President Adama Barrow
PUBLIC STATEMENT
The Edward Francis Small Centre wishes to state its position that no President of the Republic of the Gambia should serve for more than 10 years in office. We are therefore highly concerned that Pres. Adama Barrow, who is on his second five-year term, has expressed his intention to seek a third term in 2026. We urge him to rather step down at the end of his ten-year tenure and ensure the conduct of free and fair elections in 2026 without him being a candidate.
We remind Barrow of his promises and expressed commitments since 2016 about the need for presidential term limits as a means to end self-perpetuating rule in the Gambia. Experts have observed that a prolonged presidential tenure is a recipe for weak institutions, corruption, human rights violations and impunity which trigger political fragility and national instability. These ills automatically lead to poverty, deprivation, poor and erratic delivery of basic social services and severe inequalities in society. The evidence of these facts can be found across Africa and beyond, with the Gambia itself being a classic victim of self-perpetuating rule.
Yes, there is no presidential term limit in the 1997 Constitution. Notwithstanding, we do not think that the absence of a presidential term limit provides a justification to seek a third term. After all, Barrow and his Government like all Gambians have agreed that the 1997 Constitution is a weak and undemocratic law that neither represents the full aspirations of the people of the Gambia nor offer a solid foundation for democratic governance, hence the need to replace it.
We are even more concerned that the only justification that Pres. Barrow could give for his third term bid is about the preservation of the life of his party and the interest of his party surrogates. We wish to remind Pres. Barrow that as president, he is not in office to serve only his party and its few members. Rather, he has taken a solemn oath to serve the people of the Gambia.
As an organization that upholds democratic and republican ideals, we hereby inform Pres. Barrow and all Gambians that the EF Small Centre will campaign against a third term bid. We consider it a moral, political and legal obligation as well as a sacred and historic national duty that all Gambians should stand against a third term for any president in this country, today and in future.
Thus, we call on all citizens, CSOs, professional associations, businesses, communities and indeed all political parties as well as members of the Executive and the Legislature to undertake all legal, democratic and peaceful means to ensure that by law and practice that no president serves for more than two terms of five years each.
Above all, we call on Pres. Adama Barrow to recognize the value of his position and responsibility to the nation to set an everlasting legacy of two-presidential term limits in his lifetime.
While a two-term presidency is not an automatic and immediate solution to all our national challenges, in the long run it serves as an effective means to prevent self-perpetuating rule, promote issue-based politics, build strong public institutions and establish a durable and accountable governance system. These benefits can only help to attain greater sustainable development with the effective protection and fulfillment of human rights leading to the attainment of peace and stability in the country.
In the Spirit of Edward Francis Small, For The Gambia Our Homeland
2025: The Year of Transparency and Accountability