Following the presidential election in December, Gambian voters are all set to make another important decision as they prepare to vote in the upcoming parliamentary election in April and the local government election next year. On top of the agenda, especially for young Gambians, is the high unemployment rate, which forced many into criminal activities as well as endangering their lives on a perilous journey to Europe, using the backway in search of greener pastures. According to the 2018 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Gambia Bureau of Statistics’ (GBoS), the youth unemployment rate has increased to 41.5%. A 20-year-old, Nfamara Jammeh, a native of Banjul said they would vote for the candidate who will advocate youth employment during the parliamentary election so that the current government will find a solution to solve the youth unemployment in the country in 2022. The consequence of youth unemployment has been tipped to be the cause of the rising violent crime, armed robbery, theft, and prostitution in the country. Jammeh added when the unemployment rate is high in a country, it would cause crimes such as theft, robbery, and certain immoral behaviours in the society. Jammeh urged the government to ensure that the rate of unemployment is reduced by allowing investors to create more job opportunities for the young people of this country. He stressed that it is frustrating for youngsters to complete more than a decade of expensive education and suffer afterward without jobs. According to the national employment policy and action plan 2022 to 2030, glaring employment deficits both in terms of levels and quality highlight the need for comprehensive national employment policies that provide a clear framework for addressing working poverty, creating jobs, increasing earnings of male and female employees and decreasing youth unemployment and discouragement. Another youth, Lamin Fofana, a 20-year-old who lives in Abuko, said lack of employment is affecting him as job opportunities are rarely available causing his frustration. “We are the youth, and we need jobs to earn a living. We are tired of depending on our parents for a living,” he lamented. He said lack of employment has pushed him away from his community stigmatisation that he lacks ambition since he had completed secondary school education. In terms of voting, Fofana decided that he will vote for a parliamentary candidate who is committed to supporting policies that would reduce unemployment among youth. According to the GBoS Labour Force Survey, among the working-age population, 14.9 percent are economically active while 85 percent are usually economically inactive. And for those who were outside the labour force, 39.8 percent are between the ages 15 to 24 and 31 percent are of the ages 36-64 while 29 percent are between 25-35 years. Mamadou Jallow, a 25-year-old who lives in Wellingara in the West Coast Region, said he will only vote for candidates who will advocate for youth empowerment during the parliamentary and local government election in 2023. He believed the local government should play a key role by rightfully implementing the taxes paid to the area councils in which 60 percent is mandated to be ploughed back to taxpayers through development. “Community development can create job opportunities for the youth so during the parliamentary election, I will vote for the one (candidate) who will advocate for the creation of jobs in my community because it will help to reduce the unemployment rate among youth,'' he said. Electoral officer verifying details of a voter queuing to vote in Gambia’s local government election on 12th April in 2018 (Photo: Mustapha Ceesay) Alpha Dem, 23, a resident of Old Yundum, said: “We need candidates who will transform [local government] economies and the infrastructure which will improve our opportunity to acquire jobs and reduce the involvement of youth in criminal activities.” A senior media assistant at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sulayman Ceesay, said the factors responsible for youth unemployment in the Gambia are the quality and relevance of the education system, inflexible labour market, and regulation that in turn create a situation of dependency. “The inadequate skills, lack of experience and a mismatch between education and training and requisite job skills with low space job creations combined with the lack of big industries and the low investment in Agriculture in the Gambia are direct factors creating challenges for youth unemployment in the country,” he said. Ceesay said the Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports is very much committed to the development, empowerment, and employability of young people as their priority. The ministry recently launched the youth revolving funds to support young people who are into entrepreneurship in order to improve or expand young people's businesses, he said. Lamin Darboe, the former Director of the National Youth Council, recommended the need for economic transformation that will see the creation of a production-based economy that would give young people work in the manufacturing industries as well as in the production value chain. “There is a mismatch between our education and the needs of the economy,” he said, reiterating Ceesay’s point. “We are not providing our youth with the required technical skills in engineering and entrepreneurship to ease their employability.'' According to him, millions are invested in the construction of roads and bridges but the funds go to foreign companies to deliver those services. He said that some job preferences have some socio-cultural stigma and stereotypes around some job functions, which makes the youth not opt for such kinds of work. “The solution to youth unemployment which will also lead to a reduction of crime rate is to adjust the economic system from tax-based to manufacturing and production. Adjust the curricula to suit the labour demands of the economy and standardisation of the employment landscape in the Gambia,” he stated. The ruling party’s manifesto promises the prioritization of employment creation to graduates and skills persons. It stated that more skills training acquisition will be supported while the government will create industries to absorb job seekers to enhance a robust Public-Private-Partnership to support development agenda.
