By Yankuba Jallow
Gambia for All (GFA) has launched its manifesto for the December 2026 presidential election, presenting a four-pillar programme centred on food security, economic transformation, human capital development and system transformation.
The party says the manifesto is intended to provide a practical blueprint for addressing what it describes as the country’s governance, economic, social and security challenges.
The launch comes less than six months before Gambians go to the polls to elect a president. GFA was founded by Bakary B. Darboe, a former minister of finance and former vice-president of The Gambia, who also serves as the party’s Secretary-General and leader.
In his statement read at the launch on behalf of Mr Darboe, he said GFA was founded out of a belief that Gambians could collectively build a better future.
“Gambia for All was founded with the historic conviction of the Gambian people’s collective aspiration for a better future for themselves and their children,” he said.
“We were moved by a determination that our shared efforts can bring transformative change for all Gambians.”
He said inclusivity was central to the party’s political philosophy.
“At the core of GFA is an overriding commitment to inclusivity based on confidence in the Gambian people, their innate good sense and our essential oneness,” Darboe said.
“Our party actively condemns parochialism or sectarianism, whether based on gender, religion, ethnicity or considerations of generation or socio-cultural categorization.”
Darboe said the party wanted to see The Gambia develop into “a progressive modern state underpinned by a functioning participatory democracy, a clear direction of public policy and an effective management of public affairs”.
He said the country needed a government focused on improving living conditions, maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries and improving The Gambia’s standing internationally.
The GFA leader also used the occasion to argue that the expectations created by the 2016 political transition had not been fully met.
“It is now clear to all that the desire for change in 2016 has largely remained unfulfilled to this day,” he said.
According to Darboe, that desire for change was based on expectations of “a peaceful democratic country where the institutions of state function in response to the needs and challenges facing the citizens”.
He said it also included expectations for “a qualitative transformation of our governance structure as well as the socio-economic conditions of our peoples”.
GFA, he said, was particularly concerned about what it described as declining standards of governance, insecurity and worsening living conditions.
“Our party is particularly concerned about the continued deterioration of governance, the rising insecurity of persons and property characterized by murders and rampant armed robberies, sometimes in broad daylight,” Darboe said.
He also raised concerns about social tensions and what he described as the use of tribal and other differences for political purposes.
“The decline of living conditions of our people and the rising social tensions exacerbated by the exploitation of tribal and other differences for political gain,” he said.
Darboe described the country as “an extremely fragile state”, arguing that governance was affected by what he called mediocrity, underperformance and a lack of sensitivity to citizens’ concerns.
“Any objective evaluation of the situation of The Gambia today must reach the conclusion that beneath the noisy official rhetoric, the reality remains that of an extremely fragile state,” he said.
“Our governance practices as well as the culture that underpins them are characterized by mediocrity and underperformance and a lack of sensitivity to the priority concerns of the Gambian citizens.”
He said GFA stood for a free and open society in which citizens’ rights were protected by law.
“Gambia for All has from the onset pledged and always remained committed to a free and open society,” Darboe said.
“We envision a nation in which citizens while living in peace and in peace with each other within a caring community have their individual freedoms and rights protected by law and in practice.”
With the presidential election approaching, Darboe said the country was at an important point in its political development.
“In less than six months, Gambians will be going to the polls to elect their president,” he said.
“This is a moment to reflect seriously on the challenges facing our country as well as the policy changes that need to be implemented to ensure the nation overcomes these challenges.”
He described the election as a defining moment.
“We stand at a defining crossroads for our nation,” he said.
“For too long, the people of this country have been fed with empty promises, political division and a sense of feudalism and resignation.”
He said the party’s manifesto was intended to provide an alternative.
“Today, ladies and gentlemen, GFA is releasing our official blueprint for change,” Darboe said.
“Let it be clearly stated, this manifesto is a sacred social contract. It is not just a list of empty promises. This is our contract of hope, of accountability and action.”
He described it as “a roadmap to a wealthier, a fairer and more secured nation”.
The manifesto presentation identified four main pillars: food security, economic transformation, human capital development and system transformation.
Food security
The party said food security was one of the most urgent challenges facing the country.
Presenting the manifesto, a GFA representative said one in three Gambian households was considered food insecure, citing data from the Gambia Bureau of Statistics.
The presentation also stated that about 90% of the rice consumed in The Gambia was imported.
It said food-specific inflation had ranged between 10% and 20% over the past decade, while fertilizer use remained very low compared with global and African averages.
“The reality here is cost of living has gone up, while income growth has stagnated,” the presenter said.
