The Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, has rejected the candidacy of National Democratic Party (NDP) leader Kebba Madi Bojang and the leader of Gambia Labour Party Bakusa Dukureh for failing to meet the qualifications by submitting unauthentic documents.
IEC chairman Joseph Colley said Bojang was rejected due to the fact that the date of birth provided by both the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and on his West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) result was at variance with the date of birth on his identitification documents submitted to the Commission.
Bojang, 51, filed his nominations last Friday and submitted a 2025 private WASSCE results without a corresponding certificate prompting the commission to raise doubts over the authenticity of his documents. The commission said it was going to verify the documents with WAEC and other relevant authorities.
But Chairman Colley disclosed that following their verification it was found that the records from WAEC and WASSCE indicate 15th March 1995 as the student’s [Bojang’s] date of birth, while the document he submitted to the Commission indicated that he was born on 15th March, 1975. These discrepancies, he said, led to Bojang’s disqualification.
Bojang was initially short of 1,914 signatures but despite providing additional signatories of registered voters in support of his nomination, he failed to proceed.
The leader of the Gambia Labour Party, Bakusa Dukureh, 48, was disqualified for holding dual nationality and presenting a fake school certificate. Dukureh had earlier insisted that he would not renounce his American citizenship despite the law preventing persons holding dual nationality from contesting for president.
According to the commission chairman, Dukureh was rejected because he publicly accepted having dual nationality in addition to him presenting a senior secondary school certificate that has been found to be unauthentic by both WAEC and Gambia High School now renamed Gambia Senior Secondary School.
