NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2021

ANALYSIS
Adama Barrow: will he be smiling in December?
his former rival, Kandeh of the Gambia
Democratic Congress (GDC), for president
and instructed the breakaway faction of
his party, the No to Alliance movement, to
coalesce with Kandeh.
Barrow’s decision to sign an MOU in
the first place and enter into an alliance
with the APRC in August this year was not
simply a marriage of convenience between
two political parties seeking victory at
the polls. Rather, Barrow’s decision to
embrace the party of the former dictator is
indicative of his crippling fear of losing,
especially to the United Democratic Party’s
(UDP) Darboe, his former mentor who is
now his sworn enemy. On the other hand,
Barrow seems to have quickly developed
a liking for power and is desirous of being
re-elected and staying on as president for
as long as possible.
The common African sit-tight
syndrome seems to have affected him all
too early in his presidency, causing him
to first break his coalition promise to
serve only for three years. Then he pushed
The author is a journalist and communications consultant.
his former party, the UDP, out of his
government to form the NPP under whose
colours he is seeking re-election.
Barrow’s decision to embrace the
leader that Gambians voted out in
December 2016 is therefore driven by a
combination of fear on the one hand and
hunger for power on the other. It was, by
all accounts, an unpopular and unwise
decision that has already backfired and
might well cost him re-election.
When Barrow was elected, the
coalition that gave him victory agreed
that he would serve for three years after
which he would oversee an election
and hand over power to the winner. His
mandate also included putting in place a
transitional justice programme that saw the
establishment of three main commissions:
a commission of enquiry into the financial
dealings and assets of the former president
(the Janneh Commission); a Constitutional
Review Commission (CRC) to draft a new
Constitution with presidential term limits
and greater guarantee of rights for the
citizens, and a Truth, Reconciliation and
Reparations Commission (TRRC).
The TRRC looked into the human
rights violations of the ex-president
and, among other things, is to make
recommendations for the prosecution of
those most responsible for human rights
violations under Jammeh’s regime.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is
doubtful whether Barrow was ever serious
about his transitional justice programme.
His government deliberately refused to
implement the recommendations of the
Janneh Commission that unearthed massive
corruption by the former president, and
recommended the prosecution of several
Jammeh enablers. Ironically, some of them
already held, and still hold ministerial,
advisory and other senior positions in the
current government.
Barrow also made sure that the new
draft Constitution produced by the CRC
suffered a stillbirth because of a new twoterm
presidential limit. He was hoping that
his first five years would not be taken into
AFRICA BRIEFING NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2021 21