The party also identified low irrigation, low agricultural productivity, weak land administration and post-harvest losses as major problems.
“There is low level of irrigation, despite the immense resource of River Gambia going through the whole country,” the presenter said.
“We have low productive agriculture. We have weak land administration that blocks private investment. And we have a very unsustainable and unbelievable level of post-harvest losses.”
GFA said its food security programme would focus on cereals, horticulture, animal husbandry, proteins and value addition.
The party said its goal was a Gambia capable of feeding itself.
“A Gambia where hunger is eliminated, where food prices are stable. A Gambia that is able to feed itself,” the presentation stated.
“We know this is possible because we have all the ingredients and all the requirements in the country.”
The party said farmers should have access to irrigation and modern agricultural inputs, while women and young people should be supported to lead horticulture and agribusiness.
Economic transformation
GFA’s second pillar is economic transformation.
The party said the Gambian economy remained heavily dependent on a small number of sectors and was affected by high imports, currency depreciation, inflation and unreliable electricity.
“We have an economy that is completely undiversified,” the presenter said.
“It is basically dominated by two sectors. A low productive agriculture and a service sector that is also low productive.”
The party said tourism, which forms a major part of the service sector, was also facing difficulties.
“We have high imports of not only food items but practically every consumer good,” the presentation stated.
“As a consequence of this we have persistent currency depreciation.”
GFA also criticised the cost and reliability of electricity.
“Households and businesses experience frequent power outages,” the presenter said.
“Despite these frequent power outages our electricity is one of the most expensive on the African continent.”
The party said improving investor confidence would require reforms in land access, finance and the wider business environment.
Its economic programme includes agro-processing, light manufacturing, energy sovereignty, business reforms, local content and legal and land reforms.
“What do we mean? We mean an economy that is diversified, that is resilient, that is creating high-quality jobs,” the presenter said.
The party said it wanted to move the country beyond subsistence agriculture and low-value tourism.
“It is doable, not only a pipeline, but it is extremely doable and eminently feasible to have a Gambia that is poised for agro-processing and light manufacturing,” he said.
GFA also called for “a country with reliable and affordable energy for industries and households” and “a place where entrepreneurs can start and grow businesses without barriers”.
Human capital development
Education and health form the core of GFA’s third pillar.
The party acknowledged improvements in access to education and enrolment but said the quality of education remained a concern.
“Gambia today, despite the progress we’ve made in terms of access to education, in terms of enrollment, quality remains very low,” the presenter said.
He said examination performance remained below expectations and raised concerns about the cost of education and the condition of school facilities.
“There is high cost of education, not in school fees but out of pocket,” he said.
The party also called for greater investment in technical and vocational education.
On health, GFA said the country had made progress in reducing mortality and morbidity but continued to face challenges with health facilities, staffing and disease prevention.
“You just have to visit any of our health centers, including teaching hospitals, to find dilapidated health facilities,” the presenter said.
GFA also raised concern about vaccination rates.
“For the first time in Gambia’s history, over the past 10 years, we have started experiencing decline in vaccination rates,” he said.
The party said teachers should be properly trained and compensated, while students should have access to financing and scholarships.
“Teachers must be respected and well-paid,” the presenter said.
“Financing for students must be available, including for UTG and TVET institutions.”
GFA also linked human capital development to youth migration.
“Our youth should see and believe in real pathways to opportunities at home,” the presenter said.
“When that is absent, we don’t need to imagine or contemplate what will happen. We see it every day through thousands of our youth who are taking very risky trips just because of the absence of opportunities here at home.”
System transformation
The fourth pillar is system transformation, which the party described as essential to changing the way government works.
The manifesto presentation criticised what GFA called weak administration, a lack of respect for expertise, corruption, excessive partisanship and appointments based on factors other than competence.
“There is an absence of confidence and generally weak administration,” the presenter said.
“No respect for expertise. Celebration of mediocrity.”
He added: “Appointments that are based on factors rather than expertise … undermine the systems that are supposed to undergird our civil service.”
The party said these problems had contributed to declining public confidence in government institutions.
“Therefore, there is a general absence of trust in public officials and their administration,” the presenter said.
GFA also placed corruption at the centre of its governance concerns.
“There is pervasive corruption. That one cannot be overemphasized,” he said.
“There must be a government that fights corruption. So, for any new government, fighting corruption should be handled as if you are fighting a plague.”
The party called for merit-based appointments, respect for the rule of law, citizen engagement, civic education and accountability.
