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| Vice-President Ousainou Darboe (centre) welcomes Gambian President Adama Barrow home from a journey abroad. |
Gambia’s former dictator Yahya Jammeh must be watching with a glee in exile in Equatorial Guinea as events unfold back home.
Jammeh
in July caused a stir when he suggested, via a leaked telephone
conversation, that Gambians would soon regret ousting him. At the time,
many wondered what he had up his sleeves, given the acrimonious
circumstance under which he left office.
But for many
Gambians, there is now little doubt about the meaning of that statement.
In just 22 months in office, the coalition government which plotted
Jammeh's ousting is in disarray.
Disappointment and
betrayal are among the most trending words in Gambian political
discussion these days. Many of the original eight-member coalition
parties represented in the cabinet have either been sacked or relegated
to some insignificant advisory role.
An unlikely quarter
The
persistent topic whether President Adama Barrow should serve three or
five years has resurfaced. This time, bizarrely, the calls are coming
from an unlikely quarter, supporters of his United Democratic Party
(UDP), under whose ticket he was unexpectedly elected.
Banjul
and Serekunda, the two most politically important cities in the
country, have become the scenes of recurrent protests and threats of
more protests by an ever increasing crop of dissatisfied Gambians who
say the government has failed to live up to expectation.
Barrow’s
election on December 1, 2016 was historic in many ways. It was the
first time Gambia – the smallest nation in mainland Africa – changed
government through democratic means, even if the chaotic transition
tainted that record. And that change, led by a virtually unknown figure,
ended the reign of one of the most brutal regimes on the continent.
Jammeh
first came to power in a bloodless coup in 1994. Like in many African
countries where the military removed overstaying governments in the face
of rampant corruption and underdevelopment, many Gambians supported the
former army lieutenant at the initial stage. But he soon attracted
criticism when he decided to remove his military uniform and contest the
presidency.
Against growing opposition, Jammeh soon began ignoring the
constitution. Victims of human rights abuses piled up, amidst reports of
extra-judicial killings, and even more widespread corruption.
Throughout this period – spanning 22 years – the opposition tried to
oust him in five elections; they were held back by sharp divisions.
So,
when Gambians voted for change on that December 1, it was an expression
of protest against Jammeh, and not necessarily support for the
opposition, said Serekunda resident Dawda Kujabi.
Mr
Kujabi represents the views of many young Gambians who initially
supported the coalition government and who have grown disillusioned over
its unresponsiveness.
“The government lacks direction
and [has] failed to identify priority areas of intervention and as such
they are not making any meaningful impact in improving the livelihood of
the people,” he said.
One undeniable benefit of the
change though is the restoration of civil liberties, as seen in the open
discussions of the failings of the government.
The
brewing public anger against the Barrow administration has been
exacerbated by a noticeable pattern of scandals around the Presidency,
as well as the government’s increasing penchant for ignoring citizens’
demand for explanations.
It started with the widely
reported anonymous donation of 55 vehicles to the government, just weeks
after the president was sworn into office. Up to now, no convincing
explanation has been provided for the act which provoked widespread
agitation among accountability campaigners.
Coalition partners
Recently,
some $1 million was discovered in a bank account linked to a private
Foundation of First Lady Fatou Bah-Barrow. The money was deposited by a
Chinese company. Despite a huge public outcry and an ongoing social
media campaign for an explanation, both the Presidency and the Frist
Lady’s office remain mute.
The most recent scandal is
the alleged attempt by President Barrow to bribe lawmakers as part of a
suspected move to extend his stay in office, against a gentleman’s
agreement with his coalition partners. Like his predecessor, President
Barrow’s greatest critics are the diaspora Gambians.
A
leading voice among these is Mr Banka Manneh. While admitting to the
president’s democratic credentials, unlike his predecessor, the US-based
activist says President Barrow was failing due to his apparent
inability to manage expectations.
“We finally have respect [for] human rights, but the economic condition is appalling,” he said.
Mr
Manneh is particularly concerned about the “wasteful spending” which he
thought had ended with the removal of Jammeh. He also said the slow
pace of “fundamental reforms” needed to consolidate the country’s
democracy meant that Gambia was still living in the Jammeh-era.
Foreign travels
Besides
the highly trumpeted line of respect for civil liberties, President
Barrow’s supporters point to a handful of other actions in defence of
his record, including the removal of taxes on some imported foodstuff as
a response to the high cost of living that has characterised the
post-Jammeh era. There was also a noticeable independence of the
judiciary and other formerly highly politicised government institutions.
They also say he has opened up the media space as evidenced by the
unprecedented issuance of TV and radio licences.
Jammeh
refused to approve any private TV licence, so that throughout his
reign, only his government’s narrative was forced on the people through
the state-owned GRTS. Today, there were already two privately run TV
stations, plus several online ones. There has also been some
infrastructural development across the country.
More
recently, the administration announced a cut in government expenditure
with the restriction of foreign travels by officials. But all these have
been dwarfed by the seemingly endless complaints from critics who say
instead of fixing the wrongs of his predecessor, President Barrow was
busy consolidating his hold on power, using the very system the
ex-dictator left behind.
The decision to slam travel
restriction on government officials came hot on the heels of an uproar
against the “extravagant” cost of flying the president to the US to
attend the UN General Assembly. According to reports, the government
hired a Vista Jet plane which cost taxpayers between $17,000 and $24,000
per hour.
