The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice has received with serious concern the claim made by former Vice President Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang at a public forum that the D50 million NPP Success Women Enterprise Fund was in fact money provided by the European Union to the Government for the women of this country. This is a grave allegation that cannot be ignored. Mrs. Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang is not an ordinary citizen. As a former Vice President, her public statements on matters of state carry weight and demand verification.
Her claim stands in direct contradiction to several public statements made by government and NPP officials. Presidential Adviser Dou Sanno, Minister of Information Ismaila Ceesay, and Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare Fatou Kinteh have all maintained that the funds are NPP funds. Vice President Muhammed B.S. Jallow also informed lawmakers that the funds are not public funds but party funds. At the launch of the initiative, Njundu Fatty, CEO of Salam Financial Services, disclosed that President Adama Barrow, through the NPP, contributed D25 million while Salam Financial Services provided another D25 million. These conflicting accounts raise one unavoidable question about the truth behind these funds.
EF Small Centre therefore holds that the true source and legal status of these funds must be independently investigated to determine whether they are state resources, party resources, or a mix of both. This matter should concern the Independent Electoral Commission, the Inter-Party Committee, political parties, civil society, and the media because it goes to the heart of electoral integrity. The Elections Act prohibits the use of state resources for partisan politics and electioneering. If this money is public money, then its use for the benefit of women belonging to one political party would amount to an abuse of state resources for partisan ends. Even if the funds are purely NPP funds, their purpose and manner of distribution still raise serious ethical and legal questions.
A fund targeted only at women members of the ruling party functions as a campaign tool and fits squarely within the logic of voter inducement. It creates the risk that citizens may be enticed to join or support a political party not on the basis of its agenda, policies, or competence, but on the promise of financial benefit. That is a direct threat to free and fair political competition.
This controversy also exposes a major weakness in the Gambia’s electoral framework: the lack of clear and enforceable rules on campaign financing. In any credible democracy, the mobilization, sources, and use of campaign funds must be regulated to prevent undue advantage, undue influence, and unfair competition among political actors. A political party is established to organize citizens around policies, principles, and a governing agenda for the benefit of the whole country, not to function as a financial institution distributing loans and grants to its members. To allocate such a huge sum exclusively to women of one political party, in a country where all women face socio-economic challenges, is discriminatory in effect and politically manipulative in purpose. It disadvantages women who are not members of the ruling party and distorts the democratic playing field.
EFSCRJ is equally concerned by the reported involvement of a private business entity as a source of funding. Private financing of partisan political activity carries serious risks for democratic governance. Businesses are profit-driven. When they fund political parties, especially ruling parties, it creates the danger of quid pro quo arrangements in which financial support today translates into preferential treatment tomorrow through public contracts, tax advantages, privileged access, regulatory leniency, or other forms of state patronage. This is how elections become monetized and public governance becomes captured by private interests.
In light of these issues, EFSCRJ calls for an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into the source, ownership, and use of these funds.
- We call on the Independent Electoral Commission to exercise its responsibility to protect the integrity of the electoral process and ensure that no public resources or undue financial advantage are used to influence elections.
- We call on the Inter-Party Committee and all political parties to demand full transparency in this matter.
- We also urge civil society organizations, especially the CSO Coalition on Elections, as well as the media, to demand transparency or investigate and bring the full facts before the Gambian people.
- We further call on former Vice President Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang to provide all material evidence necessary to substantiate her claim. Given her status, experience, and historic role in ending dictatorship in the Gambia, she owes the nation a duty of candour, responsibility, and transparency. Public trust, national unity, and good governance require nothing less.
- Finally, we call on all citizens to remain vigilant and demand answers.
The progress, peace, and stability of the Republic depend heavily on clean, free, and fair elections. All stakeholders therefore have a duty to ensure that the Gambia’s electoral process meets the highest standards of democratic integrity, transparency, accountability, and justice.
2026 – Empowered Citizens. Accountable Leadership
