Every Gambian has heard the story that Yahya Jammeh built the University of The Gambia — a story repeated on radios, in classrooms, and at political rallies until it sounded like fact. But what if that story was never true? What if the university that Jammeh claimed as his greatest achievement was actually built long before he came to power? The truth is simple and undeniable: in twenty-two years as president, Yahya Jammeh never built a single higher educational institution in The Gambia. Not one college, not one institute, not even a research centre.
Long before Jammeh came to power, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), under the leadership of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, had already laid the foundation for higher education in The Gambia. The PPP built the schools, trained the teachers, and developed the programs that made a national university possible.
However, for the PPP, these foundations alone were not enough to be called a university. The PPP cared deeply about standards and quality — about creating an institution that would stand among Africa’s best.
Do not take my word for it. I refer everyone to the report prepared for the Government of The Republic of The Gambia by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This report confirmed that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had already laid out a long-term vision for an education system rooted in our cultural values and national identity. The PPP wanted a system that not only produced skilled professionals but also nurtured citizens who understood and respected Gambian culture. It was this vision that led UNESCO to conduct a feasibility study on higher education in The Gambia — a study that guided the government’s plan for the eventual establishment of a national university based on standards, quality, and relevance to national development.
This document can be found on the official PPP website at www.pppgambia.com, titled “National Cultural Policy (1985)” by Eric O. Oprontri, prepared under the guidance of the PPP administration as part of The Gambia’s educational and cultural development framework.
When Jammeh came to power, he was impressed by what he saw, but instead of continuing the PPP’s careful plan, he rushed to claim credit. What the PPP viewed as groundwork still in progress, Jammeh hastily declared a university — within just five years of taking power.
Did anyone truly believe that any government can build a real university within five years?
A real university cannot be built by decree or in a few short years. It requires decades of planning — building institutions, training faculty, developing curricula, and establishing accreditation.
By the time the PPP left office in 1994, The Gambia already had a complete system of tertiary and professional institutions forming the backbone of a future national university.
These included:
- The Gambia College (1978), with its four constituent schools:
- The School of Education, which trained teachers across the nation.
- The School of Agriculture, which developed agricultural officers and rural extension agents.
- The School of Public Health, which strengthened preventive healthcare systems.
- The School of Nursing and Midwifery, which produced the country’s nurses and midwives.
- The Management Development Institute (MDI) (1982), which trained civil servants and administrators.
- The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) (1980), which provides technical and applied science education.
- The Hotel Training School (1980), which developed the tourism and hospitality workforce.
- The Rural Development Institute (1979), which trained community and local government development officers.
- The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) (1993), which advances agricultural research and innovation.
- The International Trypanotolerant Centre (ITC) (1982), which conducted pioneering research in livestock improvement and animal health, positioned The Gambia as a regional leader in agricultural science.
- The National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) (1989), which preserved the nation’s cultural heritage, promoted creative arts, and strengthened education in history, language, and identity.
- The Nova Scotia–Gambia Association (NSGA) (1985), established through PPP-era cooperation to promote youth education, community health, and international exchange between The Gambia and Canada.
- The Co-operative Training Centres, established to strengthen co-operative management, credit unions, and small enterprise development.
- Non-Formal Education Centres, promoting adult literacy and lifelong learning.
These institutions were deliberately designed by the PPP to prepare the country for university-level education.
Because of these institutions, The Gambia once stood as a model of efficiency and progress across Africa. Our civil service became one of the most disciplined and effective on the continent, powered by graduates of the Management Development Institute and GTTI who brought professionalism, ethics, and competence to public administration. The country’s primary healthcare system was ranked among the best in Africa, built on the foundation of the Gambia College’s School of Public Health and the School of Nursing and Midwifery, which trained generations of nurses, midwives, and community health workers.
We achieved these milestones through the standard and quality of education provided by these institutions. Their excellence became so widely recognised that neighbouring countries began sending their civil servants to The Gambia for advanced training in administration, public health, and agriculture — a rare distinction that placed our small nation among Africa’s centres of learning and professional development.
In agriculture, The Gambia achieved remarkable productivity — so much so that during the high farming season, locally known as “TERATO”, labourers from neighbouring countries flocked here to work on Gambian farms because our systems were organised, our farmers were supported, and our extension services were strong. We not only fed ourselves, but we also exported livestock, groundnut, cotton, and vegetables to other countries, earning valuable foreign exchange and recognition across the subregion.
Our foreign diplomats were not only well-trained but also among the most professional and respected in the subregion, representing The Gambia with dignity, intellect, and integrity. They stood as living proof that the country’s investment in education and institutional excellence produced leaders of global calibre.
