The rise in the price of basic commodities in The Gambia for the past few months is unprecedented and rather challenging for low-income earners. The rise in prices isn’t showing no sign of decline weeks after Gambians re-elected Adama Barrow. The Gambia is a country with 48.5% of the population living below USD 1 a day. The current level of inflation in the country is becoming a nightmare for consumers whose expenditures are higher than their earnings. The situation, which remains hostile for low-income earners, necessitated their call for concern of price hike of goods. In Gambia, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods. Inflation rate in The Gambia increased to 7.34 percent in October from 7.01 percent in September of 2021. While food inflation increased to 8:80 percent and interest rate increased to 10:00 in October 2021, according to the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS). The Central Bank Governor, Buah Saidy said at a press conference on 8th September 2021 that the main drivers of food inflation were rice, vegetables, oils and fats, sugar, jam, honey and sweets, and other food products. He added that consumer price inflation on food and non-alcoholic beverages accelerated to 11.5% during the review period compared to 5.2% a year ago. Meanwhile, the World Bank also revealed that the headline inflation started increasing in January 2021, driven by food price increases, which is undermining household food security, but said it decelerated slightly to 6.9% y/y in August 2021. Consumers’ complaints Ebrima Mboob, 38, of Manjai and breadwinner of his family said feeding is the most expensive thing in the Gambia, right now. He complained that even D500 is not enough for the daily sustenance of the family (fish money) as a kilo of meat now costs D300. He lamented that all his monthly earnings go into family feeding, while other bills such as school fees, health care, water and electricity are being taken care of by his wife and siblings in Europe. “Even one does multiple jobs; it would be difficult to take care of his family needs alone. You must seek support from other relatives to help solve family needs,” he said. Fatou Jarju, 40, fishmonger at the Wellingara market said addressing the recent rise in the inflation, especially on basic commodities should be the priority of the re-elected president, Adama Barrow. She said the little profit she makes from her business does not benefit her as it all goes into the needs of her family. “It’s been five months now, I have not saved even D100 because from the little daily sales I make, I use that to sustain my family. My husband cannot do it alone. I have to assist him. The bills are also there and they should be settled and none of my children have graduated yet, they are all going to school,” the 40-year-old fishmonger said. A single mother at Sinchu Baliya, Saffiayatou Sanyang, 52, is scared that she might be a street beggar, if the situation remains unchanged. Sanyang, has been a mother of four, and a widow for the past 4 years who lives from hand-to-mouth through laundry service to put food on the table for her 4 children. She said if fish could cost D100 while she goes to market with D150; there is a high tendency that her family would not consume a balanced diet. “The recent increase in inflation should be a concern for everyone, not only the government. D200 of daily fish-money is no longer enough for families because fish alone cost D100 and above; while a cup of vegetable oil costs D25 that was sold for D10. Prices keep increasing and the government is not doing anything,” she decried. Since the change of government in 2017, the country has been experiencing different waves of price hikes as inflation continues to rise. Expert observation Former Accountant General and one-time Finance and Economic Affairs Minister in the Barrow led administration; Amadou Sanneh said the government should encourage many investments by Gambians and improve inflows of the foreign exchange as well as to improve the exchange rate and strengthening of the Dalasi. He said the Dalasi is falling and one has to factor in the valuation of the currency. “Sound macroeconomic management, financial management of the economy will ensure inflation comes down and there will be price stability and the exchange rate needs to be checked,” Sanneh suggested. The Gambia Government in a dispatch dated 23rd March 2020 introduced measures to control prices of essential commodities using the Commodities Emergency Powers Regulations, 2020. The development followed complaints from vendors and consumers about the exorbitant prices of essential commodities, especially basic food items, which sparked panic among buyers in the country. Another former finance minister, Abdou Colley said the inflation rise affects the consumers’ purchasing power and their ability to buy and consume goods; adding that it is also an effect on the rise in price of commodities which affect consumers ability to consume and maintain their pattern, likewise their welfare. “Its number one consequence is a reduction in growth. It slows down growth, meaning if the price of goods is increasing, then the consumption pattern is affected which leads them to reduce the quantities they purchase and this would lead to a slowdown in growth in the economy,” Colley explained. The former finance minister further explained that the rise in inflation also affects international competitiveness. “Gambian goods become relatively more expensive compared to other goods. Whereby Gambia’s ability as a country to export goods to other countries is affected and this reduces the country’s competitiveness. So, inflation affects growth in the economy and the competitiveness of the economy and also consumers’ welfare,” he said. NPP Gov’t Mitigation plan The National People’s Party manifesto states that the NPP Government would encourage and support improved agricultural productivity and livestock production. It explains that agricultural policies would seek to propel production and productivity through mechanisation to boost supplies at local markets for affordability by consumers. The NPP government aims to invest in the private sector to increase the surface of consolidated irrigated land with technological enhancement to the ideals of mechanisation; as well as to work with the private sector and all other interest groups to build storage facilities across the country for both local and industrial farmers to add value to agricultural crops and products such as fruits, vegetables and flours.
