Gambian New President Adama Barrow To Publicly Sworn In Saturday In Banjul

For all the Gambians Saturday would mean a beginning of a new country and marking it as emergence from over two decades of authoritarian rule. The day will be sworning in of new President Adama Barrow publicly at the Independence Stadium in capital Banjul.

The 52-year-old defeated the sitting president Yahya Jammeh last year in December election. He was earlier a property developer and has never previously held public office.

Jammeh initially accepted the defeat but later changed his mind and tried clinging to power. Barrow had to leave the country fearing life risk and was inaugurated on the scheduled date of January 19 at the Gambian embassy in Senegal.

Meanwhile, pressure on Jammeh to quit power emerged from United Nations, France and several African countries.

Jemmeh was in power for 22 years and after conceding initially defeat he addressed to the nation in a televised speech the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had violated electoral law and returning officers motivated legitimate voters on the day of election to vote against him and this is the reason he is not stepping down.

However, at the end he had to quit power and left the country. It is alleged he had stolen millions of dollars during his final weeks in power.

A special adviser for the new president Adama Barrow said Jammeh plundered the state coffers too and shipped out luxury vehicles by cargo plane. He added a Chadian cargo plane helped in transporting the luxury goods out of Gambia.