The Civic Scribe: Articles & Poems

In 2016, Gambians achieved the remarkable: they ousted a dictator, Yahya Jammeh, through the power of the vote after 22 years of repression. His departure, fueled by promises to rule for “a billion years” and bizarre claims like an AIDS cure, shone as a beacon for African democracy. Yet a decade later, The Gambia’s democratic future remains uncertain. The choices citizens make at the polls carry the weight of past trauma and the fragile hope for renewal, influenced by deep-rooted social and personal connections, offering crucial insights for democracies globally.

Understanding Gambian Voters: Pragmatism and Social Bonds

1. Coalition-Building: Unity for Survival
Gambian voters prioritize practicality over ideology to dismantle authoritarian rule. The 2016 opposition coalition behind Adama Barrow proved this, repeated again in 2021. This strategy acknowledges that a divided opposition empowers autocrats. However, Barrow’s subsequent shift, abandoning his original UDP base and allying with Jammeh’s former party, revealed the vulnerability of such alliances. Voters now focus primarily on preventing a return to the past, navigating a landscape where loyalty is fluid.

2. Survival Economics Drive Decisions
With extreme poverty affecting half the population, elections are fundamentally about daily survival. Long queues in 2021 reflected urgent concerns over inflation, jobs, and pandemic recovery, not abstract policies. Voters cited the harsh economy as their primary motivator. Barrow’s re-election leaned heavily on visible infrastructure projects as symbols of progress, yet widespread economic inequality persists, and the critical role of remittances underscores deep financial insecurity.

3. The Power of Family, Friends, and Diaspora
Despite Parliament rejecting external voting, roughly 250,000 Gambians abroad exert immense influence. Funding one-third of households and vital community projects, the diaspora shapes politics through remittances and digital platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. Crucially, they often guide the votes of family members back home, creating a unique “remittance democracy.” Family ties and advice from respected elders or peers are potent, often informal, determinants of voting behavior, amplifying the diaspora’s impact far beyond formal exclusion.

4. The Weight of Identity: Religion and Ethnicity
Religion and ethnicity form foundational layers of identity influencing political engagement. The Gambia is overwhelmingly Muslim, with significant Christian and indigenous belief minorities. Shared religious spaces and leaders can subtly shape community perspectives and mobilization. Similarly, ethnic affiliations (Mandinka, Fula, Wolof, Jola, Serahule, etc.) historically influenced party support, though the coalition era complicated this. While pragmatic alliances often bridge these lines, underlying identities remain powerful social forces that politicians navigate and voters consider within their communities.

5. Youth: Frustration Meets Grassroots Power
Youth under 30 make up 70% of the population. Many, disillusioned by unfulfilled promises like prosecuting Jammeh-era crimes, abstained from voting in 2021. However, their energy fuels powerful grassroots movements focused on land rights, digital activism, and social justice. Their absence from the polls signifies a calculated protest against unresponsive leadership, not apathy. Peer networks and shared experiences of marginalization powerfully channel their political expression.

Democracy’s Fragile Gains

Electoral progress is undeniable: consecutive free votes, a free press, and a Truth Commission investigating past atrocities. Yet significant challenges threaten consolidation:

• Weak Institutions: Security sector reform is slow, and reliance on the Senegalese-led ECOMIG force highlights state fragility.
• Elite Capture: Barrow’s self-dealing and alliances with Jammeh’s former allies betray anti-corruption pledges.
• Justice Delayed: Failure to prosecute Jammeh-era officials breeds impunity, fueled by political deals trading justice for stability.

Pathways to a Stronger Democracy

1. Embrace the Diaspora Formally
Denying voting rights to the crucial diaspora is unsustainable. Gambia should implement phased external voting (starting with presidential elections), using biometrics, learning from Ghana and Kenya. Their voices deserve formal representation.

2. Strengthen Democracy Between Elections

Investments must focus on:
Civic Education: Leveraging the unique marble voting system to boost participation, especially among less literate communities.
Empowering Local Governance: Directing youth energy into municipal elections builds accountability from the ground up.

3. Deliver Justice Alongside Ballots
Implementing the Truth Commission’s recommendations, especially prosecuting Jammeh, is non-negotiable. Democracy falters where victims see perpetrators unpunished. Regional bodies like ECOWAS should link support to judicial progress.

4. Forge Regional Democratic Partnerships
Amid democratic backsliding in Francophone Africa (Togo, Gabon), Gambia – showcasing Anglophone resilience – should collaborate with Senegal and Nigeria to share tactics like coalition-building and diaspora engagement.

The Gambian voter is pragmatic, weary, yet resilient. They exchanged dictatorship for democracy, finding its rewards slower than expected. Their choices are shaped by the need for economic survival, the guidance of family and friends near and far, the enduring influence of religious and ethnic communities, and a hard-won understanding of power. Their continued engagement, despite disillusionment, reveals a profound truth: Voting transcends selecting leaders; it is an act of asserting human dignity. As one voter aptly stated while waiting to cast her marble ballot: “If another one wins, you should respect that.” Within this simple acceptance lies the enduring, essential faith in democracy that The Gambia, and indeed the world, must strive to uphold.