In the few months leading to December 2016 elections, there was a lot of hype around the country and indeed Gambians were pregnant with hope and expectation. They mobilised and united around a cause with unprecedented determination.
This determination and unity, and sense of purpose, propelled everyone such that on 1st December 2016 when Gambians went to the polls, they voted out the regime of President Yahya Jammeh after a 22-year-old stranglehold on power. This was the first time since independence that the country had democratically voted out a president.
There was a lot of hope and expectation that the new coalition government led by President Adama Barrow will usher in reforms that will transform the country into one that is peaceful, progressive and democratic. There were to be reforms in most sectors of the country’s governance structure.
The new dispensation promised judicial, economic and social reforms which will have the effect of transforming the country and better the lives of all citizens. Among the promised reforms was the ushering in of a new constitution to replace the much-amended and much-maligned 1997 Constitution.
One of the main features of the proposed new constitution was the introduction of a two-term limit for presidents. This was sung so many times that everyone began to believe it was a sincere aspiration of the new leadership. All citizens began to talk about term limits and freedom of expression among other democratic rights.
However, eight years later, the country remains in the same political, economic and social dilemma it was before 2016. Among the promises that were made for reformation, very few, if any, have been fulfilled. The term limits issue had been thrown to the wind when the National Assembly rejected the proposed new constitution. There is still rampant abuse of office, corruption, inefficiency and many dictatorial residues can still be observed in the governance of the country.
But it is not fair to Barrow and his people to claim that all has been doom and gloom or stagnant. People are free to express themselves now. No one goes to bed fearing the visit of the fearsome NIA agents or the murderous Junglers. The political space has opened up. But the fact remains that this is not The New Gambia we bargained for eight years ago. We could do so much better as a government and as a people.
