Gambian People’s Advancement Party (GPAP) was initially established as the Team2021 project constituted to support the independent Presidential candidacy of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara’s Dr. Papa Faal in the 2021 presidential election. The Team2021 project was officially launched Saturday, November 14th, 2020, at Star B Theaters in Brikama Welingara. The campaign which was named NEMO Ning KAIRO ran on the following five points: Citizens Reorientation, Citizen’s Welfare, Combat and Arrest Corruption, Computerized Civil and Public Institutions, Comprehensive Tax, Civil, Public, and Security Services Reforms.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) rejected Dr. Faal’s candidacy, due to claims that the required nomination signatures received from Mansakonko region, did not reach the required 200 signatures, although 560 signatures were submitted. Following the IEC rejection of the Team2021 candidacy, the team decided to transform the campaign into a political.
There has been no period since the struggles of our country’s founding, so urgent and crucial than now. Our struggles to reestablish the Gambian’s democratic and development synergy since the 1994 coup d’état by the AFPRC is retarded by the devastating trajectory on which the Barrow and the NPP government orients our nation, committing our progeny to a catastrophic future marked with hopelessness. The NPP, since its inception and the presidency under Adama Barrow, governs our country with tremendous ineptitude, with rampant unchecked level of corruption, kleptocracy, and impunity, while the rest of the citizens wallow in perpetual poverty. Worse, our economy is being run by foreign companies and who are willing to pay bribes and kickbacks to corrupt government officials to foster their own selfish aims, while our citizens are denied access to favorable loans to improve their livelihood. Coupled with the aforementioned travesties, the political landscape in the country remain toxic, as political parties fight with each other for the stakes in positions to enrich themselves while pretending to care of the plight of our citizens. The absence of civility among the current political parties is attestation to the way in which they will govern when in power. We must change course NOW!
We the GPAP dedicate ourselves to INTEGRITY as the bedrock governance structures. Governance without integrity is like layered white foam on top of the ocean—it looks solid on top of the water, but shallow on the bottom. We demand Integrity, Excellence and Selfless service from our leaders in order to do right by our citizens. Our dream is to build a Gambia in which our children can be proud of to call home.
With the help of the Almighty God, the GPAP government shall work tirelessly for the people of the Gambia; to uplift their standard of living; to govern wisely with integrity, selflessness, excellence, dignity, justice and compassion; to return our country back to its heritage, culture and values; a Gambia that sovereign, proud, prosperous and self-reliant, INSHA ALLAH!