{"id":95145,"date":"2026-03-18T10:58:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/accountability-missing-link-in-gambias-development"},"modified":"2026-03-18T13:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T13:05:58","slug":"accountability-missing-link-in-gambias-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/accountability-missing-link-in-gambias-development","title":{"rendered":"Accountability Missing Link in Gambia&#8217;S Development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Madi Jobarteh, a prominent human rights advocate, says the absence of accountability in public office has been the central obstacle to governance and development in The Gambia since independence.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with Kerr Fatou, Mr. Jobarteh, the founder of the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice, argued that the country possesses the essential elements required for progress\u2014educated citizens, functioning institutions, legal frameworks, and natural resources\u2014but lacks consistent accountability in the management of public affairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe missing link in our governance and development process is accountability,\u201d Mr. Jobarteh said.He contended that if public officials carried out their responsibilities in accordance with the law, professional ethics, and established standards, the country\u2019s development trajectory could have been markedly different.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Jobarteh drew a comparison with Singapore, which he cited as an example of how strong accountability mechanisms can influence national development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not like they have more people, laws, resources, or more God-favored,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only difference between us and Singapore, despite our different locations, is just accountability,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Jobarteh, the lack of consequences for failures, negligence, and inefficiency in public service has weakened governance across successive administrations.<\/p>\n<p>He said the accountability deficit has persisted from the era of the country\u2019s first president, Dawda Jawara, through the rule of former leader Yahya Jammeh and into the current administration of Adama Barrow.<\/p>\n<p>Without meaningful accountability, he argued, public institutions are unlikely to deliver the level of governance and development that Gambians expect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Madi Jobarteh, a prominent human rights advocate, says the absence of accountability in public office has been the central obstacle to governance and development in The Gambia since independence. In a recent interview with Kerr Fatou, Mr. Jobarteh, the founder of the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice, argued that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","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>Accountability Missing Link in Gambia&#039;S Development - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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