The Gambia conducted a peaceful campaign and presidential election, but tolerance for political and ethnic diversity are the must-needed behaviours that can sustain tranquillity in the country. The country went to polls on December 4, 2021 and the incumbent Adama Barrow has been declared the winner after amassing 53 percent of the total votes cast, beating his main challenger Ousainu Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), by more than 200, 000 votes. However, a bit of controversy ensued the following day after the election as three opposition candidates from the UDP, Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) and independent candidate Essa Fall called a joint press briefing in Fajara to reject the results without providing any evidence of malpractice. This created panic in the country as supporters of the UDP gathered in numbers at Darboe’s residence. Faal though has since withdrawn stating that there were no sufficient grounds to claim against electoral fraud. The Police Intervention Unit was deployed to disperse the crowd using tear gas. Youth and peace advocates have since been calling for political tolerance and respect for diversity. “For us to maintain the peace that we are known for in this country, we should be able to respect and accept diversity, and most importantly, promote unity at all times," Bakary Sonko, National Programmes Coordinator of Peace Hub – The Gambia, said. He said everyone has the responsibility to maintain the peace of this country and everyone has the right to belong to any political party. However, citizens must respect laws, tolerate each other’s differences and exercise their franchise during the election and maintain peace afterwards. Sonko believes that politicians are the right people to convince the masses to maintain peace, the primary role of politicians during and after the electoral periods is to advocate for peace alongside their manifestos. “Political parties have a bigger role to play. They have the responsibility to counsel their party militants to support without any form of insult or negative stereotypes towards other groups,” he emphasised. Jeopardised by politics The Global Youth Parliament’s Regional Coordinator for West Coast Region, Kemo Fatty, said The Gambia's peaceful atmosphere must not be jeopardised by politics. He advised youth and women to be agents of peace and desist from all forms of violence. “They must be engaged both day and night to ensure tranquillity in the electoral process,” he said. Meanwhile, Fatou B.S. Badjie, Co-Founder of Girls in The Frontline for Development (GFD), said political leaders should always prioritise peace dialogues at all their fora. She said women groups should be involved in the implementation of peace initiatives at community levels. GFD is built on advocacy pillars such as peacebuilding, prevention of violence, and tackling gender-based violence. “We all have our fundamental human rights in which you have the right to assemble, the right to belong to any political party... So, we should understand that politics is not here to divide us, instead, it gives the platform to express divergent views that would help the country to grow,” Badjie explained. In as much as everybody has the right to support a candidate or a party, Badjie said everyone must also be committed to promoting peace and that must start at individual level. “Peace has to start with oneself. If you are not peaceful, you cannot help others to maintain peace. One has to understand how important peace is to ourselves, and then we will know how important it is to the entire nation," she said. The Gambia is still a fledgling democracy, which is struggling to break from its brutal past, and does not seek a repeat of the 2016/2017 crisis, which saw thousands of citizens fled to neighbouring Senegal to seek refuge following a disputed election. Although two opposition parties contest the results, all the international observers including five former African presidents and local observers have described the outcome as free and fair. The Gambia’s three-year election cycle continues in April 2022 with a parliamentary election in which 53 seats are up for grab and in March 2023 with a local government election in which 2 mayoral and 5 chairperson seats are up for grab. Therefore, the advocacy for diversity, tolerance and peace remains highly needed in the country’s political discourse ahead of these crucial votes.
