who want to see a system change. We have the ideas, the knowledge and the exposure.
Who are some of the people with you in this endeavour?
A lot of people. A lot of people are joining. A lot of people are behind the movement in developing it. After we have our first official launching, we will start to structure. And that’s why we are welcoming all those who are currently fascinated and happy with the movement to come on board. The election is one year away and we intend to transform into a political party by January 2026 and we intend to contest the election as a political party. We will travel the entire country to campaign in order to be able to sell our message and then put our message through to the people to understand the ideas that we are coming up with. We are not doing politics as usual. We are not your everyday politicians. We just want to be very frank with the truth. We are very selfless. We are not interested in power. We are not interested in holding on to power either. That is why we are talking about a system change that no president would talk about because a president who wants to give away parliament to independent parliamentarians, no party affiliation at all, that is a president who does not want power. A president who wants to give local government to the people to govern themselves through a system that they choose.
The Gambia has over 22 registered political parties, why couldn’t you just pick one that you think you can work with, instead of coming with your own movement or party? Good question. The policies that I am talking about, the system change that I am talking about, I haven’t seen any political party talking about that. They all want to have parties and party structures in parliament and in local governments. They want to be here forever. We are not interested in that. A five year transitional period for us is okay to give Gambians the transition that they needed in 2016, which the current president failed to give them. We want to revive that opportunity and give people that. So that no president, no other person, no politician will come and change anything. Once you are in the system, the structures suck you in. You cannot wiggle yourself out of it. That’s the kind of system we want to give Gambians. So that Gambians will be free once and for all from party politics.
Some people are concerned about the high number of parties. They believe some newcomers like yourself are only interested in personal advancement hence coming up with a new formation?
But this is a free country. The constitution gives that right to every citizen to vote and to be voted for. So until such time, in fact I think it’s good for Gambians. It’s a very good opportunity for Gambians to be able to sieve among the lot. I am not doing this for personal advancement. I have a very successful career. I gave you my background. I started from nothing, to university, educating myself, and coming back to home. I left everything that I was doing in the UK. I established a company in partnership with my brother. I came to The Gambia. Based on my hard work, I was posted to New York as a diplomat for nine years. And during my time there, I led the Africa Group twice. I led several resolutions that were all successfully adopted. I led cross-regional groups, Europeans, Asians, Africans, legal advisors in landmark resolutions on crimes against humanity. The Gambia today is a country that has left its mark on the world, on the global stage. I was part of the Gambians who pioneered the Convention on Crimes Against Humanity and this convention will come into existence soon. So I have had a very good, successful career. I did not go to the UN just to be there. I left footprints while I was there. I was handling the file for The Gambia’s transitional justice processes. My file alone mobilised between US$35 to US$40 million to support TJ in Gambia. The Gambia is today a member of the Human Rights Council twice. I initiated The Gambia for Human Rights Council elections for the first time in 2021. And then I repeated it again in 2024, for re-election. So my time there was very successful. I came back to The Gambia when I was asked to come back and serve again. But I have lost confidence in this government and that is why I resigned.
Exactly why did you resign?
I have seen a lot of incompetence. I have seen opportunities that the government could take on the global stage but they are not being taken. For example, the OIC. It is a golden opportunity for the government of The Gambia as the president is the chairman of the 56 states organisation. Since we had the mantle of the chairman of the OIC summit, what has The Gambia done as a chair? Absolutely nothing when opportunities are all over the place. Sudan is in flames. Palestine and Israel have been at it. We did not do anything about these crises and we are the chair of these Muslim countries.It only takes a leadership that will call for meetings, attend important meetings and chair them. When Israel violated the territorial integrity of Qatar, that was a golden opportunity for The Gambia to step up and call for an emergency meeting at chair. Because one of us has been violated by aggression. But The Gambia did not do it. My understanding is that Qatar, the victim, called for a meeting and even offered to provide a private jet, as they would usually do for the president [Adama Barrow] to attend. But he did not. And in diplomacy, when the president failed to attend a meeting at the level of the head of state, the levels dropped. So the vice president had to go and the foreign minister and The Gambia became spectators. Not a chair.
But why do you think the president shirk from taking the lead there? Incompetence or lack of right advice?
I think it is both. I think there is a confidence issue. And I think there is an incompetence issue as well. I also think there is a lack of competent people around him who understand multilateral work. Now when a president fails to surround himself with the right people who should provide the right advice, then he is bound to fail. That meeting in Qatar was a prelude meeting held on the margins of the General Assembly, chaired by Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a showman. If you understand the man’s ego. He [Barrow] should want to be in a room with a man like that. The leader of the free world. Imagine President Barrow chairing that meeting as chairman of the OIC. When you have the Arab League and the OIC having a joint meeting. The Gambia is sitting there as the chair. That is a huge leverage globally. That is leadership. That is an opportunity. It was a missed opportunity. It was a missed opportunity that The Gambia failed to be at that Qatar meeting.
To be continued…
