By Bai Lamin Jobe
Two years after independence in 1967, an American journalist, Berkeley Rice, published a book called “Enter Gambia: The Birth of an Improbable Nation”. In this book, Rice declared, in no uncertain terms, that The Gambia was a stillborn nation, which was already dead in the womb of its colonial past, and therefore was under internment, given the prevailing geopolitics of the time, characterized by a euphoric but deluded radical nationalism in Africa, and a much more contrived Cold War in the world.
A Gambian political scientist living in the US, Saul Saidykhan, in turn, did an extensive review of Rice’s book, as reported in the Standard Newspaper of May 2017, in which he captured the essence of Rice’s mockingly critical treatise on The Gambia’s poverty and on its nationalistic bidding. Saidykhan highlighted much of the critical claims by Rice regarding the bizarre economic, social, and political status of the country. He quoted Rice on this note as follows:
“total annual revenue of $6.5 million; two small groundnut oil mills (one privately owned); 95% of the country’s total export was groundnuts; 6 Cabinet Members (only one – Michael Baldeh, had a college degree; the rest were High School graduates or drop-outs); a 2-man Foreign Ministry; a 4-man Foreign Service; a 150 member Field Force; a 12 or so members of the Administration considered well-trained because of some years working as understudies of British Officials; a Parliament dominated by barely literate or completely illiterate MPs (including MPs who couldn’t pass the basic Civil Service admission test, yet one of them defeated a “well qualified Bathurst Accountant in the 1962 elections); an abandoned Poultry Farm at Yundum that was converted into a Teachers Training College; one hotel in the country – 50 room Atlantic Hotel built in 1958, (a second one, Adonis Hotel was being rushed to completion on the eve of independence); one Airport with one airstrip; one Seaport that needed much work; one Bank; 2 Restaurants; 3 High Schools; one Technical School; less than 10 Primary Schools countrywide; one Bookstore; one Fire Station; one Hospital; one Pharmacy; one Dentist; one Civil Engineer; about 20 miles of tarred roads outside Bathurst, (many streets in Bathurst itself were untarred); one river boat, the “Lady Wright”, described as “an ancient creaking steamer”; one Radio Station that could only broadcast to a limited part of the country for only 3 hours a day; a total fleet of about 20 taxi cabs in the entire urban areas, all of which government rented for the duration of the independence festivities; 3 mini buses newly acquired by the government on the eve of independence; no Town or City Hall anywhere in the country; no sporting stadium; no fitting Parliament Building; no proper roads beyond Brikama, (the entire North Bank road was shut down during the Rainy Season); and a population of 320,.000 people.”
Despite this decrepit situation and precariously bleak future of the country at the time, the political vanguard, especially that of the PPP, headed by DK Jawara, remained resolute about attaining self-rule and total independence, even though accepting that certain civil service posts would be manned still by British personnel for lack of qualified or experienced denizens:
“The Permanent Secretary to Cabinet and to the Prime Minister; Chief Justice; Attorney General; Registrar General; Senior Magistrate; Director of Cooperatives; Commissioner of Income Tax; Director of Marine; Commissioner of Police; Provincial District Commissioners; Provincial Development Officers; Senior Engineer – Department of Public Works; Principals and half the staff of Yundum Teachers Training College and Gambia High School; and Chief Veterinary Officer (taking over from the PM, DK Jawara).”
This was 60 years ago, by 18 February 2025, a date dubbed the “Diamond Jubilee” of the country’s independence, with the theme: “marching in solidarity for self-reliance and national development.”
The main questions are: was Berkeley Rice right about the improbable nature of our country? How far had the country changed since 1965, under the consecutive rule of 3 governments: for 30 years by DK Jawara, for 22 years by Yaya AJJ Jammeh, and for 8 years by President A Barrow? What were the overall changes in the status and lives of Gambians since 1965?
Berkeley Rice was wrong, because the population of the country did not stagnate or decline, because of its improbability, instead it increased from 320,000 in 1965 to 2,400,000 people in 2025, an increase of over 7 times in 60 years. Also, given the land mass area of 11,295 km2 of the country, the population density countrywide increased from 30 people per km2 in 1965 to 212 people per km2 by 2025. And because half of the population became urbanized, the urban population density blossomed to 2400 people per Km2, mainly living in Banjul, KMC, and BAC areas. Almost none of these people are homeless today, living in the streets, and under life threatening conditions. Studies have shown that increased urban density has net positive effect, that higher density areas or cities are more sustainable than low-density urban areas.
