GANU Party

13/08/2026

13/08/2026

🗒 The Judicial Backlog: Ending the Crisis of Prolonged Pre-Trial Detention

A justice system that forces impoverished citizens to languish for years in overcrowded remand facilities without a formal trial is a system that has fundamentally abandoned the rule of law. The current crisis of judicial backlog and prolonged pre-trial detention inside institutions like the Mile 2 Central Prison is a severe, quiet human rights violation that this administration completely ignores.

Our courts are underfunded, our legal aid infrastructure is virtually non-existent for ordinary citizens, and the processing of criminal files remains painfully slow. True democratic governance is judged by how a state treats its most vulnerable, legally exposed citizens. The opposition will completely overhaul our criminal justice administration, ensuring that the constitutional right to a speedy, fair trial is a living reality for every Gambian, regardless of economic status.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Mandate Statutory Bail Reforms: Pass sweeping legislative reforms making bail automatic for non-violent offenses if the state fails to present a formal indictment within 45 days.

• Fully Fund National Legal Aid: Quadruple the annual budgetary allocation to the National Legal Aid Agency to ensure every citizen has competent representation from day one.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Land-Grabbing Crisis: Confronting Corporate Encroachment in the Kombos

Across the Kombo regions and along our pristine coastal tourism belts, a silent, predatory crisis is unfolding: the systematic corporate encroachment and illegal allocation of ancestral community lands. Under the guise of real estate development and foreign direct investment concessions, state-connected actors are stripping local families of their multi-generational land rights without fair compensation or transparent environmental impact assessments.

This unregulated land rush does not bring sustainable development; it breeds long-term communal displacement, environmental degradation, and deep social resentment. Land is a finite, sacred national asset, not a liquid currency to be distributed among political elites and foreign speculators. The opposition stands firmly with our indigenous communities in demanding a total, transparent freeze on all controversial state-backed land allocations.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Establish a Judicial Land Commission: Form an independent, judicially led commission of inquiry to audit all public land allocations and corporate real estate concessions granted over the last decade.

• Codify Communal Land Rights: Enact comprehensive statutory protections ensuring that no community land can be transferred without a mandatory 75% approval vote from local traditional elders and residents.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Security Sector Impasse: Real Reform vs. Continued Regional Reliance

Nearly a decade into our democratic transition, our national security architecture remains stuck in a state of suspended animation. The continued, long-term reliance on external regional peacekeeping forces (ECOMIG) to secure our state institutions and guard our national sovereignty is a clear admission of policy failure by the current administration. We cannot truly claim to be a mature, sovereign republic when our highest executive installations are permanently secured by foreign boots.

Our local armed forces and police units possess the talent, dedication, and patriotism required to defend this nation, yet they have been systematically starved of strategic training, modern equipment, and a clear national defense doctrine. The opposition does not view security sector reform as a secondary checklist item; it is a baseline requirement for national dignity. It is time to structurally empower our own security forces and confidently manage our own national defense.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Execute a Disciplined ECOMIG Exit Strategy: Formulate a transparent, 12-month phased transition plan to fully hand over all national security operations to trained Gambian units.

• Modernize Security Welfare: Implement a comprehensive overhaul of police and military housing, pension structures, and specialized tactical training budgets.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Local Government Standoff: Ending Executive Warfare on Local Municipalities

We are witnessing a dangerous, calculated attempt by the central government to systematically choke and undermine our democratically elected local councils and municipalities. Because major urban centers like the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) and the Banjul City Council are led by competent opposition figures, the executive branch has weaponized central ministries to block local development funding, delay key municipal approvals, and launch politically motivated administrative probes.

This is not a bureaucratic disagreement; it is an active assault on local democracy and decentralization. When the central state starves an urban council of its legal revenue allocations out of pure partisan spite, it is the ordinary market women, the local youth, and the taxpayers who suffer the consequences in uncollected waste and unpaved municipal streets. We will completely end this toxic executive warfare and guarantee the absolute fiscal autonomy of our local governments.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Enforce Fiscal Devolution: Amend the Local Government Act to ensure a legally fixed, direct disbursement of national tax revenues to regional councils, entirely bypassing ministerial discretion.

• Abolish Partisan Commissions: Establish a strict judicial standard preventing the executive from launching arbitrary administrative commissions aimed at intimidating local leaders.

13/08/2026

🗒 Diplomatic Misconduct: Restoring Accountability to Our Foreign Missions

The recent conclusion of the state’s internal investigation into high-level financial and administrative misconduct at our embassy in Russia highlights a deeper, systemic rot within our diplomatic corps. For years, our foreign missions have been weaponized by successive administrations as convenient dumping grounds for political loyalists, retired partisans, and well-connected insiders. When embassies become havens for unchecked irregularities, the global image and credibility of The Gambia are severely tarnished.

