The average Gambian survives from hand to mouth due to poor salaries and wages they receive at the end of every working month. This is not commensurable with the frustrating market realities as the price of the most basic food commodities keep rising exorbitantly and frequently. Affordability of such items have become one of the crucial factors to decide the upcoming presidential election to be held on December 4, just a few days away.Muhammad Camara, a father of six told MAJaC News that all the income he earns is spent on feeding. He said the high cost of feeding affects his allocations for other needed areas such as taking care of the health and education of his family.“Even taking my children to hospital when they are sick is a problem because my earnings stop at feeding my family.”The December election is timely for Muhammed, just like it is for other Gambians. He vowed to use his marble wisely for a candidate he believes would turn things around in the market. For him, candidates who share a practical agenda for an increased food production thereby reducing high dependency on expensive imported food items will get his vote.A housewife, Fatou Bojang, said the price hike of food items has created nutritional shortages, as most people could not afford the practice of a balanced diet anymore. According to her, D150 is no longer enough to buy a good fish from the market.“I might not even vote in this coming election because an empty bag cannot stand. I cannot go to the polls while I’m hungry. If this is not addressed, I might end up begging to feed my family because my husband is sick and I cannot even afford three square meals a day.”Fatou blamed the business people for the frequent increase in price of food items, stating that, it is now common to find an increment on a particular item just within a few days. For Mariama Jatta, a consumer, she blamed the politicians for not prioritizing the market condition that is affecting the whole nation, rather, waging personal attacks against one another on political platforms. She described livelihoods as very difficult in the current situation.“Help me to get rich while we remain poor is what politicians are vying for but not to address our needs.” Irish potato and other basic goods on sale at SereKunda marketA recent price finding conducted by this platform as of December 2 has shown that a bag of rice costs D1, 500, a bag of sugar is D1,700, a bag of onion is D650, locust beans (neteto) is now 10 dalasis, and a cube of jumbo is now D2.50.During the lockdown period necessitated by COVID-19 last year, the Ministry of Trade has issued a statement setting the prices of basic commodities, a decision which also threatened to penalize business people who are engaged in hoarding.However, the market is no longer adhering to such proclamations even when the government never came to lift the order.Mamad Salieu, stall owner at Serekunda market selling various foods, blamed the high cost of commodities on the prices they also bought at, as well as the expenditures they incur from transportation and taxes. He said their primary objective is to make profit.He has challenged the winner of the upcoming election to reduce the high taxes imposed on businesses which he believes would lead to ease in pricing of commodities, especially food items.What promises are candidates making about it?2021 Presidential Candidates, PC: IEC ArchivesEssa Faal, an independent candidate, published his manifesto last month, outlining his plans to ensure food security in the country. He promised to create a thriving sector for the increased production of large and diversified food baskets that will also guarantee a sustainable employment in 10 years. “Improved efficiency in food production and processing, and a huge reduction in food waste in the first 3 years of my government,” Faal's manifesto stated.Faal believes that Gambians will find a sustainable balance in market price of basic food items when such commodities are produced in the country rather than relying on importation.The United Democratic Party (UDP), the perceived main challenger of the incumbent, has also outlined their manifesto in a 5-point agenda. UDP has promised its commitment to eradicate child malnutrition, guarantee food security for the entire population by motivating farmers.“So, they will stay on the farm because if you look at the farming community is dwindling, we are having more people and fewer farmers. So where do you get food? You import it at the expense of a huge amount of foreign exchange,” Lamin Manneh, who is a leading figure in drafting of the party’s agenda, told The Standard.“We want to revert it. Import substitution, produce the food here and keep the foreign exchange, and at the end, sell part of that food and earn foreign exchange. That is the way forward for the Gambia,” Manneh added.Meanwhile, Halifa Sallah, the leader of the People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) has promised to create cooperative sector that will accumulate cooperative finances to support family farms, create small scale processing of grains, nuts fruits and vegetables as part of the plan to eradicate poverty and creating balance in the market by also encouraging women producers and vendors.“They live in poverty, grow in poverty, age in poverty, and die in poverty. That is what we wish to end. How? By using your wealth. Twenty-three billion [dalasi] is your budget this coming year (2022). The ocean is here. Others are exploiting it,” he said.In the party’s transformative agenda, PDOIS also promised to increase the individual income and community income to rise proportionately to facilitate availability and affordability of food.One of the newest political parties contesting the election is the National Unity party (NUP) led by Abdoulie Ebrima Jammeh, former Director General at the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). During his nomination, he told journalists that his first task, if elected president would be stabilizing the economy, the impact of which will regularize the market turbulent. “We need to rebalance our economy when we are elected. This is an immediately priority,” Jammeh said.Like other candidates, Jammeh’s manifesto has promised Gambians a better coordination and implementation of agricultural policies to ensure economic growth and reduce poverty in the country.The incumbent Adama Barrow, also the leader of the National People’s Party has consistently blamed the high cost of commodities on the global market system, which is suffering from the wreck of COVID-19. However, he has promised to provide support to local farmers to increase productivity of food items such as rice and other agricultural products.At a campaign meeting held in Jarrol, Foni, last week, Barrow promised to execute a plan worth of over $175 million investment plan in the field of Agriculture. According to him, “there is US$80 million plan for rice production, US$28 million for storage, US$27 million on rearing of goats and sheep and another additional US$40 million coming into the agriculture sector”.The Gambia Democratic Congress has provided in their manifesto that they will put a sound economic policy in Agriculture, Tourism and Fisheries Development.Expert view Nyang Njie, Gambian economist, PC-TFNAn economist, Nyang Njie, said high cost of living is attributed to high inflation that makes people's purchasing power less. He said it could also be attributed to higher unemployment, which makes people not being able to make an income to feed themselves.To tackle the problem, Njie suggested that the government should reduce taxation imposed on imports like flour which is a buy-product of bread.“Most of the vegetables that Gambians eat are imported. So it's high time to grow these vegetables in the country, thereby making it cheaper and accessible to all Gambians,” he said. He said Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs should work closely with the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture to find ways and means of making food available and accessible, especially to the poor
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.
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.
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 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.
Hate speech is often rife during elections. In the run up to first presidential elections in the post-dictatorial elections, Lenisa Gomez zoomed into the need to avoid such menace. https://soundcloud.com/user-140623569-423216487/lenisa-gomez-hate-speech