The Gambia’s Revolution: What Had Changed by 2019?
In December 2016, Gambians achieved something that had seemed almost impossible: they voted President Yahya Jammeh out of office after 22 years in power.
By July 2019, however, the optimism surrounding that democratic change was being tested. A BBC Africa Eye film asked a simple but increasingly important question: what had actually changed?
The 2016 election
Adama Barrow had been chosen to lead an opposition coalition against Jammeh in the December 2016 presidential election. His victory ended one of Africa’s longest-running presidencies.
The transfer of power was anything but straightforward. Jammeh initially accepted the result, then rejected it, producing a political crisis that ended only after regional pressure and the deployment of ECOWAS forces. Barrow was sworn in in January 2017 and Jammeh eventually left the country.
What had changed by 2019?
The political atmosphere was visibly different. Public criticism of government was far more open than it had been under Jammeh, exiles returned, and efforts began to investigate abuses committed during the former regime.
One of the most significant developments was the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, whose public hearings began in January 2019. Gambians heard testimony about disappearances, torture, killings and other abuses that had previously been extremely difficult to discuss openly.
At the same time, the new government faced difficult questions about security-sector reform, the continued presence of regional troops, economic expectations and whether the democratic coalition that defeated Jammeh could remain united.
The three-year promise
The issue attracting particular attention in 2019 was President Barrow’s term of office.
Before the election, the opposition coalition had agreed that its candidate would serve as a transitional president for three years before stepping down and allowing a new election. The Gambian constitution, however, provided for a five-year presidential term.
By 2019 Barrow had made clear that he intended to remain for the constitutional five years and was considering standing again. That decision angered supporters who regarded the three-year coalition agreement as a political promise that should be honoured.
We had already reported on this tension in April 2019 in Only God Can Remove Me From Power – President Barrow.
Watch the BBC Africa Eye report
The BBC Africa Eye film revisited the extraordinary events that removed Jammeh and examined the growing doubts surrounding the new political order.
Watch The Gambia’s Revolution: What Has Changed? on BBC Africa Eye.
Archive update
Archive update: Barrow did not step down after three years. He completed the five-year constitutional term and subsequently contested the December 2021 presidential election, which he won.
That later outcome does not change the importance of this 2019 moment. The argument over the three-year pledge became an early test of how Gambians understood the promises and expectations of the post-Jammeh democratic transition.
