A Comparative Analysis of the Electoral and Democratization Process of the Gambia’S First and Second Republics (1965-2015)”
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“A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTORAL AND DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS OF THE GAMBIA’S FIRST AND SECOND REPUBLICS (1965-2015)” By Oyejide Felix Omotosho BSc Political Science, Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), MSc Political Science, Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies (PGDMS), Graduate Diploma in International Relations (GDIR) (Matriculation Number: 10760) Being a Dissertation Submitted to St. Clements University British West Indies In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Political Science JULY, 2017 Declaration I hereby declare that this Dissertation was carried out by me and fully take charge of errors, omissions and any other mistakes that may be observed herein. However, I submit that all sources of my materials have been duly acknowledged in the in-text and Bibliography. Oyejide Felix Omotosho ……………………………… Signed Certification This is to certify that this Dissertation entitled “Comparative Analysis of the Electoral and Democratization Process in The Gambia’s First and Second Republics (1965-2015)” by Oyejide Felix Omotosho with Matriculation No.10760, was carried out under my supervision and guidance. More so, the Dissertation has been approved for submission to St. Clements University, British West Indies, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Comparative Politics and Government. Professor (Dr.) David Le Cornu Academic Advisor and Thesis Supervisor ………………………………………………… St. Clements University Dedication This great research work is dedicated to my late parents; Pa Martin Oyetomiwa Omotosho, a teacher by profession, farmer by occupation and the former Catechist by devotion of St. James’ Catholic Church, Okeigbo in Ondo Diocese of Ondo State, Nigeria and Madam Emily Adewola Ajeokun Omotosho, a trader. May their gentle souls rest in perfect peace, amen. E sunre o, eyin obi mi, Pataki julo, mama mi Ajeokun Adewola. We your children loved you so much, but God loves you more than us. God says, in everything give thanks. We thank Him therefore for your fulfilled lives that you lived and your peaceful transition to eternal glory and rest. To God is the glory for this and His unending mercies upon we your children on this earth since you departed? Acknowledgement “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34 verse 1). I have every cause to thank God my creator, helper and the only one who has made everything possible to see me through my torrential journey to a Doctoral Degree. He is the one who made it possible for me to be blessed with supervisors who were mentors to me, right from my first degree at the Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria to PhD at the St. Clements University, Turks and Caicos Island in the British West Indies. The immeasurable efforts and contributions of these erudite scholars; Prof. Mohammadu Attahiru Jega (First Degree Thesis Supervisor, 1990), Prof. Derin K. Ologbenla (Second Degree Thesis Supervisor, 2007) and Prof. (Dr.) David Le Cornu (Doctoral Degree Dissertation supervisor, 2016), have made my torrential academic/career journey a momentous and the most noble and accomplished one. I am much more grateful to my academic ‘god-father’ Prof. Dr. David Le Cornu for his encouragement, inspiring supervision, and untiring efforts over me as well as cares that he provided me with throughout the project work. It has not been easy, in view of the great challenges and difficulties encountered during my data collections and analysis. Sometimes, when it appeared like giving up, most especially during the field work, Dr. Le Cornu was always there to give his words of inspiration that kindled my spirit and kept me on. I pray for your good health, long life and most noble career success as a scholar in Jesus name. I am dearly indebted to you in life for this uncommon grace and favor, no doubt. Let me appreciate my family, especially my wife Mrs. Janet ’Jibola Omotosho and our children; Tomilayo Felicity, Tobiloba Alex, Taiwo Felix Fisayo (PapaTee) and Kehinde Felicia (MamaKee) for their love, sacrifice, cooperation, endurance and the encouragement from them during this program. May God bless you all and help us to enjoy the fruits of our labor with long life, peace and prosperity. I am much more indebted to my son Tobiloba Alex Oyejide for the manuscript typing and his stay by me continually till completion. Many a time we worked late hours, collating and typing. He would leave his own research work and study as a medical student to assist me and keep me awake to work. You will achieve excellence in the field of medicine up to PhD in Jesus name, amen. I am full of thanks to the following people for their immense contributions and encouragements during this program and they are; the Ag. Dean Abdu-Karim Kamara and Departmental Head, Political Science, Dr. Ebrima Lowe, all of university of the Gambia. Others