SIR DAWDA KAIRABA JAWARA, GAMBIA'S FIRST PRIME MINISTER AND LONGEST SERVING PRESIDENT

Did you know that 58 years (1970–2023) after The Gambia gained independence from colonial rule, the country has only had three Presidents: Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, and Adama Barrow?

Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara GCMG was a Gambian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970, and then as the first President of The Gambia from 1970 to 1994. Born in Barajally, MacCarthy Island Division, the son of Mamma Fatty and Almami Jawara. He was educated at the Methodist Boys' School in Banjul (Bathurst) and then attended Achimota College in Ghana. He trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Glasgow's School of Veterinary Medicine, then completed his training at the University of Liverpool and University of Edinburgh.

He returned to The Gambia in 1953 and married Augusta Mahoney, beginning work as a veterinary officer. He decided to enter politics and became secretary of the new People's Progressive Party (PPP) and was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1960 election. He became the leader of the PPP and then the country's first Prime Minister in 1962, only the second ever head of government following Pierre Sarr N'Jie's term as Chief Minister.

Under Jawara, The Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. He remained as Prime Minister and Elizabeth II remained as head of state as Queen of the Gambia. In 1970, The Gambia became a republic, with no monarchy, and Jawara was elected as its first President. 

The greatest challenge to Dawda Jawara's rule (other than the coup that ended his power in 1994) was an attempted coup in 1981, headed by a disgruntled ex-politician turned Marxist, Kukoi Samba Sanyang. The coup, which followed a weakening of the economy and allegations of corruption against leading politicians, occurred on July 29, 1981, and was carried out by the leftist National Revolutionary Council, composed of Kukoi Samba Sanyang's Gambia Socialist Revolutionary Party and elements of the "Field Force" (a paramilitary force which constituted the bulk of the country's armed forces).

President Jawara immediately requested military aid from Senegal which deployed 400 troops to the Gambia on July 31, and by August 6, 2,700 Senegalese troops had been deployed and they had defeated the coup leaders' forces. Between 500 and 800 people were killed during the coup and the resulting violence.

The attempted coup reflected the desire for change, at least on the part of some civilians and their allies in the Field Force. Despite Kukoi's failure to assume power, the attempted coup revealed major weaknesses within the ruling PPP and society as a whole. The hegemony of the PPP, contraction of intra-party competition, and growing social inequalities were factors that could not be discounted. Also crucial to the causes of the aborted coup was a deteriorating economy whose major victims were the urban youth in particular. 

The most striking consequence of the aborted coup was the intervention of the Senegalese troops at the request of Jawara, as a result of the defense treaty signed between the two countries in 1965. At the time of the aborted coup, Jawara was attending the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer in London and flew immediately to Dakar to consult with President Abdou Diouf. While Senegal's intervention was ostensibly to rescue President Jawara's regime, it had the effect of undermining Gambian sovereignty, which was something that had been jealously guarded by Gambians and Jawara in particular. Yet it was relinquished expediently. The presence of Senegalese troops in Banjul was testimony to Jawara's growing reliance on Senegal, which consequently was a source of much resentment.

Fast forward to December 1991, Jawara announced that he would not seek re-election in 1992. After 30 years of leading his country, he decided to retire. However, his announcement was met with panic, so he consented to stand for re-election again. The question of his retirement continued to loom over The Gambia's political future, however, and dissent mounted. He was re-elected with 56% of the vote.

On 22 July 1994, a group of soldiers led by Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh stormed the capital. The coup was successful and Jawara was exiled until 2002. Compared with the previous attempt to overthrow Jawara, though, this coup was deemed "bloodless". Jawara escaped unharmed: he was taken to Senegal by an American warship that was in the area when the coup began. Jawara had hoped that his work would create an economically prosperous society based on his priorities: democracy, unity, and tolerance for personal differences. However, the new self-appointed, five-man ruling council dissolved the constitution and established a nationwide curfew until democracy was reinstated (at least on paper).

Jawara returned to The Gambia as an elder statesman, but was forbidden to take part in politics for the rest of his life. He went to Nigeria in 2007 after being selected to head a West African team (ECOWAS) to assess Nigeria's preparedness for its April 2007 presidential election. He then took residence in the town of Fajara where he died.

On 3 February 2017, Jawara was visited at his home by the newly elected President Adama Barrow and pledged to render support to Barrow's government. When he died on 27 August 2019, Sir Dawda was the last living Gambian who had been conferred a knighthood (in 1966) under the monarchy of the Gambia. His portrait is depicted on various banknotes and coins of The Gambian dalasi from 1971 to 1994.

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawda_Jawara