19/11/2025
By Madi Jobarteh
History offers lessons, but only to those willing to learn. As Bangladesh takes a decisive step toward justice and democratic renewal, the Gambia remains trapped in the unresolved legacies of dictatorship. The contrast could not be sharper, and the consequences could not be more urgent.
Today, November 17, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal sentenced former dictator Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity. Her 15-year rule was marred by systemic repression, corruption, and human rights violations, reaching a brutal climax last year when security forces killed nearly 1,500 students and citizens during mass protests. Faced with public wrath and elite desertions, Hasina fled to India, opening the way for an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus.
But what is remarkable is not just the judgment. It is the institutional continuity and political courage that made it possible. The Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) was established in 2010 by the Hassina-led Awami League government after it won election in 2009, to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Even though it is this same court which came to sentence her, it shows the significance of building institutions that must outlive governments. They must be protected from political manipulation and funded to function. Bangladesh kept the ICT alive, and when the moment came, it fulfilled its purpose.
A second lesson is the need for swift accountability to clear the path for reform. The interim government did not spend years negotiating immunity deals, pandering to elites, or pretending that “national unity” requires accommodating criminals. They moved quickly to prosecute senior figures of the old regime so the country could focus on reforms without distractions. Early action prevented impunity from taking root. It also prevented the old guard from regrouping and sabotaging the transition.
Unlike many post-authoritarian governments including our own, the new Bangladeshi administration refused to recycle enablers of tyranny. No corrupt minister was rewarded with another appointment. No notorious security chief was promoted. No propagandist was repackaged as a parliamentarian or advisor. Instead, Bangladesh opted for a clear rupture, avoiding the betrayal and confusion that often weaken transitional justice.
A third lesson was the establishment of reform commissions with credibility. Since taking office in August 2024, Yunus set up six powerful commissions each led by respected civil society leaders, jurists, and former senior bureaucrats to reform the judiciary, the electoral system, the civil service, the police, anti-corruption bodies and draft a constitution. They represent a structured, time-bound vision for nation-building, unlike the scattered, politicised, and delayed processes we see elsewhere.
A fourth lesson was to swiftly memorialise abuses, and not to sanitize them. Amasingly, Bangladesh turned the grounds of Hasina's former official residence into a human rights museum. This symbolic act is powerful: it ensures collective memory, honours victims, and warns future leaders that they, too, will be held accountable.
Meanwhile, her political party, the Awami League, remains banned, and its top leaders face trial. This sends a clear and unambiguous message that there is no nostalgia for dictatorship, no rehabilitation of abusers, and no romanticizing of a violent past. The transition is set to conclude with elections in February 2026 marking a clear endpoint, unlike the perpetual “process” that many transitions become, especially in Africa.
And then there is the Gambia…
Nine years after the fall of Yahya Jammeh, his voice still roars across the airwaves from exile, rambling and provoking incessantly. His party is not only alive, but also reorganised, energised, and protected. His closest enablers occupy senior government posts, diplomatic missions, state enterprises, and security institutions. The very architects of the old repression now police our so-called democracy.
The Janneh Commission produced volumes of evidence, yet much of its findings remain unimplemented. The TRRC gave us a roadmap, yet the government cherry-picks its recommendations. Until today the Pres. Barrow has never tabled any of these reports before the National Assembly, nor did NAMs as for them. How could they when the parliament is led by Jammeh enablers! Our transitional justice is neither broken nor complete. Rather, it is stuck, oscillating between hope and despair.
While Bangladesh dismantles dictatorship root and branch, The Gambia is recycling it. While Bangladesh speeds toward reform, The Gambia is drifting toward renewed authoritarianism. While Bangladesh prohibits the party of repression, The Gambia empowers it. While Bangladesh memorialises victims, the Gambia forgets them. This is how the paths of the two nations diverge.
The hard truth is that the Gambia continues to betray its transition by appeasing abusers, undermining accountability, shielding corruption, and weaponising state power. Clearly, the nation risks repeating the same cycles of impunity that led to 22 years of dictatorship. Bangladesh shows that justice delayed need not be justice denied. But it also shows that justice requires political will, not slogans. It requires institutional strength, not selective prosecutions. It requires a break from the past, not a reunion with it.
But the Gambia still has a chance, perhaps it's last to choose justice, truth, reform, and national renewal. But time is running out, and history is watching. Bangladesh has acted. Will the Gambia?
For The Gambia, Our Homeland
By Madi Jobarteh