are Prof. Aboubacarr Senghore, a Hon. Minister of the Republic of the Gambia and former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of the Gambia, Dr. Kenneth Igharo, Delta State University, Warri Campus in Nigeria, Dr. Jacob Joe Nya in the Republic of Benin, Prof. Fred. Ozor, Ebonyin State University, Nigeria, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Mr. Kwado Ofosuene; Director, Finance, Mrs Amie Jah (Director, HRM), Prof. Omar Jah, Former Deputy VC, Admin and Finance all of the university of the Gambia. I am much more indebted to Rotarian Kolapo Abdul, Mesrs Stephen Okoh, Great Otuduoma, Isiaka Ojelere, Akinnuoye Akinji, David Fisayo Oluboye, Mohammed Tambedou, Madam Patricia Ogu and Mr. Oladele Oyelakin. I am indebted to His Royal Highness Oba of Yoruba in The Gambia Rotarian (Dr.) Moshood K. B Abolade, Ariwajoye 1 (JP) , Pastor, Essien Esenubong (Regional Overseer) of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, the Gambia, among others too numerous to mention. A cannot but be grateful to all those who in spite of the fragile political climate, responded to my interviews and those that helped in the circulation and filling of the questionnaires. I should acknowledge my students in the political science department and others who have assisted me in one way or another during my data collections and analyses, most especially, Nfamara Camara, Tamsr Humma, Sainabou Gay, Fatou Ndow, Philip Mendy, James Badgie, Catherine Manga, Fatou Secka, Penda Joy Jawara and a host of othersI remain grateful to Meshak and Rotarian Kolapo Abdul, my figure-friendly pals for their inputs on the statistics by correcting my final manuscript for error-free outstanding work. Finally, I return all Honor, Glory, Adoration and Praise to our God, the Most High for His benevolence and unmerited favor, His shield for me and banner of love over me my family and career at all times. E se o Baba (Thank you God). Oyejide Felix Omotosho Abstract In The Gambia a number of times people and electorates have tried to make a comparison of the country’s Electoral and Democratic process by pointing out that either the First Republic was better than the Second Republic or that the Second Republic was better than the First Republic. It has been speculated also that both Republics’ Electoral and Democratic process differed and that one was better than the other. These two Republics as speculated have been a major set-back in the development of The Gambia and a critical determinant of national development performances in the small nation and smiling coast, called “The Gambia”. As the country struggles to give Electoral and Democratic process a human face and earn its marks in international community rating, speculations are rife that the electoral and democratic process of the country are highly flawed; thereby given large room for condemnation of a system that has produced ONLY two (2) leaders over a fifty –year period. This has continued to have major adverse effects on the political, economic and social trajectory of the country. It is in recognition of these speculations that the study attempted to assess empirically the actual Electoral and Democratic process of the First and Second Republics Gambia from 1965- 2015. In order to carry out this assessment study, all-embracing literature review was carried out which formed the background knowledge to the study as well as provided the essential input to the discussion of the findings of this study. To carry out this research, a total of 100 respondents made up of men and women were drawn from the five geo -political zones in The Gambia; and administered with questionnaires, and their divergent responses collated and analyzed. The data generated from interviews and questionnaires were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods framework. Two hypotheses were tested in order to quantitatively analyze the findings from the study. The analysis confirmed all the hypotheses stated as well as the fact that the Electoral and Democratic process of The Gambia has been critical in the country’s national development and that The Gambian society is still grappling with highly flawed electoral and democratic process which mitigate national development in some way. Given this backdrop, data collected was analyzed using a combination of both descriptive and quantitative statistical analysis. Measures of Central Tendency for hypothesis 2 and Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation coefficient (r), for Hypothesis 1 and one- way ANOVA, using the SPSS Version 20.5 software integrated with the Microsoft Spread Sheet (MSS). Detailed descriptive analyses of the relevant variables involved and examined in this research work were graphically presented clearly in Chapter 4. The alpha level of 0.05 level of significance was used as the standard for rejecting or retaining hypotheses. The one-way ANOVA with two independent samples from the same population was also applied. Results revealed that both the First and Second Gambian Republics Electoral and Democratization process were highly flawed.