In a historic move towards fostering transparency, accountability, and ethical governance, the National Assembly on December 21st, 2023, passed The Gambia Anti-Corruption Act, 2023. This monumental legislation signifies a resolute commitment from the government to uphold the principles of integrity and justice in our society. The Anti-Corruption Bill, having undergone rigorous scrutiny and comprehensive debate in Parliament, marks a turning point in Gambia’s collective pursuit to address public sector corruption. Encompassing a range of measures designed to deter, detect, and penalize corrupt practices within both the public and private sectors, the bill fortifies our legal arsenal against corruption.
Since 2017, Gambia Participates (GP) has been consistently advocating for the introduction of new and progressive anti-corruption legislation to repeal the Anti-Corruption Act, (2012 Act) which was legislated under the notorious Jammeh administration. While the objective of the Anti-Corruption Act, of 2012, was to establish a strong anti-corruption body to deter, detect and sanction corruption, the Jammeh administration failed to enforce the law. As a result, grave acts of corruption, amounting to almost a billion dollars, were unearthed by the Janneh Commission and investigative journalists during the two decades of Jammeh in office.
On December 2nd, 2019, the then Minister of Justice, Hon. Abubacarr Tambedou tabled the “Gambia Anti-Corruption Bill, 2019” (The Bill) to repeal the 2012 Act before the 5th Legislature of The Gambia. The Anti-Corruption Bill of 2019 provides for more progressive clauses, such as whistle blower protection, prevention of corruption in the private sector, et cetera, which were missing in the 2012 Act.
Sequel to the tabling of the bill in December 2019, GP swiftly hosted a review retreat exercise on the bill with Parliamentarians and other stakeholders from February 13th – 14th 2020. Thirty-five (35) points of recommendations and observations came out of the retreat, some of which were incorporated in the bill.
However, the progress of the Anti-Corruption Bill moved at a slower pace during the consideration stage of the bill in Parliament. As of June 2023, legislators were only able to debate 21/88 clauses of the bill. In collaboration with the National Assembly and the Ministry of Justice, on July 24, 2023, GP facilitated a clause-by-clause workshop to review the Bill with 49/58 parliamentarians. During this workshop, Parliamentarians reviewed 38 clauses in one sitting (from section 21 to section 59) with the guidance of experts from Gambia Participates and legislative drafters from the Ministry of Justice.
In the subsequent legislative session (3rd ordinary session of 2023), Parliamentarians considered all 88 clauses of the bill, and it was enacted on December 21st, 2023, during the 4th ordinary session. GP’s facilitation of the clause-by-clause review exercise contributed immensely to the speedy legislation of the bill as it provided members of parliament extra hours and an opportunity out of parliament, to seek clarification from the drafters (Ministry of Justice) and build consensus amongst them.
The passing of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2023, is a result of years of consistent advocacy by Gambia Participates and collaborative efforts with individual parliamentarians, the National Assembly, Ministry of Justice, and local activists. The act will only meet the requirements of an effective law when it is applied
Marr Nyang, Founder and Executive Director of Gambia Participates
Aside from collaboration with government and the National Assembly, GP engaged citizens across the country to enlighten them on the significance of the bill and how their living standards could be improved, if the legislation is passed and fully enforced to address corruption.
In 2021, Gambia Participates conducted community engagements in the West Coast Region and the Lower Region sensitizing citizens on the existence of the anti-corruption bill and the issues the bill seeks to address. Citizens were engaged on the cost of corruption and how that impacts their lives. GP also took the opportunity to mobilize citizens to engage their Members of Parliament to support the bill. Successfully, no legislator opposed the passing of the bill.
GP also engaged several young activists and social media influencers through a video series called “Voices of Corruption”.
However, GP’s advocacy efforts to pass the bill was met with resistance from the Gambia Police Force. In 2022, after several delays on the AC Bill, Gambia Participates requested for a permit from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to merely conduct march-past advocating for Parliament to prioritize the Anti-Corruption Bill. The police invited our officials for a discussion and after the meeting, they promised to get back. The request was denied on the morning of February 14th, 2022, 2 hours before holding the march-past. This rejection formed part of the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) 2022 Human Rights Record of the Gambia on page 29-30.
While we commend the government of The Gambia for drafting a progressive and standard anti-corruption bill and the National Assembly for legislating it into law, the legislation of the law is just a prescription and not a cure to the cancer of corruption. The cure is found in the law's application and political will to support the fight against corruption. The Gambia government should swiftly work towards establishing a political-free and independent anti-corruption body, well-funded and equipped for it to have the capacity to apply its functions. At Gambia Participates, we will continue to support the process of establishing the Anti-Corruption Commission and work with the office for it to efficiently deliver its legal functions.
The passage of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2023 is a demonstration that when governments work with civil society, it could achieve greater results on development and good governance.