Former Executive Secretary of the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow has called the Public Order Act’s enforcement and the absence of presidential term limits a “slap in the face” to The Gambia’s democratic objectives.
Speaking about the status of the nation’s governance reforms, Dr. Jallow stated that colonial-era laws still influence politics and that the 1997 Constitution is still in effect, which makes The Gambia’s democratic progress fragile.
He stated, “The president’s term limit is a slap in the face of our struggle and our democratic gains.”
He called for extensive constitutional and legal reforms to strengthen the nation’s democracy and denounced the Public Order Act and the 1997 Constitution for undermining the efforts of Gambians who pushed for democratic change.
“We do not deserve to have the 1997 constitution in the Gambia right now; the Public Order Act is another Jammeh and colonial-era law that we do not deserve to have in our laws,” Dr. Jallow said.
Dr. Jallow also expressed concern about persistent problems in the securit sector, specifically the persistent use of harsh enforcement techniques on peaceful protesters.
“We have seen police brutality; we have seen police throwing tear gas at protesters and arresting protesters because of the Public Order Act, and that is a law that was passed by the colonial authorities to control our fight for independence,” he stated.
Dr. Jallow acknowledged that there has been progress since the TRRC in areas like media freedom and a decrease in excessive state violence, but he noted that institutional accountability and crisis management are still lacking.
“But if you are not ready to do that and be held criminally accountable or liable in the future, then you better start working on a better crisis management strategy that you can use to manage some of these crises,” he cautioned.
In closing, Dr. Jallow emphasized that although The Gambia has made significant progress in expanding its democratic space after the fall of the Jammeh dictatorship, much more work needs to be done. “To be honest, there are a lot of things that could be done better, but I also believe that the democratic space has expanded in comparison to what was achieved under the Jammeh regime,” he stated.