In telecommunications, The Gambia’s infrastructure under the PPP era became the envy of the region — second only to South Africa — as the government prioritised research, technical training, and partnerships that modernised national communication.
These achievements were not accidental; they were the direct result of deliberate investment in human capital and institutional development by the PPP government — a vision anchored in discipline, education, and national self-reliance.
When the APRC came to power, it disrupted this well-functioning system and undermined the very standards that had made The Gambia a model of excellence. The culture of merit and professionalism was replaced with loyalty to individuals rather than service to the nation. As a result, we lost quality across the board — in the civil service, education, healthcare, and agriculture. What had once been a proud and efficient public service became a machinery anchored to serve the interests of one man instead of the people.
This political interference weakened the institutions that the PPP had painstakingly built over decades. Training programs collapsed, research stagnated, and the link between education and national development was severed. Our schools and colleges lost their credibility, our hospitals struggled with standards, and our once-thriving agricultural sector began to decline. Farming and agricultural productivity deteriorated sharply, rural development slowed, and the spirit of national service that once inspired our civil servants was replaced by fear and political patronage.
Because of such a system, The Gambia now finds itself in a deep institutional and moral crisis. The civil service, once the pride of our nation, became a tool of personal loyalty rather than national duty. Civil servants were no longer taught the values of patriotism, discipline, and integrity — instead, they were conditioned to serve the whims of one individual. Decision-making shifted from professionalism to fear, and initiative was replaced by blind obedience.
The teachers, lecturers, and professors who lived and worked under this climate of fear were not spared. Many of them, consciously or unconsciously, passed this fear-driven culture to their students. As a result, a generation of university graduates — many of whom now occupy key positions in government — were educated within that same environment of silence and submission. They were taught, directly or indirectly, that survival depended on loyalty to one man, not to the nation or its people.
Gradually, the culture of independence and confidence that the PPP had instilled was replaced by total dependency on directives from the top. Yahya Jammeh built not a government of institutions, but a cult of personality, where allegiance to the leader mattered more than service to the Republic. To dismantle such a system requires not only administrative reform but profound political courage and moral renewal — a willingness to rebuild institutions on the foundations of merit, accountability, and patriotism once again.
For curiosity and for the sake of argument, one must ask: apart from the institutions mentioned above — all of which were established by the PPP and are still used as university facilities today — can anyone identify any other higher educational facility that the APRC built in its entire 22 years in power? The evidence makes it clear that the APRC inherited, rather than built, the foundation of The Gambia’s higher education system.
For over two decades, the University operated from PPP-built campuses in Brikama, Banjul, Kanifing etc.
Jammeh’s biggest educational dream — the construction of a university campus at Faraba Banta — was never completed during his administration, despite access to donor funding and state resources. It took nearly two decades before the project was completed and inaugurated under President Adama Barrow’s government.
This timeline tells its own truth: if it has taken more than twenty years to build one campus, it is logically impossible that Jammeh’s government could have built an entire university within five years of coming to power.
Sadly, Jammeh’s hurried and politically motivated approach to declaring a university undermined what could have been one of Africa’s finest institutions. In his rush for political recognition, the APRC neglected academic planning, quality assurance, and international accreditation. Had the PPP’s methodical and research-based roadmap continued, The Gambia would today boast a university recognised among Africa’s best — academically self-sufficient and internationally respected.
Many young Gambians may not realise that the classrooms they studied in, the teachers who taught them, and the faculties that awarded their degrees were all born from the PPP’s legacy. The PPP built the institutions, trained the people, and laid the groundwork for higher education long before 1994.
Building a university is not about political ambition — it is about national vision, patience, and planning. The PPP understood that, which is why it invested in education across every level — from technical and vocational schools to teacher training and agricultural research.
History does not lie — it remembers. The University of The Gambia was born from the vision, planning, and investment of the People’s Progressive Party, not from political decree.
When it was later declared in haste, the PPP’s careful plan for quality and standards was abandoned, and the result is what we see today — a nation struggling with the very challenges the PPP feared: declining standards, weak institutions, and poor service delivery.
To believe that Yahya Jammeh built a real university within five years — without evidence of any new higher educational institution in his entire twenty-two years of rule — is to ignore truth for convenience. The PPP built for the nation; Jammeh claimed for himself. It is time for this myth to end, and for truth to take its rightful place in our history.
By Kebba Nanko, Director of Policy and Implementation, People’s Progressive Party (PPP)
