There are three (3) classes of Committees at the National Assembly of the Gambia. These are Standing Committees, Select Committees, and Special Select Committees. The Committees are appointed in accordance with Order 95-121 of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly, except for the Assembly Business Committee which is established and operate as per Order 15.
In terms of membership, the Committee of Selection is mandated with the responsibility to nominate members into various committees. However, approval is given by the Assembly through a motion by Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee can also nominate Chairperson of a committee and in instances where no one is nominated, the committee shall elect its own Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.
It should be noted that there are exceptions to the selection of Chairpersons for certain Committees. For the Finance and Public Accounts Committee, Public Enterprise and Public Appointment Committee, the Chairperson must not be a member of the ruling party or nominated. For instance, FPAC is currently chaired by the Minority Leader from the UDP.
A member can only serve as Chairperson to one Select or Standing Committee.
Aside the Committee of Selection, every committee is expected to have balance members of political parties. Normally, a Standing Committee comprises of Chairperson and 6 other members.
1. Standing committees
There are 13 Standing Committees of the National Assembly. The Maximum number of members in a Standing Committee is 9. Aside from the Committee of Selection (6), the Assembly Business Committee (7), the Public Appointments Standing Committee (6) and Standing Orders Committee (8), all remaining committees are made of nine (9) members.
In terms of Gender, women are underrepresented in committees largely due to low number of women. The FPAC and Assembly Standing Committee are the only two Standing Committees with 2 women each. There are no women in Committee of Selection, Assembly Business Committee, Public Enterprise Committee, Standing Committee on Privileges and Ethics and Subsidiary Legislation Committee.
Sn | Committee Name | Men | Women | Total |
1 | Committee of Selection | 6 | 0 | 6 |
2 | Assembly Business Committee | 7 | 0 | 7 |
3 | Public Appointments Standing Committee | 5 | 1 | 6 |
4 | Standing Orders Committee | 7 | 1 | 8 |
5 | Standing Committee on Privileges & Ethics | 9 | 0 | 9 |
6 | Finance & Public Accounts Committee | 7 | 2 | 9 |
7 | Standing Committee on Defence & Security | 8 | 1 | 9 |
8 | Foreign Affairs Standing Committee | 8 | 1 | 9 |
9 | Assembly Standing Committee | 7 | 2 | 9 |
10 | Public Enterprises Committee | 9 | 0 | 9 |
11 | Standing Committee on Human Rights & Constitutional Matters | 8 | 1 | 9 |
12 | Public Petitions Committee | 8 | 1 | 9 |
13 | Subsidiary Legislation Committee | 9 | 0 | 9 |
National Assembly Standing Committee by Gender
Out of the 13 standing committees (excluding the national assembly service authority), women are members of 9 committees.
All the 13 Standing Committees are headed by men as chairpersons
Five Standing Committees are without women. These are the
– The subsidiary legislation
– Public Enterprise Committee
– Standing Committee on Privilege and Ethics
– Assembly Business Committee
– Committee of Selection
2. Select Committees
The Select Committees unlike Standing Committees are not permanent establishments. According Order 95 (4) the mandate of a Select Committee established under paragraph (3) shall expire on the dissolution of the Assembly.
In the Sixth Legislature, there are 9 Select Committees of the National Assembly. Membership of the committees range from 9-12 Members.
Similarly, to the Standing Committee, there is low representation of women in all committees except the Gender, Children and Social Welfare Committee which has 5 women compared to 4 men. Education Training and ICT, Regional Government and Lands, Ombudsman and IEC, Environment, Sustainable Development and Ngo Affairs and Monitoring Implementation of Government Projects have no female members. The rest of the committees have 1 woman each.
Sn | Committee Name | Total | Men | Women |
1 | Health, Refugees, Disaster & Humanitarian Relief | 10 | 9 | 1 |
2 | Education, Training & ICT | 12 | 12 | 0 |
3 | Regional Government & Lands, Ombudsman & IEC | 12 | 12 | 0 |
4 | Agriculture & Rural Development | 12 | 11 | 1 |
5 | Environment, Sustainable Development & Ngo Affairs | 12 | 11 | 0 |
6 | Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth & Sport | 12 | 11 | 1 |
7 | Monitoring-Implementation of Government Projects | 12 | 12 | 0 |
8 | Trade & Regional Government | 12 | 11 | 1 |
9 | Gender, Children & Social Welfare | 9 | 4 | 5 |
3. Special Select Committees
According to Order 95 (5) Special Select Committees may be established to deal with any specific time-bounded matter. In establishing a Special Select Committee the Committee of Selection needs to table a motion setting out the terms of the set committee. In terms of membership, it “shall normally consist of a Chairperson and 4 other members and , in any event, not more than seven Members in total”
Parliamentary Diplomacy
Members of the Sixth Legislature in parliamentary diplomacy. They are members of various International parliamentary delegation and friendship groups.
INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION | MEMBERS | UDP | NRP | NPP | APRC | INDEPENDENT | PDOIS | NOMINATED |
THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY (ACP-EU JPA) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
ECOWAS PARLIAMENT | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNION OF THE OIC (PUOIC) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
THE AFRICAN PARLIAMENTARY UNION (APU) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
IPD by Gender
There are 6 men confirmed as head of delegations in the different international parliamentary delegations and zero women. But there is at least 1 woman in the different groups except the African Parliamentary Union (APU)
INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION | MEMBERS | MEN | WOMEN |
THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT | 5 | 4 | 1 |
ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY (ACP-EU JPA) | 5 | 4 | 1 |
ECOWAS PARLIAMENT | 5 | 4 | 1 |
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNION OF THE OIC (PUOIC) | 5 | 4 | 1 |
THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU) | 5 | 4 | 1 |
THE AFRICAN PARLIAMENTARY UNION (APU) | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Parliamentary Friendship Group
| FRIENDSHIP GROUPS | MEMBERS | UDP | NRP | NPP | APRC | INDEPENDENT | PDOIS | NOMINATED |
| GAMBIA-CHINA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 10 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| GAMBIA-TURKEY FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 9 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-FRANCO FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| GAMBIA-SERBIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-SAUDI ARABIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| GAMBIA-VENEZUELA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GAMBIA- SENEGAL FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-MAURITANIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-MOROCCO FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-CUBA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Gambia-Senegal & Gambia-morocco friendship groups are the only groups in the parliamentary friendship groups headed by women as chairpersons. There are at least 8 confirmed men as chairpersons.
In the fifth legislature, a woman (the speaker) headed two groups- Gambia-china & Gambia-Turkey friendship groups
| Friendship Groups | MEMBERS | MEN | WOMEN |
| GAMBIA-CHINA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-TURKEY FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-FRANCO FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-SERBIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-SAUDI ARABIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| GAMBIA-VENEZUELA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| GAMBIA- SENEGAL FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-MAURITANIA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-MOROCCO FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| GAMBIA-CUBA FRIENDSHIP GROUP | 6 | 5 | 1 |
