The coming presidential election presents The Gambia with a fundamental choice: continue to depend heavily on imported goods, external financing and a narrow economic base, or build a productive economy that creates jobs, strengthens food security and gives its young people a meaningful stake in the nation’s future. The economic facts point to a country…
As The Gambia inches towards the December 5 presidential election, the political atmosphere is thick with anticipation, anxiety and familiar theatrics and insincerity. Banners, posters and billboards are springing up, griots have resumed their praise-singing, and political rallies are once again the weekend ritual. But beneath the noise, a critical question hangs in the air:…
Just few days ago at State House, Sunday 27 September, to be precise, Essa Mbye Faal, leader of the APP-Sobeyaa party, formally sealed a political alliance with President Adama Barrow’s ruling National People’s Party ahead of the December 5, 2026 presidential election, declaring: “The election is over and is dead and buried. I’m no more…
As the Atlantic breeze sweeps across the Gambian capital, the mood is anything but calm. With presidential elections set for December 5, 2026, the country finds itself at a crossroads: will it deepen its fragile democratic experiment, or entrench executive power under President Adama Barrow. A Controversial Third Term: Barrow, who swept to power in…
The Gambia experiences a difficult period as the country continues to be gripped by heightened fear and stiff paranoia among citizens due to the upsurge in violent crime, prominent among them being fatal stabbings, rape and armed robbery. This period is not only difficult for the average Gambian, but it is equally risky and sensitive…
One of the most damaging legacies of the Jammeh dictatorship is a politics of make-believe, a politics which does not recognize the importance of truth in framing and conducting our national discourse, or in preserving our healthy social norms and values, or respecting our sacred religious obligations which forbid lying in pursuit of worldly gains….
Photo Credit: Professor Yerro Mballow Professor Yerro Mballow, a renowned social and political analyst, has forecast a significant shift in Gambia’s political landscape heading into the 2026 presidential election. According to Prof. Mballow, the opposition parties may have a chance to unseat President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party (NPP) if they can form a united…
Part I: The Voice That Stirred a Nation Today marks four years since the untimely passing of Pa Nderry Mbai, a fearless journalist whose pioneering work in internet broadcasting continues to inspire societal and political change. He inspires so many young and older adults to engage in the third liberation struggle and to be active…
“He who votes, hopes.” But what happens when that hope becomes hollow—when the rituals of democracy—elections, constitutions, speeches—fail to transform the daily lives of ordinary people? Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama put it bluntly: “Nobody cares about democracy; what the people want is good governance—a government that offers opportunities and prosperity to the people.” In…
In the Gambia, political drama continues unabated with ever more interesting episodes. On Saturday, we witnessed a massive welcome of UDP’s leader, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe. For a moment, the whole place was painted yellow, yet, less than 24 hours later, Kanilai became green as supporters of Jammeh converged in thousands to listen to an audio…