“We need to have a government that is merit-based,” the presenter said.
“A government where initial hiring and progression is not based on expertise is a government that cannot deliver.”
He added: “There must be a rule of law. Citizens must be engaged meaningfully.”
“Accountability goes beyond just voting governments in and out on election day. And it is a two-way street.”
The party also said its manifesto contained detailed proposals on security and security-sector reform.
During the question-and-answer session, the presenters were asked about rising crime, including rape, murder and robbery.
The response was that security was addressed under the system transformation pillar.
“One of the areas we focus on specifically is law enforcement, the rampant crime,” the presenter said.
“Not only violent crime against people, but also poverty crime.”
He said the full manifesto contained a policy document on security and security-sector reform.
“Unlike this government, we believe the focus of security sector reform has to be domestic law enforcement,” he said.
On corruption, the party said the problem was closely linked to the quality of appointments made by government.
“One of the key reasons you have corruption in government is appointing people who are not competent for the job,” the presenter said.
“Number two, people who do not have a sense of integrity.”
He said appointing people based on expertise and integrity could significantly reduce corruption.
“When you appoint officials based on expertise, making sure that they are people of integrity, making sure that respect is rather than personal interest that motivates them, you have addressed corruption in almost 90% of the cases,” he said.
“But it is something, it’s a process. It’s not a goal you achieve and then stop.”
Energy, foreign missions and public spending
The manifesto launch also featured questions on energy and foreign relations.
On electricity, the presenter said The Gambia remained heavily dependent on imported energy.
“We are importing all our energy from Senegal, and the energy is very expensive,” he said.
“It is not enough, and the supply is not reliable. So we have expensive and unreliable energy.”
He argued that expanding transmission lines without increasing domestic generation would not solve the problem.
“We are putting wires in people’s compounds, but we are not building any power plants,” he said.
“The way to address this problem right now is to have a government that understands what the problem is and invests in energy. You have to build power plants locally.”
The party also proposed reducing the cost of maintaining diplomatic missions abroad.
A GFA representative with experience in external affairs said the number of Gambian embassies abroad had grown beyond what the country could afford.
“I want to assure him that the number of embassies presently existing is way beyond what the country can support and what is necessary,” he said.
He said foreign missions involved significant costs beyond salaries.
“All these people, you have to pay them in not dollars and cents, you have to pay their children’s education, you have to pay their health insurance, you have to pay their travel, and you have to pay for the housing where they are staying,” he said.
GFA proposed the use of multiple accreditation, allowing one embassy to cover several countries.
“The embassy doesn’t have to be physically present in every country,” he said.
“It can be in one, and it’s accredited in two, three, all the countries where he visits.”
The party also proposed greater use of consulates.
Women and development
The party also highlighted gender equality as part of its development agenda.
One of the speakers said women could not be left out of national economic planning.
“Half of the government population is female,” he said.
“If you forget about development, if you forget about that quarter half, you are not going anywhere.”
He said investment in women was not only a question of rights but also an economic necessity.
“Addressing gender equality is not just something that is right as a fundamental human right, but it also makes economic sense,” he said.
The party said women were central to the informal economy and should be given greater opportunities to participate in formal economic activity.
The manifesto launch places GFA among the political parties preparing for the December 2026 presidential election. The party backed the United Democratic Party (UDP) in the 2021 presidential election. At the launch, GFA said its manifesto was intended to provide a framework for a different approach to governance.
The presentation concluded with a description of the four pillars as parts of a wider national programme.
“A self-reliant, productive, and just government” was presented as the objective.
On food security, the party said the aim was to produce essential foods locally.
On economic transformation, it said the country should develop agro-processing and light manufacturing capable of creating quality jobs, particularly for young people.
On human capital, it said schools and institutions should provide quality education while hospitals should be properly equipped and staffed.
On system transformation, it said government institutions should be led by capable people and operate transparently.
“With system transformation, we should have an environment where there is capable leadership, transparent systems, and institutions that meet the needs of citizens first,” the presenter said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is GFA’s manifesto for the 2026 election. We believe this is not just a pipe dream, this is very achievable.”
The party said the full manifesto was available online and that copies of an abridged version were made available to participants at the launch.
GFA also said it believed some of the priorities contained in its manifesto were shared by other opposition parties seeking political change.
“Any political party that is seeking a change, we believe we share a lot of the goals, a lot of areas of attention, and areas that we’ve highlighted as concerns,” the presenter said.
“We believe we share it with all the patriotic political parties that are seeking change today in The Gambia.”