In September, the Ministry of Finance
provided parliament with a summary of travel expenditure by various
government entities from January-July. It revealed that the Presidency
alone consumed about $4.6 million. President Barrow was later quoted
saying that the amount was less than what other countries paid for
travels by their presidents.
Earlier in July, the
Presidency came under another attack after it emerged that the
‘President’s Dialogue Tour’ which lasted two weeks, cost the country
about $500,000.
Gambia, with a population of 2.1
million, according to a United Nations estimate in 2017, is a
predominantly agrarian economy with peanut as its main export crop. The
country is best known internationally for its tourism potential, with
the sector accounting for about 20 percent of GDP, behind agriculture
with about 30 percent.
Like many African countries, Gambia sources majority of its budget from foreign aid.
The
hallmark of Jammeh’s dictatorship was the 1997 constitution, which his
APRC-dominated parliament manipulated to provide him the leeway for many
of his actions in his two-decade reign, from draconian media laws, to
biased electoral regulations that targeted his political opponents.
While
all those and many others featured in initial statements of the new
president as potential subjects of reforms, recent actions of the
government have cast doubt about the sincerity in fulfilling them. For
instance, rights campaigners were still trying to come to terms with the
warning by Justice minister Ba Tambedou, of the continued existence of
the publication of false news as a criminal offence. The warning came
amidst the debate on the president's alleged bribery attempt.
There
was also a lot of unease over a suspicious bond between the president
and former ‘enablers’ of the Jammeh administration. Two cabinet
appointments in particular; Mr Momodou Tangara and Mamburay Njie, of
Foreign Affairs and Finance respectively minister, who served in the
same position under the former dictator, caused quite astir.
Banjul-based
civil society activist and staunch Barrow critic Madi Jorbarteh, rates
the performance of the administration at 3.5, on a scale of 10. Mr
Jobarteh, who heads the UK-funded Westminster Foundation for Democracy
in Gambia, said in June that President Barrow’s number one problem was
his failure to fulfil promises of reforms. He noted that while the first
republic under Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (the man Jammeh overthrew)
produced poverty, Jammeh further oppressed the people and weakened
institutions.
Review the laws
Mr Jobarteh said the expectation was for the Barrow administration to implement constitutional, legal and institutional reforms.
“President
Barrow promised that within six months he would review the laws, and
one and half years later, it is still the same,” he lamented.
President
Barrow’s critics blame his failure to deliver on his growing focus on
his political future, which seems to have also created a rift within his
own camp. His administration was supposed to be a transition one.
Despite
their differences in ideologies, everyone agreed that under Jammeh
there was no way a free and fair election could be held. So the idea was
for the coalition president to set the stage for such. The candidate
who emerged as winner was to resign from their party and run as
independent candidate.
They also agreed that the
president would serve for only three years and then conduct fresh
elections, after presiding over the requisite reforms.
But
the rest of the original team in the coalition says everything about
President Barrow now suggested he was no longer interested in the
agreement.
Personal largesse
Some
fear his increasing penchant for behaviour akin to his predecessor’s,
like presenting state resources to institutions as his personal
largesse, or the alleged extravagant life style of the First Lady.
Since
part of the Coalition 2016 agreement was for the presidential candidate
to resign from his original party, technically, President Barrow was no
longer a member of the UDP. Nonetheless, the party appeared comfortable
with all his gestures, until recently when it dawned on its members
that he no longer represented their interests.
UDP is
the biggest among the coalition member parties, with the largest number
of seats in cabinet, and it also dominates parliament. Because of that,
opponents of the Barrow administration see it as a UDP regime. And the
party has always defended the president against attacks.
But in the last few months, this trend seems to have changed.
UDP
leader and Vice-President Ousainou Darboe is on record vowing to go to
court in the event anyone tried to implement the three year coalition
agreement. But today, UDP supporters were leading calls for President
Barrow to step down after three years.
The accusation of alleged attempted bribery of lawmakers was made by a UDP MP.
Political career
UDP
supporters appear particularly unsettled about the formation of a
movement widely seen as the vehicle President Barrow intends to use to
pursue his future political career. The Barrow Youths Movements (BYM)
reminds many of the Green Youths of his predecessor. Curiously, BYM is
controlled by some of the people known to have been behind the Green
Youths, notably former lawmaker Seedy Njie.
Although
the appointment of Mr Darboe as Vice-President was interpreted by the
government’s critics as part of a plot to rid the cabinet of all non-UDP
members, some of the party’s supporters believe it was in fact a
reflection of President Barrow’s plot for the future.
As
Foreign minister, they say, Mr Darboe was the most influential member
of cabinet, and that by appointing him VP, President Barrow literary
stripped him of the opportunity to establish his credentials
internationally.
But UDP spokesman Almamy Fanding Taal,
insists that there was no problem between the party and the president.
He says their position remains unchanged, despite the individual
protests from its members.
UDP is scheduled to go to
congress next month, when it is expected to elect a new executive.
Whoever emerges as its leader, will serve as its presidential candidate.
President
Barrow, no doubt, wants the leadership position. He was heard earlier
this month in a leaked audio telling a party meeting that any attempt to
sideline him by the UDP would amount to a coup.
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