In the Lower River Region of The Gambia, access to healthcare remains a nightmare for an area who's population is more than 82, 361 representing a population density of 0.51. It is the only region without a hospital as Basse’s health centre has now been upgraded to a district hospital. The private clinics remain out of reach as the majority of the dwellers are poor while the minor health centres across the region have no drugs most times of the year. “We are really worried about the situation in our communities. Even if we get to the health centre there is no qualified health professional to attend to us as patients, which makes life very difficult for us," said Mamadou Dem, who hailed from Dongoroba in Jarra East. Apart from the lack of professionally trained health personnel, they are also often plagued with lack of drugs to treat people, while communities would trek kilometres before they can get the facilities, according to him. Dem recalled moments when there would be emergencies that needed urgent medical attention, and they could do nothing about it because health facilities are too far to reach within a short time. According to him, people in the region have been experiencing a nightmare as there are not enough health facilities in the region, with absolutely zero hospitals to take care of major health emergencies. “We have to walk for kilometres to access the ones in the region. Before you can see a health personnel, the person will have to wait for hours especially when it comes to getting access to drugs. That is because there are not enough drugs in these available facilities. The only thing we can get is to get a prescription and then go to private pharmacies to buy, which is usually very costly considering the poverty around here," he continued. The Gambia Bureau of Statistics’ (GBoS) Population and Demography report published in 2017 has described poverty as more of a rural phenomenon as the rural poverty rate has increased from 64.2 percent in 2010 to 69.5 percent in 2015/16. The poor in rural areas account for about 64 percent of the total poor in the country. Dem has reached these statistics stating that most dwellers do not have income to continue buying drugs from the private pharmacies. “It is very painful to travel long distances to seek for healthcare only to find that there is no person available to attend to you or there is no drug available. You have to go empty handed," Dem lamented. He urged the government to come to resolve their request that has been pending for decades, while people continue to die of avoidable illnesses.Now that Barrow has been re-elected as president for the next five years, Dem firmly appealed for consideration of their plights. Surang Jallow, a native of Seno in Jarra West had nearly lost his sister-in-law at labour due to lack of blood at the facility. “I went in search of blood from my village up to Farafenni, where I was lucky to get blood to save her life.” The poor condition of the health centres is abysmal in rendering health services. Jallow explained that the cost they charge on patients for medical tests at the labs is D50 per test, stating that is expensive. “We are really tired of going to private pharmacies to buy drugs because it is expensive for us to afford, and there are no drugs in the health centres. I am urging the government to wipe our tears,” he decried. Jallow believes that the candidate he had voted for in the just concluded presidential election would address their nightmare. He remains hopeful that the new leadership will construct a major hospital in the region as well as improve the services of the existing facilities, including making drugs available. This will avoid many health-related casualties, including maternal mortality. The infant mortality rate was 96 for every thousand births and the under-five mortality was 137 per every thousand births, as per the 2013 Census. In Fololo too, Jarra Central the conditions remain the same in terms of poor service delivery, including drug shortage, lack of qualified medical practitioners and accessibility. Aminata Dem is a native of the community. “We walk from community to community before we get to a health centre and mostly, we stay all day without getting a single drug from the health centre. We have no other option but to go and buy the drugs from the private pharmacy.” She expects the newly elected government to ensure drugs are available in the health centres and also with necessary equipment for health personnel to be able to perform their duties as required. The former Health Minister Omar Sey, has blamed the poor health conditions on the lack of implementation of the primary health care strategy plan. “We have lost a lot of resources over the past 2 to 3 years that could be used to improve our primary health issues in the Gambia because in 2017, there was money that can address all the primary health problems in the country,” he said. He recommends the updating of the health policy and decentralising its implementation, arguing that such can make a difference for the rural health issues. The Gambia National Health Policy has expired since last year – 2012 – 2020 – and there is so far, no new policy available to set out the mechanism of improving the country’s healthcare.
