The Gambia

The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. The Gambia is often referred to as ‘The Smiling Coast’. Gambia may be the smallest country on the continent, but its captivating array of attractions belies its tiny size.

The Gambia is surrounded by Senegal, The Gambia has a mere 80km of coastline, but what a magnificent stretch it encompasses: golden beaches backed by swaying palms and sprinkled with scenic lagoons, sleepy fishing villages and biologically rich coastal reserves.

Banjul, which is the capital city of the Gambia, is a popular area for tourists. The population of the city is only 34,828, with the Greater Banjul Area, which includes the City of Banjul and the Kanifing Municipal Council, having a population of 357,238 (2003 census).

The country occupies the navigable length of the Gambia River valley and surrounding hills. Its unusual shape and size is attributable to territorial compromises arising from 19th-century Anglo-French rivalry in western Africa.

The Gambia has a population of 2.1 million, belonging to a variety of ethnic groups. Each of the ethnic groups in the Gambia has their own language and tradition. The largest ethnic group is the Mandinka, followed by the Fula, Wolof, and Jola. With 176 people per square kilometre, it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa.

During World War II, Gambian troops fought with the Allies in Burma. The Gambia’s capital city served as an air stop for the U.S. Army Air Corps and a port of call for Allied naval convoys. The Gambia became independent from the United Kingdom in 1965.

History

Gambian history before the arrival of Europeans has been preserved to some degree in oral traditions. Its history is closely tied to that of neighbouring Senegal, since it was only in the late 19th century that a distinction was made between Senegal and The Gambia; until that time the region is often referred to as Senegambia.

The Malinke and Wolof kingdoms, fully established by the 19th century, were still in the formative stages when the Venetian explorer Alvise Ca’ da Mosto (Cadamosto) in the service of Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator arrived in 1455. The Malinke were the westernmost peoples of the old Mali empire. The Wolof probably migrated from the Songhai regions, and the Fulani pastoralists were part of a migration from the Futa Toro. Although locally powerful, none of the small Gambian kingdoms were ever strong enough to dominate Senegambia. Continuing internecine warfare made it easy for the French and British to dominate the territory.

The Gambia became a republic on April 24, 1970. The first president, Sir Dawda Jawara, head of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), was returned in all elections after 1972. In 1981 an attempt to overthrow the government was put down with the aid of Senegalese troops after heavy fighting in Banjul. This event leads to an experiment in federation with Senegal. In 1982 the two nations form the confederation of Senegambia. They undertake to merge their military and security forces, to evolve a joint foreign policy and to work towards economic and monetary union. Joint institutions are to include a confederal parliament, but the two nations will nevertheless maintain their separate independence.

This ambitious scheme (similar to the long-term aims of the European Union) lasts until 1989, when tensions cause the confederation to be dissolved. It is replaced by a looser treaty of friendship and cooperation, agreed in 1991.

In July 1994 Jawara’s regime is toppled in a coup led by junior army officers, arising from a riot in the streets of Banjul by soldiers demanding unpaid wages. Jawara escapes to exile in Senegal. An army lieutenant, Yahya Jammeh, becomes chairman of a provisional military council.

Jammeh stands for election as president in 1996, but the political situation is distorted by a ban on the three political parties active during the Jawara years and on anyone who has held a ministerial post since independence. In these unusual conditions Jammeh defeats two rivals in the presidential election. In 1997 his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation, wins 33 of the 49 seats in parliament.

The 2016 Presidential elections

Presidential elections in December 2016 resulted in a political transition after the incumbent President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, who had led the country for 22 years was defeated by Adama Barrow, the presidential candidate of a political coalition.

In January 2017, Adama Barrow was sworn in as president, as head of a coalition of opposition parties that defeated Yahya Jammeh in elections held on December 1, 2016.

The Parliamentary elections in April 2017 led to an absolute majority for United Democratic Party (UDP) with 31 seats in the 58-seat National Assembly. The former ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party was reduced to five seats. In the local elections of May 2018, 62 of the 120 seats went to the UDP and 18 to the APRC.

Read Also:Jerry Rawlings 1947-2020: The Father of Modern Day Ghana 

The cabinet was reshuffled in March 2019, as the vice president was removed, along with two other prominent members of the UDP. In December 2019 President Adama Barrow formed a new political party, the National People’s Party which would allow him to seek a second term in 2021 elections.

Press Freedom

Gambia has continued to progress despite some notable press freedom violations in 2019. Since dictator Yahya Jammeh’s departure in January 2017, the new president, Adama Barrow, has begun realizing his promise to create an environment that favours the media’s development. The state radio and TV no longer have a broadcast news monopoly and several community and privately-owned radio and TV stations have been created. In May 2018, the supreme court ruled that the criminalization of defamation was unconstitutional but, despite the good intentions expressed by Barrow, the long awaited overhaul of legislation that violates press freedom has yet to materialize.

