Banjul: The Christian community has called for the declaration of the West African country of Gambia as a secular state. The current president, Adama Barrow, has promised equal justice, but Christians face severe restrictions. Representatives of the Christian Council of the Gambia, which includes Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists, have urged the use of the word ‘secular’ in the preamble to the Constitution.
The Gambia is a tiny country with a population of about 2.4 million. In the Islamic majority country, the Christian population is only 9%. The Catholic population comprises only two percent of the population. In 2015, the former President of Yahya Jameh declared the country to be Islamic. Christians are facing severe restrictions and discrimination, even though the current president has promised equal justice. It is in this context that the Christian community as a whole has come forward to demand equal justice.