The road to democracy was ushered in 2016 when the Gambia went to the polls to change the president for the first time through the ballot box, a move that uprooted dictatorship after 22 years. A new vision for The Gambia included a new constitution and accountability for past human rights violations. A Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was also established to probe human rights violations committed between July 1994 to January 2017. As part of fulfilling the desires of the Gambians people, a commission was set up and tasked with drafting a constitution that reflects the wishes and aspiration of citizens thus ushering in the birth of a third republic. The new constitution would replace the 1997 constitution which supported the self-perpetuating design of the ex-leader. The draft constitution was a fundamental agenda to the reform processes in the Gambia under the new regime as the country needed so many institutional reforms thus over D116 million was invested in the 2020 draft Constitution. More than two years after the process began, and after a highly acrimonious and polarised parliamentary debate, the proposed Constitution Promulgation Bill, 2020 was voted out by the National Assembly. This bill would have brought in a new constitution to replace the 1997 constitution, however, with 23 lawmakers voting against the backing of 31 MPs, it fell short of the three-quarters required to put it to a referendum. A new constitution was one of the campaign promises of the Coalition 2016, intended to usher in a new dawn and promote secularism, good governance and multiparty democracy. Five years down the line, these promises are not met thus dashing away the hopes of Gambians. The draft constitution introduced several measures aimed at enhancing and strengthening democracy. They included a presidential term limit, limits on executive power and greater political inclusion of marginalised groups (including women, youth and people with disabilities). It provided for a Bill of Rights chapter that complied with international and regional human rights standards, and provided for freedom of the media and access to information. Madi Jobarteh, a human right activist, said the Barrow administration did not encourage the lawmakers that are affiliated with his government to support a yes vote for the draft constitution to pass. Mr. Jobarteh stated that a lot of money spent on this draft constitution, an initiative by the Barrow’s government as such expects it in the forefront to advocate for its transient to ensure those NAMS affiliated to the President to vote for it. Madi Jobarteh points out that the rejection of the draft constitution hugely influenced his vote in this year’s election. Kaddijatou Jawo, a journalist, was “disappointed for the fact that the new constitution would have been the best thing ever Gambians were anticipating to happen when the new administration took over.” “The new constitution would have paved the way for presidential term limits, which would have helped in the democratic process,’’ she said. Ms Jawo is still optimistic that the new draft constitution would someday be approved, and that hopes are not entirely lost. Mustapha Sonko, a Migration Officer at the National Youth Council, said there could have been a compromise among various parties to ensure the draft constitution was passed. “’I am disappointed not only with the current administration, but the fact that the entire process was debated based on interest, on political dimension,’’ he said. During the campaign for votes in the December 4 presidential elections, some of the candidates (Essa Mbye Faal, Ousainou Darboe, Halifa Sallah) promised to bring the draft constitution back to life should they win. They did not. Barrow, who won the polls with a margin of 25% between him and his main challenger, did not provide for the revival of the draft constitution in his party’s manifesto. But on Tuesday December 7, he made a fresh promise to deliver a new constitution. "I assure you we will have a new constitution before the end of my term. I am committed to it and I will make sure it happens," the president-elect told local and international journalists in Banjul, the capital. He also promised to ensure there are limited terms for the president and an absolute majority voting system where a candidate needs to meet a minimum threshold if they are to be elected in a first round ballot or face a second round where they fail to meet the threshold of more than 50% of the total votes cast. Tuesday’s announcement has renewed hopes for a new constitution.
