By Omar Bah
The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) continue to command strong public trust, according to the latest nationwide survey by the Centre for Policy, Research and Strategic Studies (CepRass).
The finding stands in sharp contrast to collapsing confidence in the police, the judiciary, and the executive, and it positions the military as the most trusted state institution in the country.
CepRass asked Gambians how much they trust key public institutions to do their jobs professionally and without bias.
While a majority of respondents said they distrust the police and rate the government’s handling of corruption as poor, the military scored high across all regions and age groups.
According to the survey, public trust in the military is substantially stronger than trust in the police. It disclosed that nationally, 35.0% of respondents say they trust the military a lot, and 30.0% say they trust it somewhat, for a combined trust of 65.0%.
By contrast, 17.4% say they trust it only a little, 7.3% say they trust it not at all, and 10.3% do not know.
“The military, therefore, emerges as one of the more positively rated institutions in the survey. The source file’s regional disaggregation for this indicator is inconsistent with the overall figure, so the revised report restricts interpretation to the verified national result shown above.”
Regional differences are again significant.
Mansakonko shows a relatively strong trust profile, with 28% saying “a lot” and 40% saying “somewhat,” for a total of 68% while Basse follows with 70% combined trust.
Kuntaur records 56%, while Janjangbureh records 47%. Brikama and Kanifing are more mixed, with stronger distrust components than in some rural regions, though positive trust still outweighs outright rejection.
However, Kerewan shows a relatively low level of strong trust, with 18% saying “a lot” and 17% “somewhat,” although distrust remains moderate rather than dominant.
In general, rural areas appear to express stronger confidence in the military than urban and peri-urban ones.
