(JollofNews) – Mahatma Gandhi had once said, to judge how civilized a nation is, just look at how it treats its own minorities. Going by this yardstick, The Gambia does not make a passing grade under Jammeh.
In most countries, minorities suffer from so-called “horizontal inequality.” While on paper they may enjoy legal equality, in real life, the playing field remains uneven. The Gambia is no different.
It’s worth remembering that Proportional Representation (PR) is a key enabler of minorities in politics especially women and Christians whose representation fell too short in elective office since Independence.
Gambians must celebrate and acknowledge the women who have braved the rigors of political life to make it to elected positions and all those who participated in our electoral politics. Women are still more than half the population yet still Gambian women have only less representation – at best with fifty-three members only two women elected. This National Assembly is the only assembly in the world in which men severely outnumbered women.
In rebuilding our nation, we should make a conscious decision to put inclusiveness and equality at the heart of the reconstruction process. I propose a bill to be put forward by the National Assembly members to introduce a quota system for female representation in National Assembly and women call upon to take up the demanding tasks of physical and social reconstruction of the nation, social healing, unity and reconciliation, peace building in times of political healing, justice and governance program.
Most people do not support a formal quota system for achieving greater representation in Parliament. Most women wish to be selected on their merits and on the basis, that they are the best person for the role, not because of their gender
Political scientists have agreed for years that PR systems lead to more equal gender representation as well as minority representation in parliaments, and a series of studies by political scientists have shown that more women have usually been elected under PR systems than majoritarian systems (Norris, 1985; Matland, 1998; Reynolds, 1999; Kenworthy and Malami, 1999; Siaroff, 2000; Moser, 2001; Salmond 2006
One reason why the issue of minority rights is not on the political radar screen of the government is the absence of their political voice. In most countries, the Parliament is the venue where a nation’s political agenda is discussed and adopted. Giving Christians, women and other minorities a stronger voice in our Parliament could help put the spotlight on the status of minorities.
A wise man, suggested that Christians and women should demand their proportional representation in Parliament. Many countries have it, why can’t we have the same? (To be perfectly clear, Some Asian countries reserved seats for minorities, not proportional representation per se). A similar demand has been made in Asia countries with predominantly Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians populations to allocate seats for religious minorities.
The quota system in Rwanda has clearly helped to speed up women’s participation in politics. Women have proved that they can make a positive difference to peoples’ lives
Women in the world perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but earn only 10% of the income and own only 1% of the property,” the UNDP’s newest goodwill ambassador, Connie Britton, said earlier. In politics, 21.8% of national parliamentarians were female as of 1 July 2014, a slow increase from 11.3% in 1995, according to UN Women.
In Rwanda, there are more female elected officials than men, with 64% of parliamentary seats held by women. This is partly due to the use of a quota system to increase the number of women in parliament. The constitution written in 2003 states that Rwanda commits itself to granting women “at least 30% of posts in decision-making organs”. That same year, women won 48.8% of seats in the lower house of parliament.
Rwanda’s success in increasing the number of seats held by women in its parliament displays the efficacy of using quota systems, and shows how beneficial they can be in getting women’s voices heard and considered when discussing national affairs
The idea of proportional representation has also been embraced by many scholars. Dr. Nazrul Islam, a Bangladeshi economist now working with the United Nations, in his new book, Governance for Development (Palgrave Mcmillan, New York 2016), has argued vociferously on why countries should consider switching to proportional election.
Among other things, such an electoral arrangement will enable minority groups to be represented in accordance with their numerical strength, rendering the legislature to be more inclusive. “They can pursue their interests and demands more freely and directly, without having to depend on bigger parties.” As a result, he concludes, proportional election could encourage smaller parties and groups to channel their grievances through the Parliament, rather than through extra-parliamentary means.
Reserve seats or proportional representation, whatever the course may be, the time has come to consider ways to ensure that The Gambia’s minorities have a voice on matters that matter most to them. Parliament could be the place where this could have its most logical beginning
By Alagi Yorro Jallow
The author is founder and former managing editor of The Independent, the Gambia’s only private newspaper before it was banned by the government in 2005. He was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, a 2007 Nieman fellow and is the author of Delayed Democracy: How Press Freedom Collapsed in Gambia published in 2013.
