Adama Barrow guarantees financial progress after he gained re-election final month with 53 % of the first-round vote.
Gambian President Adama Barrow has pledged to work to jumpstart the financial system as he was sworn in for a second five-year time period in workplace close to the capital, Banjul.
Barrow, 56, got here to energy in 2017 by unseating his predecessor Yahya Jammeh on the polls. He comfortably gained re-election final month with 53 % of the first-round vote.
The United Democratic Celebration of main opposition candidate Ousainou Darboe appealed the election outcomes to the Supreme Courtroom, alleging irregularities and corruption in Barrow’s marketing campaign. The plea was dismissed.
“Right this moment we will comfortably conclude that my election to a different 5 years is a vote of confidence in my authorities, a vote of acknowledgement of my achievements,” mentioned Barrow, wearing a white cap and gown, after being sworn in on Wednesday earlier than an viewers that included a number of different West African heads of state.
“2022 to 2027 is a interval to press on for accelerated development, enlargement and development. The main focus now centres on financial improvement,” he mentioned.
He has confronted a problem reviving the financial system of mainland Africa’s smallest nation.
The coronavirus pandemic pushed the financial system into recession in 2020, holding away vacationers from its white-sand seashores.
Nevertheless, development is estimated to have bounced again to about 5 % final yr.
Congratulations to His Excellency Adama Barrow on his inauguration as President of The Republic of The Gambia for a second time period. The Presidential delegation designated to Banjul by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. headed by Ambassador Richard Carlton Paschall graced the event. pic.twitter.com/hsOLHK03Mz
— U.S. Embassy Banjul (@USEmbassyBanjul) January 19, 2022
Throughout his first time period, he improved relations with many overseas international locations that had cooled underneath Jammeh’s 22-year tenure and labored to revive civil liberties that have been repressed throughout that interval.
Jammeh was accused by human rights group of presiding over a authorities accused of a litany of abuses, together with demise squads and torture.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, mentioned the swearing-in ceremony was “not solely a historic second for Adama Barrow himself, but additionally for all Gambians” and that it was seen as a “step ahead” for democracy.
“Eight heads of states of the area, nearly all of them from West Africa attended this swearing-in ceremony, in a area the place there’s been a step again away from democracy – particularly in Mali or Guinea,” he added.
Throughout the swearing-in ceremony, Barrow reiterated a earlier dedication to introduce a brand new structure. He has beforehand mentioned it will introduce presidential time period limits however has not mentioned whether or not that might stop him from searching for further phrases.
Debates about presidential time period limits have flared in a number of of Gambia’s neighbouring international locations, together with Ivory Coast and Guinea, whose presidents in 2020 used constitutional adjustments as reset buttons on their tenures to remain past the two-term restrict.
Barrow had pledged as a candidate in 2016 to serve solely three years if he was elected however later went again on that dedication.