{"id":214038,"date":"2022-01-19T21:56:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T19:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/secretarygeneral-looks-to-the-gambia-as-beacon-of-democratic-progress-as-new-president-takes-oath-of-office?lang=en"},"modified":"2022-01-19T21:56:20","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T19:56:20","slug":"secretary-general-looks-to-the-gambia-as-beacon-of-democratic-progress-as-new-president-takes-oath-of-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/secretary-general-looks-to-the-gambia-as-beacon-of-democratic-progress-as-new-president-takes-oath-of-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary-General looks to The Gambia as beacon of democratic progress as new President takes oath of office"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/6bbb036fd9d9d24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/6bbb036fd9d9d24\" alt=\"Commonwealth Secretariat\" style=\"max-width:500px\" \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/download\/6bbb036fd9d9d24\">Download logo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland congratulated Adama Barrow and the people of The Gambia as she attended the president&rsquo;s inauguration ceremony in Bakau.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Adama Barrow was sworn in as The Gambia&rsquo;s 3rd and continuing President before a jubilant crowd of Gambians at the Independence Stadium. The inauguration was also attended by Commonwealth leaders, African heads of government and heads of international organisations.<\/p>\n<p>Expressing his gratitude to The Gambian people, President Barrow said:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today, we can comfortably conclude that my re-election for another five years is a vote of confidence in my government, a vote of acknowledgement of my achievements, a vote of endorsement of the path we have undertaken to follow, and a vote of acceptance of the democratic principles and values we stand for.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is also a vote of appreciation of who we are as a people and how we have branded ourselves, as well as a vote of willingness of the people to come together and work together to pursue our dreams and aspirations. In short, it is a vote of hope and reassurance, a rejection of division and oppression, and a new legitimate mandate for me as President and Head of State of the Republic of The Gambia.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Witnessing the swearing-in, the Secretary-General said: &ldquo;Four years ago, when The Gambia re-joined the Commonwealth, it felt like an old friend, or a beloved brother or sister, coming back home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today, my brothers and sisters, we can say together that our partnership will go from strength to strength.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our world faces profound and serious challenges, but I truly believe that The Gambia will shine like a beacon across the Commonwealth, just as the Commonwealth will shine like a beacon across the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We can see, in the process of democracy, The Gambia&rsquo;s light shine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because at a time when democracy is under strain in many parts of our world, democracy in The Gambia is getting stronger.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I hope the example of The Gambia&rsquo;s journey will not only provide a strong foundation for The Gambia&rsquo;s future but will also help to heal injured democratic process in other places.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Secretary-General convened a Commonwealth Observer Group at The Gambia&rsquo;s election last December. See the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thecommonwealth.org\/media\/news\/gambian-presidential-election-%E2%80%9Ctransparent%E2%80%9D-marbles-make-democracy-count-says\">group&rsquo;s interim statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i>Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Commonwealth Secretariat.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/\">Source: Africa Newsroom &#8211; APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download logo Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland congratulated Adama Barrow and the people of The Gambia as she attended the president&rsquo;s inauguration ceremony in Bakau. Adama Barrow was sworn in as The Gambia&rsquo;s 3rd and continuing President before a jubilant crowd of Gambians at the Independence Stadium. The inauguration was also attended by Commonwealth leaders, African [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-214038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/secretary-general-looks-to-the-gambia-as-beacon-of-democratic-progress-as-new-president-takes-oath-of-office.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}