Political Analyst Juwara Challenges Barrow’s Comparison of Gambia With UK, Germany on Term Limits

By Makutu Manneh

Political analyst Lamin Juwara has challenged President Adama Barrow’s comparison of The Gambia with the United Kingdom and Germany on presidential term limits, arguing that such comparisons must also consider the quality of governance and living standards enjoyed by citizens in those countries.

Speaking on Kerr Fatou’s Politic Kaacha show, Juwara was responding to remarks by President Barrow in which he expressed support for a third term while questioning whether limiting presidential tenure was necessarily the best system of governance. The president cited the absence of fixed term limits for heads of government in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Juwara questioned the relevance of that comparison, arguing that the president could not selectively invoke the political systems of developed democracies without addressing the standards of governance and quality of life they provide.

According to him, if President Barrow believes The Gambia should follow the examples of Germany and the United Kingdom on term limits, Gambians are equally entitled to demand the same quality of public services, governance, and living standards enjoyed by citizens of those countries.

Juwara also questioned the president’s stated commitment to term limits, arguing that genuine political convictions should not change according to personal or political circumstances.

“When I heard President Barrow saying he is a lover of the third term, for me that is not the case. If you are a lover of a value, most especially a political value and reality, you don’t change your value for any other circumstance,” he said.

Drawing on The Gambia’s political history, Juwara cited former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara as an example of a leader who, he said, remained committed to his democratic principles despite pressure from within his own party.

He recalled that Jawara faced calls from senior members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to establish a one-party state but resisted those demands because of his belief in multiparty democracy.

Juwara argued that Jawara could have justified abandoning that principle by pointing to pressure from party elders, but instead maintained his commitment to political pluralism.

He said that decision helped distinguish The Gambia and Botswana from many other African countries at a time when one-party political systems were widespread across the continent.

Turning to the current debate, Juwara maintained that Gambians have consistently demonstrated their preference for presidential term limits.

He argued that a leader who genuinely believes in limiting presidential tenure should uphold that principle rather than invoke the practices of other countries to justify a different position.

Juwara’s remarks come amid renewed debate over presidential tenure and the future of constitutional reform in The Gambia, where the absence of presidential term limits remains a contentious political issue.