The Foni districts, since Independence, have been without a skills training centre or a higher learning institute, especially for the youth to acquire skills to enhance their employability in the area without migrating to urban centres in search of greener pastures.Even former president Yahya Jammeh who hailed from the area and ruled The Gambia for 22 years failed to construct a skills training centre in the area.The lack of the facility in the region is a factor for rural-urban migration among the youth. Because of that, parents do domestic chores by themselves since the youths who should help them have migrated to the urban centres in search of skills and jobs.Days after the December 4 presidential election, the youths in Foni expressed the need to have skills training centres. This, according to them, would help them with alternative access to economic growth options and would provide better living standards. Life has been difficultFatou B. S Badjie, a native of Jakoi Bintang in the Foni Bintang Karanai district, said the lack of skills centres in Foni detached her from her family and introduced her to a high cost of living in urban settlements.She said decentralisation of skills training centres is essential to the development of the country."Life in the urban Gambia has been difficult,” she added.Swaibou Sey, a youth from Foni Kansala, who had to migrate to the Kombos to pursue an advanced diploma in education at the Gambia College, said choosing a career was a difficult thing for him as there are no institutions in Foni where he could further his education.“If we were having institutions in Foni that would have helped us. We would not have migrated all the way from Foni to Kombo just to further our education,” he said.Sey wants the Barrow government to decentralise institutions in rural Gambia especially in the Fonis. This would reduce the rate at which the youth migrate to urban settlements just to attain tertiary education or acquire skills.Some of the youth in the region are falling short of attaining their dreams due to a lack of financial assistance or a home to stay in urban Gambia.Like Kumba Cham, a high school graduate from Bwiam who could not realise her dream of becoming a lawyer. She said getting a guardian in the urban area has been the most difficult thing for her. And that “getting money to fund her stay in the urban Gambia has always been challenging.”Kumba, who couldn’t continue her education in the urban area due to transport costs among others, said having access to higher education opportunities in Foni would give her a free mind and a chance to stay with her parents and help them.“I want institutions to be established in Foni,” she said. “The authorities should really help us because we are suffering here.” Expert adviceOusman Sonko, a development specialist who has worked on community and rural development projects for more than a decade, said there is a need to decentralise access to Skills Training Centres (STCs).“Adequate decentralisation will reduce rural-urban migration, since one of the root causes of rural-urban migration is poverty and lack of adequate social amenities. So, effective decentralisation will ensure that people, especially those in the rural areas stay and invest in agricultural production.”Sonko added that effective decentralisation would facilitate even allocation and distribution of national resources and promote local governance and development through local participation, “since people will begin to see themselves as part and parcel” of the process.He further said that having skills training institutions in the rural areas would not only contribute to the reduction of rural urban migration, but also boost rural infrastructure, especially housing. Cause of imbalanceTijan M. Jobe, a rural sociology lecturer at the Gambia College, said STCs in rural areas would help rural people secure income-generating careers. This, he said, would improve their income earning potentials and quality of life.“Over centralisation is the major cause of the imbalance in national development, which is the root cause of rural-urban migration,” he said.Jobe added that decentralisation of institutions and skills training centres would help rural people with meaningful access to relevant skills and bring about balanced and uniformed national development to help decongest the urban areas and reduce crime. The need to decentralise institutions and skills training centres to the rural areas especially in Foni is necessary because experts said that it could be the possible solution to mitigate housing problems, over population in urban areas, traffic jam, crime, and decrease rural urban migration. It could also help boost agricultural production.