Of the more than 100 journalists who fled abroad during the dictatorship, at least 30 have been able to return. Nonetheless, the old habits from 23 years of terror and suppression of press freedom have not yet fully disappeared. Two privately-owned radio stations, King FM and Home Digital FM, were closed for a month in early 2020 and their managers were arrested for allegedly inciting hate in their coverage of protests organized by opposition political parties. A foreign journalist’s press accreditation was rescinded because his TV channel was regarded as having a pro-opposition bias.

Tourism

The Gambia is a popular tourism destination in the West African sub-region, attracting more than two hundred and nineteen thousand (219,000) tourists in the 2018 – 2019 tourists season according to authorities.

The Gambia’s tourism industry receives over 100,000 visitors a year and is the second highest earner of foreign revenue. Tourists mainly come from Europe with package tour operators from UK making up over 50% of visitors. The remaining number of visitors arriving from Germany, Norway, Sweden & other countries.

Tourism has been one of the most buoyant sectors of the economy, contributing 12 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while being a major foreign exchange earner and a healthy employment generator.

The Gambia is a cash economy; credit cards are accepted only at major hotels when the internet connection is working and a few restaurants. You should only exchange currency at banks or exchange bureaus.

Economy

Following the 2016 political transition, GDP growth accelerated to 6.6% in 2018 driven by a recovery in agriculture, tourism, construction, and trade. It then fell to an estimated 5.4% in 2019 due to weak fiscal management and delays in budget support disbursements. Inflation subsided owing to a stable exchange rate, which depreciated by only 3.2% since September 2018, strong food supply, and declining commodity prices. Gambia’s dependence on food and fuel imports widened the current account deficit during 2015–18, but improvements in net services, private capital flows, and remittances from the diaspora mitigated the deficit in 2019.

Fiscal consolidation helped to reduce fiscal deficit to 4.1% of GDP in 2019, financed through budget support loans and grants and expensive domestic borrowing, crowding out private investment. Debt remains unsustainable (81.8% of GDP in 2018), and debt service consumed more than 53% of revenues in 2016–18, leaving limited fiscal space to finance priority spending. The high public debt and limited fiscal space kept poverty stagnant (48.4% in 2010 and 48.7% in 2015) and unemployment high (35.2% in 2018). Gambia faces major challenges in energy and infrastructure. And agriculture, despite its potential, has not contributed much to poverty reduction as 91% of the rural poor work in smallholder-based subsistence farming.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6% in 2019 against 6.5% in 2018. Services grew by 10%, supported by wholesale and retail trade, despite the Thomas Cook UK bankruptcy.

Agriculture contracted by 10% due to erratic rainfall. On the demand side, growth was driven by high public and private investment. Externally financed projects (9.8% of GDP) supported public investment while private sector credit expanded rapidly (y-o-y growth of 35.8%). Inflation increased from 6.5% in 2018 to 7.1% in 2019, reflecting a reduction of the output gap and the impact of a one-off administrative price change.

The government adhered to a tight fiscal stance in 2019 and succeeded in reducing the fiscal deficit by almost 3.5 percentage points of GDP to 2.6% of GDP in 2019 (corresponding to a primary surplus of 0.6%). Revenues (excluding grants) increased markedly driven by strong tax performance. Current expenditure increased by 1% of GDP in 2019 relative to previous year to accommodate a 50% increase in civil service salaries, and higher outlays for social sectors and transitional justice initiatives. Interest payments declined from 26.1% of domestic revenues in 2018 to 22.3% in 2019. SOE subsidies were contained at 0.6% of GDP. Public debt declined from 86.7% of GDP in 2018 to 82.5% in 2019.

The Gambia, ranks 174 out of 189 countries in the 2019 Human Development Index. Despite considerable progress in recent years particularly in primary education levels of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition have remained unchanged or have worsened in the last ten years. Major crises such as the 2015 Ebola outbreak and the consequent reduction in tourism, and climate-related drought and floods in 2012 and 2016 respectively, have all taken their toll on the country’s economy.

The Gambia’s poverty rate remains at 48 percent, while food insecurity has risen from 5 to 8 percent over the past five years as a result of weak food production systems and the effects of successive shocks such as drought and floods. In 2018, The Gambia suffered another drought leading a food security emergency.

The Gambia’s poverty rate remains at 48 percent, while food insecurity has risen from 5 to 8 percent over the past five years as a result of weak food production systems and the effects of successive shocks such as drought and floods. In 2018, The Gambia suffered another drought leading a food security emergency.