Months after Barrow's inauguration, despair is already setting in

Gambia President Barrow leaves Banjul airport on January 26 after returning from Senegal. Frustrations with his government are growing.

PHOTO | CARL DE SOUZA | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Just days after Jammeh lost the election to Barrow, prisons began emptying.
  • The euphoria of Barrow’s triumphant return to The Gambia from Senegal in January has died.

BANJUL

There were high expectations when Gambia’s President Adama Barrow took over from Yahya Jammeh.

But three months since his inauguration, despair is already setting in.

Just days after Jammeh lost the election to Barrow, prisons began emptying.

Families were reunited, signifying an end to a time of repression and rights abuses during the 22 years Jammeh spent in power.

Though there are no political prisoners in the Gambia, there has been no closure for Isatu Kanyi.

RELEASING DETAINEES

When she heard that the government was releasing detainees, Kanyi went to the gates of the notorious Mile Two Prison hoping to see her husband Kanyiba walk out.

“The doors opened, many people hugged their loved ones who came out, but I did not see him,” she said.

Kanyiba Kanyi was one of hundreds of people picked up by operatives of the dreaded National Intelligence Agency.

He was detained and in September 2006, taken to Mile Two Prison where political prisoners were detained and tortured.

Her son would often ask her after his father, she said, “and all I can tell him is that he travelled”.

Kanyi’s ordeal represents the bitter-sweet experience of many Gambians under Mr Barrow.

PALL OF EMPTINESS
NIA has been renamed and there are plans to overhaul it. Its former head and other senior officers are on trial for torturing to death an activist last year.

But there is still the pall of emptiness.

The euphoria of Barrow’s triumphant return to The Gambia from Senegal in January has died, giving way to reflection as citizens come to terms with reality.

In January, President-elect Adama Barrow was flown to neighbouring Senegal by West African leaders for his safety. He was sworn in at The Gambia’s embassy in Dakar on January 19.

There is undoubtedly an aura of freedom. In a country where people could be arrested for wearing a T-shirt calling for democracy, Gambians now take on their government head on.

EXPRESS DISQUIET

However, young people who were on the frontline of the battle to bring Barrow to power, express disquiet and frustration and openly on social media.

“Gambia is crying for a lot of things. Electricity and water supply must be considered,” said a young woman in Serekunda, the country’s largest town.

Her sentiments are echoed by many. Others more forthrightly call for jobs.

Political scientist Ismael Ceesay says recent months have been characterised by bewilderment, with the new leaders appearing out of their depth.

“People don’t know what is happening because the government has failed to come up with a clear agenda…to show us a vision,” he said. “They were not prepared to govern as all their attention was focused on removing Jammeh.”

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY

The seven-party coalition that united to bring down Jammeh splintered ahead of parliamentary elections earlier this month, giving Barrow’s original outfit — the United Democratic Party — an overwhelming majority.

According to Ceesay, insiders say long-time opposition leader and UDP founder Ousainou Daboe has become the de facto president.

“He decides most of the things and sometimes overrules Barrow’s decisions,” he quoted them as saying.

It was Darboe’s imprisonment that gave rise to the little-known Barrow becoming the opposition coalition’s candidate.

DENIES CLAIMS

But Darboe, now foreign minister, denies the claims.

“I have not in any way dictated anything to President Barrow…I have never tried to influence him and in fact to those people who want to have a grip over him I say: ‘You cannot have it’,” he said.

The 68-year-old says he is proud of the achievements of the current administration, citing institutional reform.

“I think people are eager but they have to be a little patient as the electricity problem is not one that is solvable overnight,” he said.

As he prepared to board a flight for the oil-rich state of Qatar, he stated that the country’s coffers were emptied by the former regime with funds now badly needed to address the electricity situation.