In The Gambia, women represent more than half of the population (50.5%) according to a 2013 Population and Housing Census by the Gambia Bureau of Statistics. Women also form the majority of registered voters by about 58%. Despite this, the political arena in the country is largely dominated by men. Women are also underrepresented in relevant positions within political parties and the civil service. For instance, out of the 16 registered political parties, none has a woman party leader. Most women are active in political parties as supporters, mobilizers, and voters – not decision-makers. Pull her down syndrome Despite winning the mayoral seat in Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe still recalled the bullying, stereotypes and the “pull her down syndrome” she went through during her campaign for election to the mayoral seat. The “pull her down syndrome”, also referred to as the “PHD”, is a term that refers to the act of women bringing each other down. More generally, women castigate and mudsling other women who are striving for representation or success in a male dominated world, instead of standing by and supporting their fellow women. Lowe said the insults and harassment that were directed at her made her strong and strengthened her resolve to become the first female mayor of Banjul, Gambia’s capital city. Mayor Lowe was a successful businessperson before travelling to Swiss where she did her studies. These challenges and other major obstacles are what women face in their attempt at full political participation. According to studies, it is a complex issue as it can be traced back to a number of institutional, historical, socio-economic as well as cultural factors. Household responsibilities, low self-esteem, illiteracy, few role models and lower expectations were also found as the key reasons that stop women from participating in politics. Financial constraints But it is not only about the lack of support from fellow women that is militating against their political participation and chance at holding decision-making positions, a lack of finance is also a problem. In the 2018 local government election, Ndumbeh Sallah of the Gambia Democratic Congress contested against three men for the Sabiji ward councillorship seat under the Latrikunda Sabiji constituency. She lost after securing only 444 votes out of a total number of votes of 3307. “One of my biggest challenges during the campaign was financial constraints, a lack of a proper campaign team and mobilisation techniques,” she said. For that election, Sallah was all by herself, with no coaching or mentor to tell her what to do or not to do and how she could win the minds of voters. This needs to change, she said. "There should be enough advocacy for both women and men, to change the mentality of cultural and traditional beliefs about women because Gambian women are determined,” she said. “I think if we have proper advocacy, at least, we would have equal representation for women." For the fact that she was the only female contesting in the ward, she complained that she was also bullied and harassed by her male opponents as well as her fellow women during the process. “They were seeing me as someone who did not know what to do because for them they thought that women can’t hold a political position. I also received a lot of insults from them, especially on social media,” she recalled. Ndumbeh Sallah, Gambia Democratic Congress (Photo downloaded from Ndumbeh’s Facebook handle)Sallah was not the only female candidate who faced financial constraints, a sign that political parties are not financially supporting women candidates as they would for the men. Women must support women Fatou Janneh ran on a PDOIS ticket for the Kunkujang Keitaya ward in the Old Yundum constituency during the councillorship election. Janneh, who lost with 9.06% of the votes, said her party sponsored her, but the funds were ‘not enough’. But she is still determined to contest again. “When I lost, I just took it in good faith and know that there is always a chance and hope for continuity. It motivated me to stand firm in politics and ready to tackle the coming challenges and strategize ways to win the coming elections,” she said. However, Janneh said women must support their fellow women if they want to achieve equal representation and to hold places in decision-making processes.Fatou Janneh , PDOIS (Photo downloaded from Fatou’s Facebook handle) Despite women representing a larger percent of the electorates; their numerical strength has not, however, been reflected in the number of women in governance and leadership positions at both national and local levels. For twenty years, only three pro-women laws have been passed by the National Assembly- the Women’s Act of 2010, the Domestic Violence Act 2013, and the Sexual Offences Act 2013. Yet, women remain politically marginalised. Political parties exploit women Activist Tabu Njie-Sarr blames the low representation of women in the political arena on patriarchal society. “We live in a patriarchal society. Socio-cultural barriers do not encourage women to lead,” she said. Njie-Sarr, who is also the coordinator of the CSO Gender Platform, said that “violence or threats of violence often serve as obstacles to women’s political participation. Such violence takes a variety of forms including character defamation, harassment, insults, sexual violence, and assault.” She added that there is