CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Presidential elections
were held in Gambia on 1 December, 2016. The incumbent, Yahya Jammeh, appeared
confident of securing a fifth term in office. An army Lieutenant who became
President of the Gambia after ceasing power in a bloodless coup d’état on
22 July 1994, President Jammeh was a quintessential African President-for-life.
Behind a façade of regular presidential and parliamentary elections, President
Jammeh maintained control of Gambia through the tried-and-tested techniques of
authoritarianism. Intimidation of political opponents, harassment of
journalists, pay-offs to loyalists, electoral fraud and gerrymandering, and the
control of civil society by an overbearing security apparatus ensured Yahya
Jammeh’s continued grip on power.
The 2016 election was
supposed to be no different. Dissidents and opposition leaders were threatened,
and at times imprisoned and tortured, and the State media actively campaigned
for President Jammeh. This led observers to dismiss the possibility that the
election would be free and fair. Citing these irregularities, the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that it would not participate in
observing the election, while the European Union was denied entry to the
country, despite having had initial indications that it would be allowed to
monitor the election. This left a small contingent of African Union (AU)
observers as the only foreign actor overseeing the election.
Casting their votes
using marbles instead of paper ballots, 8 Gambians delivered a stunning result.
After twenty-two years in office, Yahya Jammeh was defeated by Adama Barrow, a
real-estate agent, who succeeded in rallying the opposition parties around his
candidacy. The final tally gave Barrow 227,708 votes to Jammeh’s 208,487, while
a third-party candidate, Mamma Kandeh, received 89,768 votes.
Unexpectedly for a
ruler whose eccentricities earned him the honorific of being dubbed West
Africa’s Gaddafi, Yahya Jammeh conceded the election. One week later, however,
in an equally unexpected volte-face, Yahya Jammeh announced his ‘total
rejection’ of the results. Citing ‘serious and unacceptable abnormalities’,
Yahya Jammeh annulled the elections and called for holding new elections under
the supervision of an independent electoral commission. One explanation for
Jammeh’s ostensibly erratic behavior is that he was blindsided by his electoral
loss and gracefully conceded defeat as a tactical maneuver to buy precious time
to find a solution to his predicament, and then decided to call for a revote in
a bid to cling to power or to negotiate a safe exit from the country to avoid
prosecution over allegations of corruption and human rights violations.
The essence of this
study is therefore to carry out an empirical analysis of ECOWAS intervention
and democraticpation in West Africa Sub-Region. A study of Gambia 2016 general
elections.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Prior to 1st
December, 2016, the democracy was found wanting in the administrative strategy
of Gambia. Since 1994, the Gambia Diaspora as a social movement has carried out
and sustained anti-Jammeh mobilization through several advocacy organizations,
online media houses, and networks created over the years to ‘restore democracy'
in Gambia. They have gone to a great length in their efforts to influence
regime change in Gambia both through non-violent and ‘violent’ means. Over 20
years, they have carried out several political activities including mass
mobilization for demonstrations, issuing of press releases, lobbying
transnational Non- governmental
organizations (NGO) such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; and
Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) such as the EU, ECOWAS, AU, United
Nations (UN); and states such as the US, UK, Norway. They have also used
military efforts to oust the dictatorship of Jammeh and allegedly sponsored
mass protest for electoral reform in the period leading up to the 2016
elections. These efforts were not effective prior to the intervention of
ECOWAS. However, ECOWAS intervention and restoration of democracy in Gambia has
not received much attention from researchers and international relations
experts. This is the motivation of this study.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The primary purpose of
this study is to carry out an empirical of ECOWAS intervention and democracy in
West Africa sub-region with particular reference to Gambia 2016 general
elections. This study will also go ahead to provide recommendations based on
the findings of the study.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The importance of
carrying out a study on ECOWAS intervention in Gambia 2016 general presidential
election cannot be overemphasized. This study will be of great significance to
the government of African countries. This study will also be of a significant
importance to researchers, students and the general public. Finally, this study
will be an addition to the existing stock of knowledge on the concept under
study.
