Gambia For All Party (GFA) was Founded by the former Vice President, Bakary B. Dabo in 2019 and it was officially registered on Jan 2nd 2020.
“Our party, Gambia For All, is emerging on the national political scene at a critical juncture in the history of our country as an independent nation state. For over two decades, our people endured an obscurantist dictatorship whose sinister features included reckless abuse of power, a bewildering level of incompetence in the management of public affairs and kleptomania which proceeded with an outrageous squandering of scarce resources and opportunities. The cumulative result of all these has been a country in an advanced state of decay with a ruined economy, a deeply ingrained culture of corruption and malfeasance, and a society hopelessly polarised along all imaginable fault lines. It is, indeed, an arguable proposition to suggest that The Gambia today more accurately projects the image of a country in the sense of a mere geographical expression than it resembles a state, i.e. a sovereign political entity, [a republic at that!], which is responsive to the legitimate aspirations of its constituents and is serious about catering to the most basic of their needs.
As a people we have succeeded in dislodging a despicable despot; for that historic triumph we deserve all the accolade we now receive for the determination we demonstrated. But the odious despotism had lasted long enough to foster a culture and a whole system which are still in place in our country. Worse, for the discerning observer, the frightful prospect now staring at us in the face is no less than that of state failure, given the destruction and the extensive havoc wreaked on our essentially very fragile nation. The warning signs are clear.
It is against that backdrop that we felt moved by a sense of patriotic duty, as well as by an awareness of our collective responsibility, into conceiving the idea of Gambia For All party.We are resolved to float a democratic movement to serve as a unifying force to bring together Gambians sharing concern over the multiple challenges presently besetting our national project, as well as to pool their energies in a concerted action to rescue our country while there is still time. Our shared vision is one of a society at peace with itself and evolving within the context of an effective, modern, democratic state dedicated to promoting the well-being of our people through honest and responsible stewardship of the nation and its resources. We will, in that spirit, attach utmost importance and urgency to the imperative of promoting a society that will be fair, free and open, yet caring and attached to our traditional values of humanism. That way, we intend to seek to balance the values of liberty and equality for the benefit of the individual with those of community in the interest of the generality.
At the heart of our Party will be respect for the freedom and dignity of all, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or beliefs. We will champion and promote a state that will scrupulously respect all fundamental human rights, notably the right to speak, write, worship and associate, as well as the right to security and privacy. The nation which we seek to rebuild will be anchored in good governance, respect for the rule of law, including respect for the independence of the judiciary, so as to ensure respect for, and protection of, all constitutionally guaranteed rights.
A Gambia For All government will stand firmly for a competent, prudent and effective stewardship of the national resources including the environment. We will promote sustainable economic empowerment and wealth creation to lay the foundation for sustainable socio-economic development, a sine qua non for lifting present and future generations out of the grinding poverty which until now has been the lot assigned to them. This objective will be pursued in tandem with the realisation of our goal of social justice and national cohesion. We will foster an economy driven by a vibrant private sector, operating under a regime of transparent state regulation that will guard against the phenomenon of state capture, or oligarchy, ever again rearing its ugly head with, as natural result, the criminal plunder by a few of resources that rightfully belong to all the people. Therefore, even as it guarantees a conducive environment for vitally needed private investment, including entrepreneurship, professional development and self-actualisation, a Gambia For Allgovernment will jealously safeguard the public interest at all times and pursue policies that will promote the equitable distribution of the national wealth.
We see the public services as that critical engine needed to deliver the state’s promise of quality services for promoting the well-being of our people. A Gambia For All government will therefore strive to enhance the performance standards as well as the productivity of our public servants, matching this with insistence on a culture of responsiveness to the needs of the people they serve. Our vision of the public services calls for an independent machinery that will be secure in its work, and its tenure of office, from unwholesome partisan influences and will be driven solely by professional considerations and a sense duty to the nation.
In terms of external relations, we will work with other states and organisations, regional as well as global, towards achieving and maintaining a peaceful international order and a durable system of common security. In particular, we will accord top priority to relations with our immediate neighbours, recognising the strong bonds of geography, history and culture binding us. In the interest of greater efficiency, we will work to promote close cooperation, indeed integration, within the respective Senegambia, OMVG and ECOWAS spaces.
Recognising that in order to achieve these lofty goals and to safeguard their underpinning values, there will be need for a stable environment and a culture of purposeful state governance, Gambia For All party will steadfastly promote the democratic process to foster truly representative government essential for legitimacy. We will in particular nurture, encourage and support a robust and effective parliamentary institution capable of exercising meaningful oversight and control as well as help in curbing any propensity to executive excesses. For, we see an urgent need for due diligence in the application of the democratic principle of checks and balances to be operated through a genuine system of separation of powers in which the fundamental institutions of the state - executive, legislature and judiciary - co-exist, interact and collaborate but operate independently of each other.
In that connection, we view political parties as a cornerstone of representative democracy; in their quest for power and authority to manage public affairs, democratic parties offer alternative public policy proposals and seek to convince and mobilise citizens behind their respective visions of the national interest. In that way, the ideals of participatory democracy are attained, and the direction of public affairs ultimately reflects the feelings and wishes of the citizens.
Taken together, these fundamental values constitute the guiding principles which inform the conception and drawing up of the statutes of our party, as will be found elaborated in the following pages. It is our firm belief that this Constitution will serve as a solid foundation for a democratic organisation with a progressive modern outlook.”
Mr Bakary Dabo help several high profile positions in the government of the first republic, and was also a minister of Finance in the second republic for a short time.