Adama Barrow
Adama Barrow is the third and current President of The Gambia. He is Presidential Candidate of the National People’s Party (NPP).
Barrow was born in Mankamang Kunda, a village near Basse Santa Su on the 15th of February 1965. He attended Crab Island Secondary School and the Muslim High School.
Barrow was chosen as the UDP candidate in the 2016 presidential election. It was later announced that he would stand as an independent with the backing of the opposition group Coalition 2016 (a coalition supported by the UDP and six other parties).
Barrow won the 2016 presidential election with 43.34% of the vote, defeating long-time incumbent Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh initially accepted the result, but later reneged on this, and Barrow was forced to flee to neighbouring Senegal.
He was inaugurated at the Gambian embassy in Senegal on 19 January 2017, and Jammeh was forced to leave the Gambia and go into exile on 21 January. Barrow returned to the Gambia on 26 January. On 4th December Barrow will be seeking re-election.
Abdoulie Jammeh
Mr Jammeh obtained MSc Development Management, PGD Information Systems Management) in Glasgow Caledonian University, UK in 1994, (Information Technology Management) Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore in 1989, GCE A’ Levels – Gambia High School (Now Gambia Senior Secondary School.
His agenda is to unite all the people of The Gambia irrespective of political, racial, religious, and tribal affiliations, the need to curb the rise in corruption, and the need to improve the standard of living for all Gambians.
Mama Kandeh
Mama Kandeh is the founding leader of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) political party, which he formed in the summer of 2016.
Kandeh was born on the 12th of July 1965 in Sare Birom in Jimara in the Upper River Region. He attended St. George’s Primary School in Basse, Mansjang and later moved to the town where he attended Crab Island Secondary Technical School. Kandeh proceeded to Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI).
Kandeh was a member of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) where he served in the committee on trade, Customs and Immigration Matters; Vice President of the West African caucus of PAP and head of delegation of 27 members of PAP to Libya.
He ran as a candidate in the Gambian presidential election of 2016 and received eighty-nine thousand, seven hundred and sixty-eight (89,768) votes which amounted to 17.07% of the total votes.
Ousainou Darboe
Ousainu Darboe is Former Vice President of The Gambia and leader of the United Democratic Party UDP, Gambia’s Biggest Opposition Party.
Opposition strong man Darboe was born in 1948, in Central Gambia where he attended Primary School before proceeding to St. Augustine High School and Gambia High School in Banjul where he successfully completed his GCE O Level and A Level certificate respectively.
Darboe later graduated from the University of Lagos with an honours degree in law and was called to the Federal Bar of Nigeria and subsequently to The Gambia Bar in 1973. He also holds a master’s degree in law.
Essa Faal
Essa Faal the only independent candidate in the 2021 Presidential race was born on the 13th of March 1966 in Banjul. He has extensive knowledge and experience in international criminal law and international human rights law.
He started his legal career as a State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice in The Gambia in 1994 and during this period he served as Counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Financial Activities of Public Corporations.
He has worked for the International Criminal Court (ICC) serving as Counsel for Charles Ghankay Taylor (former President of Liberia) before the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone and Counsel for Saif Al Islam Gaddafi at the ICC.
In September 2018 soon after the establishment of the Gambia truth commission, Essa Faal was appointed lead counsel, a job he just completed after three years of probing and bringing to light, the true extent of the 22- year reign of terror of former president Yahya Jammeh.
Halifa Sallah
Gambia’s veteran politician Halifa Sallah of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) was born in 1953 and raised in Serekunda, The Gambia. He was educated in the United States where he graduated with a degree in sociology.
He returned to the Gambia in 1977 and worked as a social worker in the Social Welfare Department. He is currently a member of the National Assembly representing Serekunda