1.5 Methodology, Sources, and Organization of
the Study
Methodology is the
technique and procedure used in carrying out research. This explains the
structural framework of the research; dealing with data generation, collection
and analysis. This approach ensures that data gathered from secondary sources
(such as books, journals, internet material and so on) are in line with the
area of study. This study will be pursued primarily from an explanatory
approach based on existing literature, including information and data gathered
within and outside Gambia. In as much as qualitative method would be applied in
the collation and analysis of available data, eclectic and holistic methods may
not be divorced. The organization of study is the systematic arrangement of
this work chapter by chapter. Chapter one serves as an introduction to the
study. It contains the background of the study, statement of the problem,
purpose and significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study,
theoretical framework and literature review.
Chapter two dwelt on
Gambia and its people. It contains information about pre and post-colonial
presidential elections in Gambia.
Chapter three
considered the conceptual analysis and its accompanying view point. It contains
the various concepts of democracy, elections and intervention of external
bodies.
Chapter four focused on the specific
presidential elections in Gambia (2016-2017).
In chapter five which forms the base of the
project work, the challenges and impact of ECOWAS intervention in Gambia was
considered. Finally, a summary of the whole work was made, creating ample
opportunity to draw conclusions and veritable recommendations which occupied
chapter six.
1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study
The focus of this
research is to examine the intervention of democratization of ECOWAS in West
African sub-region with a particular focus on Gambia 2016 general presidential
elections.
Certain difficulties
were encountered during this research work. Finance posed a hindrance, which
comprised my visits to certain important sites, offices and accomplishing
interview session with some persons, whose inputs would have gone a long way in
enriching this study. Detailed candor and equanimity were often invoked to good
effect, when appointments and visits exposed the researcher to unwilling
officials.
Finally, data from
internet, the print and audio-visual information highways, sometimes appear
sensational and conflicting, more so when statistical casualty figures are
involved.
1.7 Theoretical Framework
This project is
anchored on the postulations of political realism as a framework of analysis.
Political realism is one of the major theories of International relations which
emphasize the constraints imposed on politics by the nature of human beings,
whom they consider egoistic, and by the absence of an international government
to control all members of the international community. Together, the egoistic
nature of man and the absence of a world government contribute to a
conflict-based paradigm of international relations, in which the key actors are
states, in which power and security become the main issues, and in which there
is little place for morality. Human nature is a starting point for classical
political realism. Realists view human beings as inherently egoistic and
self-interested to the extent that self-interest overcomes moral principles.
Human beings don't do things to be nice; they do things because it serves some
sort of selfish need. Political realism attempts to explain the relations among
and between states in terms of power. Power is defined in various ways but in
the context of international relations, power is basically the
capability of one state or a non state actor to make another state do something
it would not otherwise do or to stop it from doing something it wants to do.
1.8 Literature Review
In the following
literature, sincere efforts are made to examine same existing works related to
the subject matter of this study. This helps the researcher to articulate
existing knowledge on the subject matter. They help also in highlighting
certain inadequacies and short comings of the works in relation to the subject
matter of the current study and the gaps that needed to be filled.
Christof (2017) carried
out a research on ECOWAS and the restoration of democracy in Gambia. In the
analysis he asserts that following the disputed December 2016 presidential
elections in The Gambia, ECOWAS managed to “restore democracy” in the country by
using the threat of force, but without any use of direct physical violence. Both
the African Union and the United Nations Security Council backed ECOWAS, which
also gave ECOWAS legitimacy, for what was essentially ECOWAS’s policy, and
indeed an African solution to African problems. Only when the scenario of
military invasion became credible did the Gambian regime accept the defeat.
Four main factors explain the behaviour of ECOWAS and its success: ECOWAS had a
clear legal mandate to threaten the use of force in order to protect democracy
in one of its member states; there was consensus that ECOWAS forces could have
coped with the relatively small Gambian army; the Gambian president could not
rely on friends among his regional peers or some powerful ally from outside
Africa; and regional leaders such as Nigeria and Senegal made a credible commitment
to the regional intervention. While the intervention was a victory for
pro-democratic activist regionalism, the specific West African conditions make
a diffusion of the model to other parts of Africa unlikely.