Gambians urge IEC to ensure privacy for persons with visual impairment. click to listen to more: https://soundcloud.com/user-140623569-423216487/persons-with-visual-impairment-need-better-voting-system
The residents of Changai Toro village in the Sami District, Central River Region north (CRR/n) have called for job opportunities in the rural areas to help retain their children to help them with their agricultural production.Parents in the rural areas are greatly affected by youth rural-urban migration as most of their children migrate to urban centres in search of greener pastures; thus, hampering rural productivity, especially on agriculture and other income generating avenues. This increases the poverty in the rural areas and affects the health of parents as they are left to do the laborious work all by themselves. As Gambians vote in presidential elections on December 4, parents in Changai Toro in the Central River Region are demanding for each of the 6 presidential candidates to address the issue by ensuring that rural youth earn a decent living in rural areas and to help parents with agricultural activities.Samba Wane, a farmer in the Central River Region whose son left for the urban Gambia in search of greener pasture expressed concern over the rural-urban migration syndrome, especially during the rainy season. Samba Wane, farmer in the Central River Region He said the nightmare is affecting him and other farmers. “My son, who is supposed to assist me at the farm has gone to the Kombos to acquire life skills and earn a better living and left me alone with lots of work,” he said.“I have very big farms such as groundnut, maize, and millet and I am working there alone. I was shocked when I heard he left for the urban areas.”Rural Gambia does not offer access to jobs and other opportunities for the youth. Wane’s son, unable to earn a decent living in his village, sneaked out quietly one morning. Wane narrated that “one day I went to his house to get him wake-up so that he would go to the farms, but upon my arrival, his friends told me he had left for the urban area. I was shocked and amazed.” He said his son’s dream is to acquire skills and to earn better. Therefore, he said the next government should establish vocational institutes in the rural areas to ensure the youth acquire skills in their own regions. This would solve the rural-urban migration problem, he said. Wane now employs a labourer he pays D20, 000 for the rainy season. On whether he would vote for a candidate who can solve their problem, Wane said he would not vote for any candidate who has no solutions to their problems.“My candidate, if elected, would help the youths. I have listened to them (politicians) talk and I would not vote for anyone who has no solution to our problems. I am voting for my candidate because I’m hopeful that he has the solution to our problems," he said without disclosing his preferred choice. Hardship and poverty Ousman Sonko, a development specialist and a retired agriculturist, said rural-urban migration has increased the labour intensity of parents and lowered agricultural productivity leading to food insecurity in rural areas.Ousman Sonko, a development specialistHe said the deplorable living conditions of parents due to the negative effects of the rural-urban drift has also increased hardship and poverty in provincial communities.“Retention of rural youth will contribute to the development of the country, especially the rural areas. They will provide the needed support, social protection and security to their parents,” Sonko said.Sonko, who is also the Vice Principal at the Rural Development Institute in Mansakonko, Lower River Region, said that the presence of youth in rural areas may further provide a justification and pressure for investment into the youth sector.He said such investment can significantly contribute to rural development and by extension minimise pressure on urban infrastructure including housing, traffic and even crime rate.Dado Jallow, a farmer and mother of five at Changai Toro village, saw her first son embark on irregular migration routes, and two other sons migrated to the Kombos in search of greener pastures. Dado Jallow, farmer and mother of five at Changai Toro villageWith no manpower on the farm, Jallow looks after a son in early grade and a little daughter. “I definitely want them to stay with me and work here, but there are no job opportunities here,” she said.Like Wane, Jallow too wants the next government to provide more job opportunities in rural Gambia to minimize youth exodus. “If my sons are able to get employment here, I would be glad,” she said .She also affirmed that she would not vote for any candidate who has no solution to the problems they are facing.According to a case study published on “The Gneiss Blog Tumblr” in June 2015 on rural-urban migration in the Gambia, many people are forced to move to the urban areas due to the decline in investment in social services in the rural area and the rapidly declining rural population.The findings of the study also stated that decentralisation of services to the rural areas would help to support people in the long term to improve the quality of life of the rural dwellers and help them become self-sufficient. What manifestoes do candidates offer?The National People’s Party manifesto promised that an NPP-led government would encourage and support improved agricultural productivity and livestock production. “As an NPP Government, we plan to unfold and implement a massive mechanisation plan. Farmers require more support, and we guarantee that this will be executed,” it stated.The Turnaround Movement of the independent candidate Essa Mbye Faal states that their government would shift from subsistence farming to boost food production by establishing a thriving agricultural sector with potential to produce a large, diverse food basket to ensure food security and provide “sustainable employment in ten years”.Mama Kandeh’s Gambia Democratic Congress promises “sound economic policies” in agriculture, tourism and fisheries development.The United Democratic Party wants to tap into Gambia’s “huge untapped potentials in the agricultural sector”, which can improve the lives of the people, increase their food security, improve the nutritional standards for all ages, create employment for both rural and urban populations, and drives the national economy through linkages to other sectors.The “Transformative Agenda 2021” of the PDOIS states that production-based welfare would be linked to consumption-based welfare enabling individual income and community income to rise proportionately to facilitate availability and affordability of food, to promote general welfare of both rural and urban dwellers.While manifestoes for parties and candidates intend to tackle rural development issues that may help tackle rural-urban migration, they have not made it a top priority. The agricultural development plans are meaningless if there are no youth to work on the farms.
