President Barrow Urged to Serve His Full Constitutional Mandate

On Sunday, 12th January 2020, an estimated over 100,000 Gambians marched from Sting Corner to Denton Bridge in the Greater Banjul Area (GBA) demanding President Adama Barrow to serve his constitutional mandate of five years.

In a petition handed over to The Gambia Government Spokesperson Ebrima G. Sankareh by the Secretary-General of ‘The Gambia for 5 Years’ movement Mr. Ebrima Sorrie Bah, the marchers state that “Section 65 of the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia, which is an entrenched clause, provides that an elected President of the Republic shall serve for a term of five years. This provision supersedes the 2016 Coalition Agreement.”

The petitioners “believe that the 3 Years Jotna movement’s recent protest and petition calling for you to stepdown and the threat for another mass protest on the 20th January 2020 is unconstitutional.”

Mr. Ebrima Sorrie Bah also enclosed the list of names and signatures of persons in support of the petition submitted to the Government Spokesperson. He said they initially targeted 15,000 signatories but ended up receiving over 20,000 names and signatures.

The petition was copied to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of The Gambia, the Dean of The Diplomatic and Consular Corps, ECOWAS Ambassador in The Gambia, UN Country Representative, AU Executive and Speaker of the National Assembly of The Gambia.