Diallo (2005) explains,
“the crumbling away of the State and the bankruptcy of governance mechanisms
led to the growth and dispersal of armed participants, with soldiers,
dissidents, militias, rebels and/or mercenaries fighting with legal armed
forces for political power”. It was in reaction to these developments that
ECOWAS began to develop a framework, first, for conflict management, and then
for conflict prevention, with standards for preventing unconstitutional changes
of government and promoting governance, the rule of law, and human rights.
Ifeanyi and Ejike
(2017) examined the Gambian case in which the former president Yahya Jammeh
refused to relinquish power after completing his tenure of office even when he
was trounced in the Gambian 2016 presidential election by Adama Barrow. Gambia
would have been thrown into a bloody civil war if not for the timely
intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which
remained resolute to prevent him from perpetuating himself in office. Employing
political realism as a framework for analysis, the paper examines sit-tightism
in Gambia and the strategies and tactics employed by the Economic Community of
West African States to prevent it. The paper also examines the effect of this
phenomenon on the development of the country. The study reveals that ECOWAS has
shown the world and also sent signal to over ambitious presidents in the sub
region that it is prepared to fight sit-tight leaders in the sub region. The
paper recommends among other things democratic consciousness and political
vigilantism among the people and an entrenched interest by non-state actors
like the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to fight sit-tight
leaders in all African countries as a way of salvaging African democracy from over
ambitious African presidents.
Odobo (2017) carried
out a research on analysis of ECOWAS institutional framework for conflict
management. The paper posits that the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) has evolved conflict management and security framework through which
it responds to the myriads of socio-political crisis in the sub-region. The
paper assessed the ECOWAS mechanisms for conflict management vis-Ã -vis the
challenges facing the region. It begins by looking at the nature of conflict in
West Africa; and then the evolution of ECOWAS conflict management framework.
Using content analysis, the paper argues that ECOWAS has evolved a
comprehensive conflict management and security framework and has made
significant achievements in conflict management in the West African sub-region.
It however, recommends peace building efforts that address poverty, human
rights abuses and election fraud as well as more synergy and political will to
handle religious extremism in the sub-region.
Aja and Onyemaechi
(2017) carried out a research on democratic consolidation in Africa and the
practice of non-indifference by ECOWAS: Lessons from the Gambian Reversed Victory.
The paper argued that the outcome of the Gambian democratic election was
determined more by the logic of international practice of the principles of
non-indifference than the dictates of the Gambian society. Democratic patterns
are gradually undergoing transformation in Africa, particularly with the
growing concern of the international community. A case in point was the outcome
of the Gambian democratic election on December 1, 2016 whose victory was
credited to the President-elect Adama Barro. Even when the seating President
Yahya Jammeh acknowledged the transparency of the election process by congratulating
his victorious opponent Barro, a day after, he reversed the victory. Reversal
of the electoral victory attracted international condemnation particularly from
EOWAS member-states. Rather than deterred by the principle of non-interference
in the domestic affairs of The Gambia, Nigeria-led ECOWAS was motivated more by
concern for possible fear of humanitarian fallouts from Jammeh’s act to adopt the principle of non-indifference to
the reversed victory. The broad objective is to underscore the role of
international community in democratic transformation in Africa. The specific
objective is to demonstrate that The Gambian reverse victory was an abuse of
settled principles, norms and values for democratic consolidation and that the
principle of non-indifference by the ECOWAS was to save The Gambian society
from humanitarian crisis that might have arisen in the post-reversed victory.
This paper is anchored on global interconnectivity as a theoretical force.
Opanike (2015) is of
the view that when compared to other regional arrangements on the African
continents, ECOWAS is arguably the most advanced, although still miles far from
the achievements of its European Union counterpart. He considers the ECOWAS
Protocol on free movement as very germane to the overall objective of the
ECOWAS integration policies; this is so because, there cannot be any genuine
integration if free movement of the community citizens who are considered as
agents of integration is hampered. Thus, the Protocol is at the heart of the organizations’
objective. Realizing that conflict and insecurity are major obstacles to
economic development, ECOWAS developed its main conflict prevention and
management frameworks and tools, namely ‘the Protocol on the Mechanism for
Conflict Prevention; Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security (1999)
and the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001). Together these formed
the basis for the ECOWAS Conflict and Prevention Framework (John and Adriana,
2015).
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