Voter turnout in presidential elections is always far too high than parliamentary elections in The Gambia. This is because of the significance, voters attached to voting in presidential, over parliamentary elections; despite the proximity and impacts of parliamentarians on the lives and livelihoods of the electorates through their oversight, legislative, representation, resource allocation, among other functions. The Independent Electoral Commission statistics on the 2017 parliamentary election indicated that many voters did not turn out to vote in the election, compared to the 2016 presidential election. The IEC database indicated that 379, 320 people cast their votes in the 2017 National Assembly election, compared to the 886, 578 Gambians who cast their votes in the 2016 presidential election. The tally indicated a difference of more than a half a million voters (507, 258) people who voted in the 2016 presidential election did not vote in the 2017 National Assembly election. Importance of voting in National Assembly elections Polling officers vetting voters in the 2018 Local Gov't at a polling station in Farato (Photo: Mustapha Ceesay) Essa Njie, political science lecturer, University of the Gambia said one of the roles of the national assembly is to make law, while the executive implements and the judiciary interprets those laws. ‘”Not only is parliament responsible for law making but they are also responsible for budget allocation,” he said. Njie stressed the importance of the National Assembly highlighting its duties such as approval of the budgets of institutions and the ratifications of treaties, among others. “Gambians must realize that we need a competent national assembly that will ensure that the refunds that this government had promised in 2016 are brought back to life, making sure that there is a new constitution in place, making sure that there are new electoral laws in place,” he stated. Essa urged people to take the NA elections seriously as the presidential elections in order to improve their lives and livelihoods. “People must realize that in order to improve their lives and livelihood, in order to ensure that critical of development such as health , education ,agriculture and all those very important areas that are necessary to be improved, in order to ensure that their lives and livelihood are improve, it’s only through having an effective an efficient parliament,” he noted. The university lecturer called on Gambians to participate in the democratic process that comes once every five years; citing the power of the parliamentarians. “Elections are moments when the constitution gives us the power to determine or elect our political leaders. So we should not joke with it. Parliamentarians have powers to impeach a president, if he or she is behaving otherwise,” he urged. The low voter turnout at parliamentary elections is due to the less significance that many voters, mainly none-elites rated the parliamentary elections as opposed to presidential elections, owing to their level of civic awareness. National Council for Civic Education In the Gambia, National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) is the legal body responsible for educating the public. The institution is expected to inform the private citizens their rights and constitution responsibilities in which voting is part of. Its role to enlighten the electorates on the importance of voting in parliamentary elections could increase the voter turnout in the 9th April election. Asumana Ceesay, senior programme officer, NCCE said NA elections are equally important as the presidential elections in the lives of the citizens. He said the government is divided into three arms, and of them is the legislature whose election is as important as the presidential elections. “But the majority of people don’t know the importance of parliamentary elections. It’s even circulating on social media that they have already voted in the presidential election; there's no need for them to vote in the NA elections,” he said. Given the status quo, there is a need to create awareness on the importance of NA elections, ahead of the April 9 election. Mr. Ceesay highlighted that NCCE is encouraging all Gambians to go out and select their people genuinely parliamentarian in the April 9 elections, so they can be their representative in the National Assembly. He says the national assembly members will be there for the best interest of the public, they are there to represent their constituency and to represent the welfare of their people. ‘’ Recently we have started since the IEC has released the calendar of the National Assembly election. We just came from Basse. On the 22nd February 2022, we had 11 days of community sensitization in Basse,” he said. The NCCE senior programme officer observed that not everyone has access to television or radio where electoral messages are broadcast; that’s why NCCE deemed it necessary to have face to face and radio sensitization sessions on the importance of parliamentary elections on the lives of the people. “Voting is a constitutional right, the NCCE will continue to do its work by educating the public on their rights and responsibility,” he assured of his institution’s effort. History of National Assembly Elections in The Gambia In The Gambia, National Assembly elections began 75 years ago, (the colonial era), and 18 years before independence, according to records. Hassoum Ceesay, historian and Director General, National Centre for Arts & Culture (NCAC) said the first type of elections the Gambia had was the legislative elections in 1947. He recalled that Gambians first voted their representatives in parliament in 1947 and continued until 1972. “So legislative elections are very important and Gambians are used to electing their own parliamentary representatives since 1947,” he acknowledged. “But from the statistics in the second Republic, meaning from 1997, the presidential election turnout is always higher than that of the legislative elections.” According to research, in 1970 after a referendum, the Gambia became a Republic and a new Constitution (the 1970 Constitution) was adopted. The name of the legislature was changed from the House of Representative to Parliament. At that time, it comprised only thirty-two elected members, four head chiefs, the Attorney General and three nominated members. With the emergence of the 1997 Constitution, the Assembly now comprised fifty-three members and five nominated members. The Speaker and the Deputy-speaker are elected from the five members nominated by the president. Section 87 of the 1997 Constitution made it a requirement for the establishment of a National Assembly, which shall come into existence following a general election four months after the date of election of president.