Diplomatic postings must be treated as sacred spaces of national service, not as state-funded rewards for political allegiance. The absolute secrecy surrounding these investigations only deepens public distrust. The opposition demands that the full findings of all foreign mission probes be laid bare before the public, and that those found guilty of abusing public trust face immediate, uncompromised prosecution, regardless of their political connections.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Publicize Investigation Reports: Force the immediate parliamentary release of the full, unredacted probe details concerning the embassy misconduct scandals.

• Professionalize the Diplomatic Corps: Enact strict statutory requirements ensuring that a minimum of 80% of all ambassadorial appointments are reserved for career diplomats rather than political cronies.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Customs Leakage: Reforming Port Governance and Post-Clearance Audits

The economic heartbeat of our nation is choked by institutional inefficiency and opaque financial management at our primary maritime gateways. For too long, the Port of Banjul has operated as a closed system where red tape, manual valuation anomalies, and container clearance delays penalize local businesses while driving up prices for the consumer. The administration’s hesitation to fully institutionalize a rigorous, digital Post-Clearance Audit (PCA) framework allows massive revenue leakages to persist completely unchecked.

Modern customs administration is not about collecting arbitrary fees at the front gate; it is about systemic, automated compliance and post-clearance accountability. By failing to aggressively enforce transparent auditing, the state deprives our national treasury of billions of Dalasis that should be funding public goods. We will dismantle the networks of patronage at our ports and replace them with uncompromising, world-class trade oversight.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

Mandate Digital PCA Automation: Pass emergency legislation making comprehensive, automated Post-Clearance Audits mandatory for all major commercial importers within 30 days of entry.

Independent Port Oversight: Establish an autonomous, non-partisan anti-graft taskforce permanently stationed within customs to eliminate administrative extortion.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Border Imperative: Securing Agrarian Sovereignty in the Provinces

The recent, volatile border disputes affecting our farming communities along the Gambia-Senegal frontier expose a severe vulnerability in our territorial and economic security. While high-level diplomatic delegations exchange pleasantries in capital cities, our rural agrarian families bear the direct brunt of land confusion, sudden trade blockades, and economic displacement. This is a direct consequence of an administration that continuously treats border management as an afterthought rather than a core component of national sovereignty.

We cannot talk about provincial development while our frontline agricultural workers live in constant uncertainty regarding their land rights and access to regional markets. Protecting our borders requires a proactive, highly disciplined approach to bilateral diplomacy—one that prioritizes the safety, documentation, and economic continuity of our border towns. Our sovereignty begins where our soil meets our neighbors, and it must be defended with clear legal frameworks, not reactive statements.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Establish Joint Border Commissions: Initiate a permanent, community-led bilateral border mapping taskforce with Senegal to permanently settle land ambiguities for farmers.

• Frontier Economic Zones: Deploy targeted infrastructure investments, including secure, state-backed storage depots, directly at major border crossings to protect local agricultural trade.

13/08/2026

🗒 Beyond Tokenism: Codifying Power for Women and Persons with Disabilities

True democratic progress cannot exist while over half of our national population is systematically shut out from the high tables of state decision-making. The endless delays surrounding the formal finalization of the Draft Constitution Amendment Bill on Reserved Seats are a clear indictment of our current legislative priorities. Passing this bill is not an act of political charity or a tokenistic box to be checked for international development metrics—it is a mandatory structural correction.

We must forcefully dismantle the historic, deep-seated cultural and financial barriers that prevent women and persons with disabilities from claiming their rightful seats in the National Assembly. Our party views gender equality and inclusive representation as fundamental, unshakeable pillars of a functioning constitutional democracy. We will not allow the status quo to quietly sweep this legislative imperative under the rug of parliamentary bureaucracy.

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Fast-Track Reserved Seats: Force an immediate, non-negotiable floor vote on the Constitution Amendment Bill to legally guarantee quota seats for women and marginalized communities.

• Campaign Finance Equity: Introduce state-backed training funds and legal fee waivers specifically for female and disabled candidates contesting local and national elections.

13/08/2026

🗒 The Fragmentation Trap: Reimagining Coalition Politics

The recent public breakdown and finger-pointing within the opposition's unity talks in the hotels of Senegambia serve as a sobering, painful reality check. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and the electorate: the continuous splintering of anti-incumbency forces plays directly into the hands of the ruling party. When individual egos, party gerontocracy, and rigid unilateral demands eclipse the broader national rescue mission, we betray the hopes of ordinary Gambians desperate for alternative governance.

True political maturity requires us to reject the zero-sum mindset that has historically paralyzed our alliances. Winning against an entrenched state machinery demands a disciplined, programmatic coalition built on shared policy concessions, clear flagbearer selection frameworks, and absolute transparency. The opposition must transition immediately from emotional alliances to a structured, unshakeable democratic

➡️ Opposition Action Directives

• Institutionalize Coalition Agreements: Enforce legally binding, publicly accessible coalition blueprints with clear, mathematically validated flagbearer selection mechanisms to eliminate backroom acrimony.

• Bilateral Mediation Priority: Mandate a shift toward rigorous, quiet bilateral policy consensus-building before convening high-stakes, multi-party media spectacles.