Rethinking The Path Forward: Building The Gambia Our People Deserve
By Baba Colley
The vitality of Gambian democracy today is genuinely heartening. Across the country, from Banjul to Kiang to Basse, citizens are deeply engaged in political discourse. Everyone has opinions—passionate support for certain candidates, fierce opposition to others. This widespread civic engagement, however contentious it may sometimes become, represents something profoundly important: Gambians are paying attention to those who seek to shape our collective future.
Yet as we approach another electoral season, I believe we must pause and ask ourselves a fundamental question that too often goes unexamined: Where exactly do we want to go as a nation before we decide who should lead us there?
Learning From Our Beginning
To chart a meaningful path forward, we must first understand where we started. When The Gambia achieved independence in 1965, we embarked on the journey of self-rule from a position of relative stability compared to many of our African neighbors. While numerous newly independent nations were rebuilding from the devastation of armed liberation struggles—mending infrastructure, healing communities fractured by colonial divide-and-rule tactics, and establishing basic governmental functions—we began our national story under more favorable circumstances.
This is not to romanticize our early independence period. Our founding generation faced significant challenges, including fundamental questions about representation and power. The tension between urban and rural populations—between the educated elite of Banjul and Kombo and the agricultural communities of the provinces—created fissures that shaped our political landscape for decades to come. Some historians have traced the roots of ethnic mistrust, particularly between Mandinka and Wolof communities, to these early political contestations over resources and representation. While I leave the detailed historical analysis to scholars better equipped for that work, we cannot ignore how these early divisions continue to echo in our contemporary politics. I am going to try really hard to not name any names for this article, because that might take away from the point that needs to be made.
The Vehicle and The Destination
Today, in 2025 and the years ahead, we face a critical imperative: we must define our destination before we choose our vehicle. This principle seems obvious, yet our political discourse consistently inverts this logic. We select leaders based on charisma, ethnic affiliation, or personal loyalty, then hope they will somehow steer us toward prosperity. We choose the vehicle before knowing where we need to go.
Different journeys require different modes of transport. A boat cannot traverse a desert; a car cannot cross an ocean; some destinations are best reached on foot, with patience and careful attention to the terrain. Similarly, leaders who might have been perfectly suited to guide The Gambia a decade ago may lack the vision, skills, or temperament needed for the challenges we face today. The accelerating pace of technological change, the urgency of climate adaptation, the demands of youth employment, and the complexities of regional integration all require leadership attuned to contemporary realities.
The question, then, is not primarily about personalities or parties. The question is: What kind of Gambia do we want to build, and what kind of leadership does that vision require?
A Framework For Our Future
Any serious national vision must begin with concrete, measurable goals organized across clear time horizons. Abstract promises of “development” or “progress” without specific targets and timelines are merely political rhetoric. What follows are foundational priorities that should anchor our national conversation, regardless of which party or candidate ultimately leads:
Education: The Cornerstone of Everything
Without an educated populace, all other development goals remain perpetually out of reach. We must commit to transforming our educational system with specific, achievable targets:
• Teacher Development: Train and deploy 500 fully qualified teachers across core disciplines—mathematics, science, languages, and social studies—within the next six years. This means establishing robust teacher training programs, offering competitive salaries that attract talented young Gambians into education, and creating continuous professional development systems.
• Universal Elementary Education: Achieve 100% elementary school enrollment within five years. This requires not just building schools but addressing the barriers that keep children out of classrooms—poverty, child labor, gender discrimination, lack of transportation in rural areas, and inadequate school feeding programs.
• Secondary and Tertiary Success: Reach a 75% high school graduation rate and a 50% tertiary education completion rate within twenty years. This ambitious goal demands investment in quality secondary schools throughout the country, expansion of vocational and technical training options, and making higher education financially accessible through scholarships and student loan programs.
