The Gambia’s first president, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, who was removed from power in a military coup after serving for 30 years ‘should have thought about leaving’.
This assessment was made by Papa Fall who is a nephew of the country’s first leader in a Standard newspaper exclusive. His words:
“I hear that all the time that he had overstayed. But I don’t understand that. There was no term limit in the constitution. The country was moving in the right direction. He goes to elections, they vote him in… so, I don’t know what they mean by overstaying. Was there a sign that should say that if you are 20 years you have to leave? Because I thought these things should be decided by the constitution. I think it’s not fair to say he’s overstayed. Maybe he should have thought about leaving, but to say he overstayed, I have a problem with that. If you are criticising, you have to base it on facts. Now we see somebody wants to serve two terms, he changed the constitution to stay three terms”.
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