HUNDREDS of Gambians marched through the capital Banjul on Friday in what is believed to be the first opposition protest permitted in the former dictatorship for nearly three decades.
“The principle reason for this peaceful protest is to demand greater transparency and accountability from the President Adama Barrow-led government,” Binta Senghore, one of the leaders of the youth wing of the United Democratic Party (UDP), which organised the march, said in a speech.
Surrounded by a strong police presence, she was among youths who delivered petitions to the National Assembly secretariat and the attorney general’s office.
“This is the first time the government has granted UDP a permit for more than 27 years,” party leader Ousainou Darboe, a long-time opponent of the former dictator Yahya Jammeh, said in an audio message ahead of the event.
“We used to apply but the government never accepted. I thank the youth wing who took the steps in applying for the permit,” he added.
Darboe, 74, who did not attend on Friday, had served as vice president under Barrow before running against him in the 2021 presidential election.
In a statement, the UDP Youth Wing described the police decision to grant the march as a “positive development” that it hoped would mark “a turning point in the political landscape”
Almami Taal, a spokesperson for the UDP, also said it was the first authorised march in 27 years.
“The UDP Youth Wing is… calling on the Gambia government to design a robust anti-corruption institutional framework anchored on laws with a three-pronged (prevention, investigation and prosecution) strategy against corruption that will inspire public officials to carry out their work conscientiously for the public good,” Senghore said in her speech.
The petition also highlighted the high cost of living and a swathe of financial scandals including Covid-19 funding and a Gambia Ports Authority embezzlement scandal.
On Wednesday, the attorney general’s office announced that the former permanent secretary at the fisheries and water resources ministry had been convicted on charges of corruption and financial crimes, in connection with bribes accepted to release fishing vessels arrested by the navy.
Barrow won a second term as president in 2021 in the country’s first open transition of power since Jammeh’s dictatorship.
His rule of more than two decades ended in 2016 with Barrow’s unexpected victory.