Economic Self-Sufficiency and Diversification
Our heavy dependence on tourism, remittances, and groundnut exports leaves us vulnerable to external shocks. A resilient Gambian economy must be built on multiple pillars:
• Agricultural Modernization: Move beyond subsistence farming to commercial agriculture using modern techniques, improved seed varieties, and better market access for farmers. Food security begins with agricultural productivity.
• Technology and Innovation: Create technology hubs and incubation centers that allow young Gambians to develop digital solutions for local problems. The future of employment is increasingly digital; we must prepare our youth accordingly.
• Manufacturing and Processing: Instead of exporting raw materials, we should develop processing industries that add value before export, creating jobs and retaining more wealth within our borders.
Healthcare Infrastructure
A healthy population is a productive population. We need specific targets for maternal mortality reduction, infant vaccination rates, and the ratio of healthcare workers to citizens. Rural health clinics must be staffed, equipped, and connected to referral hospitals through functioning ambulance systems.
Infrastructure and Connectivity
Reliable electricity, clean water, paved roads connecting our communities, and digital connectivity are not luxuries—they are prerequisites for economic activity. A business cannot operate without power; farmers cannot get produce to market without roads; students cannot access online learning without internet.
Governance and Institutional Strength
Beyond policy goals, we must strengthen the institutions that make sustainable development possible: an independent judiciary, a professional civil service immune to political interference, transparent procurement systems, and effective local government structures that bring decision-making closer to the people.
Breaking The Cycle
Here is an uncomfortable truth we must confront: until we invest seriously in developing our human capital, we will continue recycling incompetent governments regardless of which party holds power. Uneducated electorates are more easily manipulated by ethnic appeals and empty promises. Underdeveloped economies cannot generate the tax revenue needed for quality public services. Weak institutions cannot constrain executive overreach or prevent corruption.
This is the cycle we must break. It will not happen in one electoral term or under one president. It requires a national consensus that transcends partisan politics—a shared commitment to specific development targets that every government, regardless of political orientation, pledges to pursue.
The Leadership We Need
What kind of leaders should we choose to pursue this vision? Look for candidates who:
• Speak in specifics rather than generalities
• Present detailed plans with timelines and budgets, not just inspirational rhetoric
• Demonstrate understanding of contemporary challenges like climate change, technological disruption, and regional integration
• Show willingness to build coalitions across ethnic and political lines
• Have track records of management, implementation, and delivery—not just talking
• Prioritize long-term institutional building over short-term political gains
We should be skeptical of candidates who appeal primarily to ethnic identity, who promise everything without explaining how it will be funded, or who spend more time criticizing opponents than articulating their own vision.
A Call To Action
The responsibility for The Gambia’s future does not rest solely with those who seek political office. It rests with all of us—civil society organizations, business leaders, religious communities, traditional authorities, diaspora Gambians, and ordinary citizens. We must:
• Demand substance over style in political discourse
• Hold elected officials accountable to measurable targets
• Participate in governance beyond just voting every five years
• Bridge the ethnic and regional divisions that have long weakened our national unity
• Invest in our communities through volunteerism and local initiatives
• Support young people who are working to build the country
The Gambia of 1965 had potential. The Gambia of 2025 still has potential. But potential unrealized is potential wasted. We stand at a crossroads, as every generation does, but with advantages our predecessors did not have: a growing young population, diaspora networks that connect us to opportunities worldwide, regional integration frameworks like ECOWAS, and democratic institutions, however imperfect, that allow us to choose our direction.
The question is not whether The Gambia can become the country we dream of—prosperous, educated, healthy, and united. The question is whether we have the collective will to make the difficult choices and sustained commitments that such a transformation requires.
Before we choose our next leader, let us choose our destination. Let us demand that those who seek our votes present clear maps for how they will get us there. And let us commit, as citizens, to holding them—and ourselves—accountable for the journey ahead.
The Gambia we want is possible. But we must build it together, with clear eyes, steady hands, and unwavering commitment to the long-term flourishing of our people. The time to begin is now.
I managed to hit the end without naming anyone’s favorite candidate. Let us know what you think in the comments section.