Political parties fulfil a vital intermediate role between citizens and state, in which they are supposed to represent citizen’s interest and translate these into a policy agenda that responds to citizens.
With technical support from the National Democratic Institute and the Open Society Platform, The Gambia is leading Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) coalition efforts to advocate for an inclusive and open governance and accountability reforms in The Gambia with the overarching objective to strengthen governance framework in the country.
The CSOs coalition on Good Governance on Friday in a press conference held at TANGO tasked political parties and their candidates to address in their campaigns the 2021 agenda ahead of the forth coming presidential elections.
Jadama, Director of Programs at the Open Society Platform, The Gambia stated that after more than 25 years of experience with multiparty democracy, there is a growing dissatisfaction and disappointment among citizens of The Gambia with the functioning of the major political institutions and actors including political parties.
“In December 2021, Gambians will head to the polls for their first presidential election since the removal of long-time ruler Yahya Jammeh in 2017, amidst a proliferation of political parties and an increasingly liberal media environment, the election is expected to be keenly contested,” he opined.
Mr Jadama stated that the CSOs Coalition on Good Governance and Accountability will closely monitor parties’ campaign to gauge which party has accommodated these issues in their campaign plans and use the outcome of the assessment to engage civil society, the media and policy actors after the elections.
Fatou Bintou Sallah, Program Officer at National Democratic Institute noted that the project implementation approach is anchored on advocacy engagement and dialogue with relevant state institution via face to face and virtual meetings as well as radio sentisisations and campaigns to reach large constituents of the population.
She added that National Democratic Institute and its local partners work to promote openness and accountability in governments by building political and civic organizations’ capacities, safeguarding elections and promoting citizen participation. She added that the institute brings together individuals and groups to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and expertise that could be adapted to the needs of individual countries.
Nfamara Jawneh of Bekayang and a member of the CSOs Coalition highlighted that the campaigns are ongoing and that the topic of discussion couldn’t have come at a better time in ensuring that candidate’s prioritise the issue of accountability and transparency in their campaign promises.
