President Adama Barrow
PUBLIC STATEMENT
The President of The Gambia holds a pivotal role in combating corruption, as mandated by the Constitution. The executive power is vested in the President, who is required to exercise this power either directly or through the Vice-President, Ministers, or officers responsible to them. The Constitution explicitly addresses corruption, making it a key ground for the disqualification and removal of public officials.
Section 75 grants the National Assembly the authority to vote for the removal of a Vice-President or Minister on the grounds of corruption. In such cases, the President is constitutionally obliged under Section 70(8) and Section 71(5) to remove the Vice-President and revoke the Minister’s appointment, respectively.
Moreover, Section 90(1)(d) of the Constitution stipulates that any person found guilty of corruption in connection with public elections is disqualified from standing for election to the National Assembly. Additionally, Section 67 lists corruption as one of the grounds for the removal of the President from office.
Chapter 21 of the Constitution elaborates on the code of conduct for public officers, emphasizing integrity, professionalism, and adherence to the rule of law. The President, having taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, is thereby duty-bound to detect, prevent, and punish corruption. This demonstrates the significant constitutional obligations placed upon the President to maintain transparency and accountability in governance.
It is therefore highly worrying and disappointing to hear Pres. Adama Barrow make these remarks in his interview with journalist Alieu Ceesay on QTV on January 30.
“We cannot eliminate corruption, but we can minimize it, we can reduce it. Corruption is as old as mankind. Corruption is all over the world, even in the most advanced countries. They are involved in corruption, but their way of corruption and our way of corruption is different, they institutionalized their own corruption, so they cover it. Corruption is also subjective; we can just wake up and say there is corruption, or this person is corrupt but how do you substantiate that. How do you justify your case beyond any reasonable doubt? That is where the question is?”
This statement indicates an abdication of duty and an encouragement of corruption.
Corruption is an aberration that does not only divert public resources for personal gain, but more seriously, corruption weakens and erodes the moral and ethical foundations of the society hence the individual. It is the weakening of such ethical foundation that generates a tendency for individuals to renege on their promises, duties, and commitments, be they legal, social, cultural, or political. For this reason, corruption therefore is the greatest threat tom human rights and the public good as it removes all barriers to abuse, selfishness, illegality, and self-perpetuating attitudes.
We are therefore shocked that any leader would condone by rationalizing corruption knowing full well his or her legal obligations to combat this menace. When we say corruption kills it is because it denies citizens the necessary goods, services, and opportunities with which to live safe and healthy lives and obtain decent livelihoods.
For example, the incidence of the Backway is a manifestation of denial of opportunities to our youth due to corruption. The preventable deaths due to poor health equipment and resources in our hospitals are because of corruption. The poor quality education and the poor state of our communities and overall national infrastructure are all due to corruption for which there has not been accountability.
We therefore hereby urge President Barrow to make a public statement to withdraw his unfortunate comments. We urge him to speak to the people, especially public officials in no uncertain terms that corruption is a no-go area, as he is determined to fulfil his constitutional obligations to fight it. The poverty and underdevelopment in the Gambia are not because of the lack of resources, expertise, and tools. Rather, the prevailing dire socioeconomic conditions and general underdevelopment since Independence are a direct consequence of widespread and unchecked corruption which is why public institutions remain inefficient and underperforming.
In this regard, we call on the President to undertake frantic and genuine efforts to equip the Gambia Police Force and the Attorney General to embark on a robust anti-corruption drive. There are multiple audit reports by the National Audit Office, and numerous resolutions by the National Assembly as well as reports of several official inquiries exposing massive corruption within the public sector which have not been addressed.
Furthermore, we hereby remind the President that as the Anti-Corruption Commission is being formed that he gives this body total support including non-interference to ensure that it does its work effectively, diligently, and uncompromisingly. The President would be condoning impunity when he fails to ensure accountability for corrupt acts which are essentially the breaking of the law and violation of human rights.
In the Spirit of Edward Francis Small, For The Gambia Our Homeland
2025: The Year of Transparency and Accountability