{"id":82579,"date":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa"},"modified":"2025-07-22T18:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:00:35","slug":"pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa","title":{"rendered":"Pawa Elects New Council with Barry for West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) has concluded its 2025 General Assembly with the election of a new Council to steer the organization\u2019s affairs for the next three years. Among the newly elected leaders is Professor Cherno Omar Barry of The Gambia, who was declared Vice President for West Africa following an uncontested nomination.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Prof Barry, a literary scholar and cultural policy expert, currently serves as President of the Writers Association of The Gambia (WAG). His appointment to PAWA\u2019s continental executive body is seen as a major win for West Africa\u2019s literary and intellectual community, given his extensive experience in promoting African literature, multilingual education, and youth literary development.<\/p>\n<p>The elections, conducted in Accra on 18 July 2025, followed due process under the supervision of the PAWA Election Committee chaired by Mr Goima Peter Mwamwingila of Tanzania. Except for the Presidency, which was contested by Prof Bill Ndi (Cameroon\/Diaspora) and Madam Imela Oyono Ayingono (Equatorial Guinea), all other positions on the Council were filled unopposed.<\/p>\n<p>Prof Ndi won the presidency with 62.16% of valid votes cast, confirming his mandate to lead PAWA until 2028. The Vice Presidents elected from each African sub-region and the diaspora will be responsible for coordinating PAWA\u2019s activities and strengthening national writers\u2019 associations within their respective constituencies.<\/p>\n<p>Prof Barry\u2019s election is expected to strengthen regional collaboration among West African writers and reinforce PAWA\u2019s vision of using literature as a tool for African unity, freedom of expression, and cultural regeneration.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025\u20132028 PAWA Council includes:<\/p>\n<p>PAWA, headquartered in Accra, Ghana, was founded in 1989 to bring together African writers and foster a united platform for intellectual and cultural exchange. The association advocates for the rights of writers, the promotion of African languages and publishing industries, and the creation of spaces for dialogue and literary excellence.<\/p>\n<p>Prof Barry, in a post-election statement, described his new role as \u201can opportunity to consolidate the voices of West African writers and affirm the place of literature in shaping our collective future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) has concluded its 2025 General Assembly with the election of a new Council to steer the organization\u2019s affairs for the next three years. Among the newly elected leaders is Professor Cherno Omar Barry of The Gambia, who was declared Vice President for West Africa following an uncontested [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-82579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pawa Elects New Council with Barry for West Africa - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) has concluded its 2025 General Assembly with the election of a new Council ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pawa Elects New Council with Barry for West Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) has concluded its 2025 General Assembly with the election of a new Council ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T17:28:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T18:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1753194532.420813.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1246\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Pawa Elects New Council with Barry for West Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-22T17:28:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-22T18:00:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\"},\"wordCount\":350,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1753194532.420813.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pawa-elects-new-council-with-barry-for-west-africa\",\"name\":\"Pawa Elects New Council with Barry for West Africa - 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