Gambia’s newly elected President Adama Barrow on Thursday January 26th returned home to take over the mantle of leading the tiny West African nation of the Gambia. President Barrow was welcomed with a rousing crowd at the Banjul International airport. Mr. Barrow was returning home after taken oath of office at the Gambian embassy in Dakar Senegal where he was temporary hosted to wait for the departure of former president Yahya Jammeh.
Mr. Barrow took his oath of office in Senegal on January 19th at the Gambian Embassy which was arranged by West Africa’s regional body ECOWAS through the host country Senegal. ECOWAS invited the then President-elect Barrow to a conference in Mali sensing that they might have to swear him in office outside of Gambia if Mr. Jammeh refuses to leave office. The plan was perfectly executed and indeed dictator Jammeh refused to leave power before the 19th which forced ECOWAS to mobilize its regional forces to oust Jammeh forcefully should he refuse to give up power. A last minute deal was reached and Jammeh agreed to leave power.
President Barrow’s return to Gambia from Senegal was welcomed by several thousand Gambians who went to meet him at the airport and thousands of others lined up from the Airport to the Capital Banjul. High profile dignitaries, members of the opposition coalition, the new Vice President, security forces and hundreds of former government officials all went to meet the new president at the airport. Traditional griots from across the country were also seen singing and dancing to welcome the new president into Gambia.
Barrow’s returned to the country to take over power, marked the first time in the history of the Gambia that power was transferred peacefully through the ballot box from one president to another. Mr. Barrow becomes the leader of the third republic of the Gambia. Many observers and political pundits on social media and other corners were jubilant and many described the overwhelming welcome as historic and emotional. Many people were seen weeping and young people dancing and singing to welcome the dawn of a New Gambia.
President Barrow and his coalition team without a doubt are faced with daunting task of putting together a nation that almost came to the blink of war and political instability. Thank God for ECOWAS, the UN and Gambia’s good neighbor Senegal the instability was abated and peaceful take over of power seems to reign in Gambia. The new president came home to lots of challenges with a constitution that was reduced to a mere document tampered with by the former president assisted by the National Assembly and security forces for almost two decades. Barrow has the task of healing a deeply wounded and divided country from two decades of oppression and human rights abuses.
The new president promise to get to work right away and has committed to setting up a truth and reconciliation commission to find out what had happened in the second republic before taking further measures. His immediate task is to appoint a cabinet which already started on a bumpy road due to the gross miss use and manipulation of the constitution by the former regime. For now Gambians are quite optimistic of a new democratic Gambia blessed with freedom and respect for human rights and freedom of expression. Already several prisoners who were detained illegally have been released to reunite with their families. The Independent media has also taken into stock their new found freedom and are seeing attending press conferences with the spoke person of the new government. Barrow’s grand inauguration which couldn’t take place as planned on the 19th will now be held at the Independent Station in Bakau on the nations 52nd Independence anniversary from Britain. Several Diaspora Gambians who have been exiled for years also returned home to witness this historic occasion.
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Out with Jammeh and his KLEPTOCRACY and in with Barrow and DEMOCRACY