By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives
When Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian regime crumbled in 2017, a wave of hope swept across The Gambia. The new government, under President Adama Barrow, pledged to right the wrongs of a 22-year dictatorship that had silenced dissent, trampled rights, and governed through fear. At the heart of this reform agenda was a promise to undo Jammeh’s web of oppressive laws—many enacted by decrees or legislation passed by a rubber-stamp National Assembly that operated without genuine scrutiny or accountability. These laws, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) later found, formed a legal backbone to a regime marked by torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and media censorship.
In its final report in November 2021, the TRRC recommended a comprehensive review of all laws passed between 1994 and 2017, urging the government to bring them in line with international human rights standards. The government adopted this recommendation and, in its implementation plan, set the third quarter of 2023 as the target to begin the review. The projected cost is a modest $100,000. Yet, as of April 2025, none of those laws have been reviewed. The promise of legal reform remains largely unfulfilled.
At the centre of this delay is the Law Reform Commission (LRC), the statutory body legally mandated to “study and keep under constant review the statutes and other laws comprising the laws of The Gambia” to make them “responsive to the changing needs of Gambian society.” The Commission, governed by the 1983 Law Reform Commission Act, is empowered to recommend the repeal of obsolete laws, remove anomalies, and align the legal framework with the values of Gambian society and the principles enshrined in the UN and African human rights charters.
But the Commission has been inactive. Since the passing of its last chairperson, the late Dr Henry D.R. Carrol, in 2023, no new appointments have been made to revive it. For years, it has sat idle while Gambians continue to live under the threat of many of the repressive laws of the Jammeh era.
The Elections Act, which emanated from a military decree, is still in force, but lawmakers are currently debating a draft bill seeking to replace it. But other laws remain unchallenged. Decree Number 45 (1996) – the Elections Decree — created the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and regulated the 1996 elections. Decree Number 25 (1995): Public Order Act Amendment Decree — tightened restrictions on public gatherings and demonstrations. Enacted in 1963, it was amended by the military junta to suppress demonstrations. But it was used by the current regime to suppress the 2020 demonstration led by the Three Years JOTNA Movement, demanding that President Adama Barrow respect his promise to lead a coalition government for only three years through a transition and then step down.
Ida Persson, Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice and head of the Post-TRRC Unit, acknowledged the slow pace of reform. “The Law Reform Commission has been in existence, but it is dormant,” she said in an interview. “There are 39 activities in the implementation plan relating to law reform,” she added, pointing out that the government’s intention is not to hire a consultant to do this work. Instead, she says, the government wants the Law Reform Commission to fulfil its statutory mandate, once it is reconstituted. Asked when appointments to the Commission will be made, Persson said, “The Minister is looking into it,” and that the process should be completed before the end of the year.
Under the Act, the Commission is to consist of a chairperson and deputy chairperson—both qualified to be judges—one representative from the Gambia Bar Association, and two other members appointed by the President for their legal expertise or public service experience. Those appointments have yet to be made.
The stakes are high. Many of the laws passed under Jammeh still grant sweeping powers to security forces, curtail media freedoms, and allow for arbitrary detention and censorship. Journalists and human rights defenders remain vulnerable under these provisions, and recent comments by President Barrow lashing out at the media have reignited fears that these dormant laws could be weaponized once again.
Victims and civil society organizations are increasingly impatient. They say the slow pace of legal reform is a betrayal of the transitional justice process.
“The TRRC did its job. Now the government must do theirs,” said Ebrima Jallow, a human rights advocate. “What is the point of truth and reparations if the laws that enabled the abuse are still on the books?”
In response to questions on the reform delay, the Edward Francis Small Center for Justice and Human Rights, a Gambian human rights organisation founded to promote justice, democracy, equality, and accountability by holding the government to account, delivered a blistering critique of the state’s political commitment. “Since Independence, The Gambia does not have laws that effectively restrain state power in line with human rights and good governance principles,” the Center said in a statement. “Rather, the 1965, 1970 and 1997 constitutions granted huge amounts of power, privilege, immunities and benefits to the state and its agents with limited checks and limited obligations while granting limited rights to citizens.”
While acknowledging significant legislative achievements on the part of the Barrow government—the Access to Information Act 2021, the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act 2023, the Persons with Disability Act 2021, and the Anti-Corruption Act 2023—the Center insists that without broader constitutional and electoral reform, “the dream of effective democratic governance will be unattainable.”
The Center said that constitutional and legal reform should have been the top priority in 2017, immediately after the fall of the Jammeh regime. “Unfortunately, we have noticed with deep grief a gross failure to carry out these reforms,” it said. “The fundamental problem facing the country is the lack of political will at both the level of the executive and legislative branches since 2017.” The coalition that came to power, the Center noted, had committed to a robust reform agenda—including repealing oppressive laws and amending constitutional provisions that overly concentrated power in the executive—but failed to follow through.
“Instead, what came to pass were piecemeal amendments to cater to their specific needs,” it continued, citing the age limit for the presidency and protections for floor-crossing parliamentarians. Other critical promises—like diaspora voting, term limits, and reforming the Elections Decree 1996—remain unfulfilled. The Center described this decree as “an autocratic and monarchical tool of governance,” still in force nearly a decade after the regime’s fall.
According to the Center, this legislative stagnation is not just a failure of the executive. The National Assembly, too, has undermined reform efforts. Most notably, it failed to pass the 2020 draft constitution, a document designed to reset the nation’s legal framework and break decisively with the autocratic past. “Only a minority of 23 NAMs voted it down.”
The Center’s assessment is stark: “To continue to have decrees in place for 30 years only goes to indicate that this country has not made any qualitative transformation in its governance processes and structures since the defeat of the dictatorship.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