a need for proactive laws that will ensure women are well represented in decision-making processes. “Even in political parties, women are exploited because they’re only relegated to cooking, clapping and dancing and we see this as exploitation because by the time decisions are made these women are already tired [and would not even have a seat on the table],” she observed. She also called for affirmative actions through the National Assembly and political parties to ensure a 30% quota system for women representation. The Gambia has not introduced the quota system in meeting the 30 per cent target for women’s political participation and representation in the National Assembly and public positions respectively in line with the AU Solemn Declaration. This becomes more relevant in the political arena and decision-making at all levels, where women are not legally barred from participating effectively on an equal footing with men, but may not be able to do so due to cultural biases in favour of men, and stereotypical perception of the role of women - as noted in the 2012 study on Women’s Political Participation and Representation in The Gambia. In the 2017 elections for the National Assembly, 53 seats were up for grab, and all went to the men except three (3) for women. One was returned unopposed and three others were nominated. Female representation in the National Assembly is less than 11 % and falls far below the 50% and 30% recommended by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Inclusive decision-making processes The Gambia domesticated the CEDAW, which it ratified in 1993, into a Women’s Law in 2010, and ratified the Maputo Protocol (...on the Rights of Women in Africa). However, women have yet to fully realise the political rights provided by these instruments. At the cabinet level, there are only four women among 23 ministers. The challenge of inequality in politics does not stop there; it runs down to the local leadership level where women constitute only eight out of the 120 councillors in the country. Essa Njie, a political science lecturer at the University of The Gambia, said women’s participation is important in many ways because “it promotes inclusive decision-making processes.” He added participation in decision-making is also a form of empowering women. He said for there to be equal representation, the laws should be strengthened and provide the legal framework that would allow equal representation for women. This should start with the Constitution and the Women’s Act, which would lead to affirmative actions. “We need a quota system in the Constitution which would allow political parties to put certain percentages of women when it comes to decision-making processes like the parliamentary and local government elections,” Njie suggested.
In 2016, President Adama fled the country to Senegal where he took the oath of office because the environment was not conducive for his continued stay in the Gambia. It was the first and only time that Gambians voted out a President through the ballot box. There is a gap in the laws as it fails to capture how the government would transition from one regime to another as well as the protection of the incoming president. There was no handing over from former President Jammeh to President Barrow because the former was using State security. Both the Gambian Constitution and the Elections Act provide no specific provisions that oblige the State security apparatus to provide protection for an incoming president elected under an opposition party or independent candidate ticket. This poses a significant threat to the elected leader and the immediate family members, as they are left unprotected until their inauguration. Security threat underestimated In 2016, President-elect Adama Barrow (as he was then), was forced to hire private security guards from Senegal to protect him in addition to the civilian volunteers who sacrificed their lives to protect him. This was because he had no access to state security for protection. Barrow ended up taking refuge in Dakar for his safety, especially when his predecessor Yahya A.J.J Jammeh refused to relinquish power. Citizens have since shown concern about this lacuna in the legal instruments and urge the authorities to enact laws that would oblige the state security forces to provide protection for the incoming president, especially when elected from the opposition parties or on an independent ticket. Aminata Correa, a media assistant at the then Coalition 2016 Media Unit headquartered at the Kairaba Beach Hotel recalled the insecurities that surrounded the then President-elect, Adama Barrow. This was largely due to the fact that the people who volunteered to protect the president-elect were inexperienced in providing presidential security. “The uncertainty at the time and the risk involved made it necessary for the President-elect to be given the security. I think we had underestimated how serious the threat was. Anything could have happened to the president-elect before he was flown out of the country,” she said. Correa maintained that there is a need for a security sector reform that would take care of the lacuna, stating the experience in 2016 was a textbook description of how the former administration treated opponents. Muhammed Joof was among the people who volunteered to guard Adama Barrow during the 2016 political impasse, following the presidential election. He endured attacks