Eight years ago, Gambians under the auspices of the 2016 Grand Coalition of opposition parties voted out the autocratic regime of Yahya Jammeh in the December 1 presidential election. It marked the first time in the 60 years of the nation’s history for citizens to remove a president through the ballot.
Led by President Adama Barrow, the 2016 Coalition promised Gambians a new era of democratic governance based on adherence to the rule of law and the respect for human rights. They promised to end self-perpetuating rule through creating a new constitution which would prioritise presidential term limits. They promised to undertake all legal and institutional reforms that would expand and protect human rights and ensure that public institutions abide by the rule of law and perform their functions efficiently with diligence.
Today, eight years later, the country has no new constitution precisely because President Adama Barrow does not wish to submit himself to a two-term limit as promised multiple times. Eight years later, the vestiges of dictatorship continue to be present in the laws and institutions of the country, while key dictatorship enablers remain in charge of various positions within the state.
Consequently, instead of consolidation of civil and political rights, threats and infringements continue to take place while the overall social and economic wellbeing of the people remain dire. The incidence of corruption and abuse of office is widespread while public institutions continue to fail in delivering efficient public services without consequences.
EF Small Centre hereby expresses its deepest concern and outrage at the blatant disregard of the best interests of the country by the very people who have been elected and appointed into public office to serve our people with honesty and diligence according to law. Sixty years after independence, the governance and development of the country remains weak and misdirected thanks to poor leadership which is threatening the peace, unity and stability of the country.
On this day, we wish to therefore reiterate that Gambians decided in 2016 for democracy and good governance in which the adherence to the rule of law, human rights and efficiency in public service are what are expected from public institutions and officials.
We therefore demand the President and his government and the National Assembly to return the country to the path of the ideals and objectives that underpin the aspirations of our people on December 1st, 2016. We demand a reversal of the current ignoble trajectory to take the country back on the path of constitutionalism, democracy and adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights.
In the spirit of Edward Francis Small, for The Gambia our homeland.