In The Gambia, electorates would queue and only one person is allowed at a time to enter the polling station to cast his or her vote secretly. This privacy ensures there is no intimidation or influence from any person when exercising the right to franchise.But citizens with visually impaired disability and with voting rights have ever been exempted from enjoying this same privacy since independence. They have to rely on third parties to vote on their behalf even though the law says secret ballot for all voters.Alpha Secka, a visually impaired person said such practice is discriminatory. “We are discriminated [against] everywhere,” he said. Alpha’s short response goes to show his frustration about the system and the plight of persons with visual impairment in the country, in general.Open to betrayalDuring elections, Alpha like other colleagues of his, have little choice but to accept to be accompanied by a trusted family member or friend to vote for a candidate of his choice. While there is trust in that person, Alpha said that he would have no knowledge whether the person has actually voted as he had authorized.“I trust my family member who serves as an escort to help me cast my vote without any two minds. I have the confidence he would vote where I want him to vote for me. But if he or she fails to cast my vote where I asked him or her to, it is left between the person and God,” he said.Alpha has expressed dissatisfaction with this arrangement, describing the act as “political exclusion of visually impaired persons”. According to him, he could not enjoy his constitutionally guaranteed rights.The 1997 Constitution of The Gambia is unambiguous as Section 33 warns against discriminations during elections, including those living with any forms of disabilities. The Gambia has also ratified since July 2015 and domesticated the Convention of the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities as the recently passed Persons with Disability Act 2021. It has also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention the same year.Mechanisms to respect privacyAlpha demands that the authorities, including the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), put up mechanisms that would allow them to choose the candidate they want secretly without relying on a third party. “We want a system where everyone is included in everything,” he said.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which highlighted several barriers to political participation of people with disabilities, underscores the equal rights of persons with disabilities to participate in political life.This situation has also left Muhammed Krubally, the Chairperson of the Gambia Federation of the Disabled (GFD) concerned. A Magistrate by profession, visually impaired himself, Krubally said the right to participate in elections are statutorily guaranteed by national and international legislations.However, he is concerned that the laws protecting them to take part in elections are disregarded in practice during elections in many ways, leaving their fundamental rights to be violated.“If you look at the position of the ballot boxes, for the blind to independently cast their votes is always absent,” he said.“You may sometimes choose somebody because you trust the person to go with you to the voting room to help you vote. Who knows [what happens] because you are totally blind? That person may not cast for the candidate you want to vote for. He may cast it for his or her candidate of choice.” These challenges raised are expected to be discovered by the IEC through consultative meetings with all stakeholders ahead of elections. But Krubally is disappointed that the IEC never factored the involvement of his association as part of the larger Civil Society Organizations in the country to take part in the formation of policies and programmes.The GFD chairperson says the lack of privacy in the voting process is a rights violation because one could potentially be assisted by a stranger. He expected the IEC to make available to the blind the Braille ballots or enlarged print, magnifying material for easy reading.He also raises concerns over the lack of trained personnel at polling stations to deal with people with various disabilities.IEC’s weak alternativeThe electoral body’s communications officer, Pa Makan Khan, has admitted that the IEC is doing less for the people with disabilities, including the visually impaired persons in terms of privacy voting. But insisted that the Commission has given them priority to vote as they are not asked to join voting queues.On the issue of voting, Khan maintained that visually impaired persons can rely on their trusted family members to vote for the candidates of their choice. “…they may choose to come with an escort who may be a family member or a friend who helps them to cast their votes, and in doing so, those people must not disclose the choice of candidate of the person with disability because it’s a matter of trust and confidence and they must not break that trust,” he said. If that does not work, Khan’s alternative is that such people can still be guided by the polling team who have taken an oath of secrecy to accompany them to the compartment and the person votes for his choice.