as he was allegedly stabbed by the supporters of ex-President Jammeh in Tallinding at night, while closing from his guard duty. Joof sustained injuries and he was threatened that he would be killed for serving as a close security protection personnel to the 2016 Coalition. The matter was reported at the Tallinding Police Station and the police command commissioned an investigation which found that Joof sustained injuries. Absolute protection The Deputy Party leader of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) Amadou Kah, believes that the incoming president should be provided with “absolute protection” together with their immediate families. He said incoming presidents represent the will of the people – the verdict of the people, and that the position they are elected into represents democracy – “the survival of our democracy.” “They should feel safe not only that they can trust, but also, they should feel safe that they will be able to assume the Office of President at the required time as mandated by the Constitution in peace and stability,” Kah said. “Another important aspect here is not only about having a law providing a mechanism, but I think it is very fundamental that the institutions that are responsible for such protection to be educated, to be enlightened [and] to be strengthened. [We] need to build the institution in such a way that they would only serve the Constitution and the will of the people without affection or ill-will.” The civil society leader Marr Nyang, said the best practice in a democratic society is when one is elected as a President, he or she receives security protection from the State. “It is obligatory on the State to provide security protection for the president-elect.” “Not only to receive security protection, but the president-elect should also receive security briefings from the heads of the security apparatuses that will also help the president-elect to acquaint him or herself with the security status of the country so that once the person assumes office, he or she can smoothly go through the transition.”’ Marr said the cabinet of the incoming president should receive briefing from the cabinet of the outgoing president so that the handing over and the transition could be done smoothly, suggesting security sector reform to accommodate such issues. According to him, Barrow’s cabinet did not receive proper security briefing from their predecessor and they were not prepared to tackle the urgent security needs. “There was no clear briefing from the outgoing cabinet to the incoming cabinet. There has to be a law that will govern the process and procedure of protecting the incoming president and his cabinet, sharing of the briefing regarding the security of the country and then also briefings from the outgoing cabinet to the incoming cabinet.” “Those issues should be clearly laid out in our laws,” he said. A young politician, Kemeseng Sanneh, has also discussed the need for the reforms to create protection for the incoming presidents from the opposition. “I strongly recommend legislation to that effect.” He recalled that Adama Barrow took his oath of office in Senegal because the environment was not ripe for him to take it in The Gambia. “We cannot continue to have our incoming president take his or her oath of office in another country. He or she should be protected, to ensure that the verdict of the people prevail. The situation in 2016, which compelled the President to flee out of the country, should not repeat. Thus, the need for legislative reform,” he said. Extremely important Meanwhile, a lawmaker, Suwaibou Touray, has agreed with the call. “For the interest of peaceful and lawful transfer of power, I believe it is ‘extremely important’ and wise to safeguard the security of our leaders as well as ensuring that our electoral process is sustained and predictable,” Touray said. However, lawyer Abdoulie Fatty said he is not sure whether there is a need for a special legislation to deal with the matter. He said what happened during the reign of former President Jammeh was atrocious and abnormal. He cited the December 4, 2021 presidential elections where the police provided all the candidates protection during the campaign period. “That's the duty of the police and even the NIA,” he said, adding, “Jammeh just monopolised those institutions.” Lawyer Fatty said if President Barrow had lost last year’s election, “I am sure the police would have enhanced protection for them befitting a President-elect and being equally entitled to intelligence briefings.” He added: “I do not personally think we need special legislation to address this issue. What we need is strong justice sector institutions such as the police.” He said in both the UK and the Unites States of America, the leading opposition candidate is briefed by security chiefs just in case he or she wins they would have had a reasonable idea of the state of the country's intelligence. “Again, a president-elect is a president in waiting. Therefore, he or she is entitled to enhanced security to protect him or her and should also be entitled to a lot of the benefits that the incumbent is entitled to in terms of access to state facilities,” Fatty said. “I mean meetings with the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Staff, National Intelligence Agency director, so that as soon as he or she is sworn in, they would have had some knowledge of the state of affairs.”