As regards the Rice’s indicators about improbability, reported in 1965, much has been countered over 60 years, and the following now prevails:
Total annual revenue of $112 million; there are now numerous small groundnut decorticating and oil mills (many privately owned); country’s exports include large volume of re-exports, groundnuts, fish, and cotton ; 23 Cabinet Members (many of them university graduates); Foreign Ministry with 8 Divisions; 28 foreign missions (consulates and embassies); a 4000 member Armed Forces; a 1000 or so members of the Administration considered well-trained in managerial or senior professional posts; a Parliament with 58 NAMs all literate; The Teachers Training College has since been converted to The Gambia College with campuses in Banjul and Brikama, comprising School of Education, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Agriculture, and School of Public Health; more than 12 hotels (Kairaba Beach, Seaview, Ocean Bay, Sunset Beach, Kombo Beach, etc.); a new Airport equipped to international standards opened in 1997 having 3,600 metres long runway, a modern terminal building; Banjul Port had gone few improvements but still lacked requisite capacity, operations recently devolved to a private Turkish Company; there are now 12 Banks in the country, supervised by a Central Bank; there are about 287 Restaurants; there are about 1500 schools in the country, and education now takes place in 6 stages, namely: early childhood development, lower basic, upper basic, senior secondary school, followed by undergraduate and graduate level at UTG; currently 83 licensed and accredited technical vocational and education training (TVET) providers delivering courses for key sectors of the Gambian economy including agriculture, tourism, fisheries and construction; 19 Bookstores; 10 Fire Stations countrywide (Banjul, Bakau, Barra, Brikama, Churchill’s Town, Farafenni, Kanilai, Kotu, Serrekunda, and Soma); 4 referral hospitals, 8 main health centres, 16 smaller centres, more than 200 mobile clinic unit teams, and the MRC hospital mainly funded by the UK Government; 13 Pharmacies in the GBA alone; 10-15 dentists registered within the country, all based in Banjul and the GBA; about 14 or so civil engineering firms run by or employing Civil Engineers; total road network is estimated at about 4000 km of primary, secondary, urban and rural roads; about 1000 km (25%) is primary road of the network of which about 800 km is paved. The secondary road network of about 500 km is mainly gravel surface, but now under construction in some areas (Hakalang, Saloum, Kiang, and Kabada), urban roads, estimated at 200 kms, are confined to the Banjul/Greater Banjul Area, rural roads consist of 2400 km; given the road density of 35 km/100 km2, connectivity and accessibility is above the average compared to most sub-Saharan African countries; river transport has greatly dwindled, except for small tourist river boat cruises; 20 radio stations, one of which is state-owned, 5 TV channels, 4 of which are privately owned, 4 daily newspapers, published 5 times a week; a large fleet of taxi cabs, minivans, and busses not only plying in the urban areas but all corners of the country; Friendship Stadium built in 1984; National Assembly Building inaugurated in October 2014; the entire North Bank primary road paved from Barra to Passimas.”
It is apparent that there is stark difference between Rice’s Gambia of 1965 and that of 2025, that significant changes have been made against the backdrop of an increasing population (60% of whom are young) with rising expectations, fueled by a revolutionized age of Information Technology, such as the Internet and Social Media.
We must acknowledge, however, that many of the young did not experience much of the past, and therefore cannot appreciate the deep changes which have taken place. This partly explains their heightened discontent. Some of them are aware that much more could have been done, and others of them are aware that much more have been accomplished in other countries within the same period, for example in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), where about 700 million citizens raised themselves out of poverty within the same period, using the concept of “self-reliance”, which is by the way included in the theme of our country’s 60th independence or diamond jubilee.
It is suffice to say, however, that it is not what is written in books, such as “Enter Gambia” or political slogans that matter, but rather what is eventually put in action that matters, because actions fulfill aspirations by providing concrete solutions to concrete problems.
Bai Lamin Jobe
Cape Point, Bakau
22 February 2025