By Sanna Camara

Former executive secretary of The Gambia’s truth, reconciliation and reparations commission Dr Baba Galleh jallow has described President Adama barrow’s bid for a third term in office as disappointing and a stain on Gambia’s transitional history.

“The bottom-line is that Barrow’s third term bid represents a narrative of political permanence that is sharply contradictory and at odds with the aspirations of the Gambian nation,” Dr Jallow sharply wrote this week. “It represents a dark stain on our admirable progress since 2017,” he argued.

President Adama Barrow was elected as an independent candidate of a grand opposition coalition in December 2016. His mandate, among other things, was primarily designed to serve a three years’ transition that promised to implement sweeping reforms and organize fresh elections by 2020. However, the three years turned into five when he announced by end 2019, to continue governing The Gambia.

He would form a new political party called the National People’s Party, which got registered within a year to the polls; then forged an alliance with his predecessor’s party against the same opposition he was leading at polls five years earlier – offering them strategic positions in his government after securing victory in December 2021 presidential elections.

Five years turned to ten in 2026, and now, Barrow is boldly campaigning to seek a third mandate at polls in December this year, while much of the promised reforms have been left partially, or unimplemented thus far. In the absence of these reforms, many analysts believe that the tragic history of bad governance, corruption and economic mismanagement are among the casualties of Barrow’s rule once again, just like Jammeh’s two decades.

“In very practical ways, by seeking a third term in office, Barrow is retraumatizing Gambians who, collectively, were victims of a careless, self-perpetuating leader,” Dr Baba Galleh, journalist, author, former university professor of African Studies in the US, who returned to work as administrator in the truth commission, said.

“The lessons of our transitional justice process are not only for ordinary Gambians and the international community: they are also for whoever occupies the Office of President of The Republic of The Gambia,” he said.

Dr Baba Galleh’s commentary came in the wake of an ambassadorial meeting of the UN Peace Building Commission (PBC) in the US, where The Gambia’s transitional justice process came under review. At this meeting, a documentary was screened on the subject, followed by remarks by the country’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dawda A. Jallow, on the successes, status, and challenges of the transitional justice process.

According to Dr Jallow, each ambassador present at the meeting warmly congratulated The Gambia and praised its transitional justice success story. They all hailed it as a model of global best practice,

“Watching the PBC meeting on the Gambian TJ strategy evoked a feeling that all practitioners and keen observers of our transitional justice feel anytime there is a loud crescendo of praise for our success…,” said Jallow: “Often, at international transitional justice events, participants ask the question that evokes this uneasy feeling: What about your president? Is he still seeking a third term?”

He said such questions lead a sigh of disappointment always, with the obvious yes answer. Then a variation of the usual refrain, ah! African presidents!