The Nigerians have a policy; whereby after graduating from school, each young member of society male or female must spend one year living in another/different ethnic part of Nigeria/
It’s the Law;
Murtala, surely the best way forward is for all of us to think and see ourselves as Gambians, our gender, religion and tribe should not define who we are. You have contradicted yourself when you said that most women do not want any formal quota. They prefer to earn positions on merit. There is proportional representation in Algeria and Angola but their women are not far ahead of our women in terms of education and political consciousness. Since independence Gambia has had 9 speakers of the house of representatives including Mrs Denton, 3 of them women. I doubt it if there are many countries that can boast of similar figures small as it may be. Christians and women are are Gambians so they should be treated as everyone else. How would your proposal to give women and Christians some quota work? Please enlighten me. If a Manjago Christian woman should go up against a Fula Muslim woman for job who should get the job? How can discriminating against the majority bring fairness to society? Should our services mirror the composition of our society or should we manipulate it to create an artificial balance? We should encourage the building of a society where everyone has equal opportunities to attain their full potential. Social engineering of society never works anywhere. The main hindrance to the advancement of Gambian women, like women around the world is family. Women lag behind their male counterparts in terms of promotions and education mainly when they start having children. They usually miss out on promotions and further study opportunities when they are on maternity leave. Government should make automatic promotion illegal and require employers to advertise all job vacancies for suitable candidates to apply. The government can also make it illegal not to offer a job to someone because they are pregnant or on maternity leave. Creating a quota for job opportunities for certain sections of society will not bring harmony but cause resentment. Our focus should be on what matters most to all of us and not what matters most to some of us.
Quota systems are a useful tool to remedy deliberate wrongs against a group. For example, some municipalities have set aside, for minority contractors because traditionally they have been overtly discriminated against in the procurement process. Same in education and housing especially in The USA, in this case the culprit is racism. In The Gambia, all Gambians are same with equal rights to participate and serve as they see fit. There are other reasons why certain segments of our society choose not to participate in the political process. It is important not to overreach with remedies that may have unintended consequences. We cannot legislate human behavior, at the same time we cannot stand in the way of progress of a particular group. We do have a responsibility to encourage our girls and those who have been marginalized to become involved and support them with resources to succeed. Proposed proportional representation in The Gambia is a terrible idea.
There are several different forms of PR>>>
But in most democratised countries, the ruling government is at odds to disturb their future majority. Hence traditionally in Europe we find over the last 100 years, only two mainstreams of thought, philosophically and politically diametrically opposed to each other.
Left or to the right….and the third position which both achieve on occasion being the centre ground.
With a brief intervention of fascism.
The worst case scenario is when the system breaks down into a one party state. I need not remind you of the last 22 years.
Mike, Jammeh’s AFPRC/APRC had two years without much opposition because all political parties and party politics was banned. Then they had five years of honeymoon. Also Gambians had mistakenly assumed that Jammeh was a patriotic honest man so he took advantage of them. Barrow doesn’t seem to be enjoying the luxury of such long honeymoon period and with most Gambian awaken from political slumber, i doubt it if any future leader will be allowed to ride rough sod over us ever again. Jammeh started his leadership with hostility to the press and curtailing people’s freedom of expression and association whilst Barrow started with embracing the media fraternity and protecting people’s freedom of expression and association. Barrow has so far not done anything to suggest that he wants to usurp power for himself or displaying characteristics of a tyrant. Yet people keep invoking the terrible memories of Jammeh’s atrocities as reasons why we should be critical of Barrow.
Buba; I know your history and I have for 11 years wrote thousands of words; I was there on April 10th 2000 and saw with my own eyes heard with mine own ears, how ruthlessly the State and its highly trained Soldiers and Police turned on a vocal school choir of protest, without a shred of mercy. God help us that by fate, luck or design the tyrant left with his ill gotten gains to seek solace and to tend his equatorial garden . Others of better character, and grace, never had that choice.
You are right in so many things/ Its will take Gambians a long time to trust again. Hardly a family was left untouched by misery or loss. Many died. Some lay in fields, without the tenderness of those who loved and depended on them. Others were murdered, many were tortured screaming for death or God or their Mother to come to tend their wounds or simply end their suffering. WE have seen inside Mile 2/ We treat rats better.
It is upon this history that I have not deserted my friends. Neither would I ever turn my face against those APRC officials that became my friends. Subscribing to a political party or to serve one’s nation can never be a crime.
All were fearful; But some were braver than others and I know of many deeds that saved lives or made lives better.
What matters is the people. Their characters and their hopes/ ambitions.
As long as cronyism and sycophancy takes no part in selection and people are taken only on merit to serve and make better what was dire. Then for me you can have the “Jupiter party” in charge.
It makes no difference to me.
Dr SARR said: “Proposed proportional representation in The Gambia is a terrible idea”.
100% correct Dr.