Gambia’s First Post-Independence President Jawara Dies

Prime Minister Jawara with David Ben-Gurion and General Moshe Dayan during a visit to Israel in 1962 (Photo by Moshe Pridan).

The Gambia Marks 50th Anne

Jammeh inspects parade Wednesday at the national stadium in Bakau (Photo Credit: Independence Golden Jubilee Official/Facebook)

Pres. Jammeh reduces Gambia’s independence to ‘a sham’

In April 1970, The Gambia became a Republic with President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara its first Head of State (Photo taken from Kissy Kissy Mansa)

The Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has reduced to “a sham” his country’s independence that was attained from colonialists Britain on February 18, 1965.

“Our independence was achieved through the hard work of patriotic independence-minded citizens but that independence was a sham,” he said on the eve of The Gambia’s 49^th independence anniversary.

This, according to him, is because Gambia’s leadership at the time “plunge our country deeper into the complete hegemony of the British Empire and therefore fail to bring about any significant socio-economic development.”