Since June of 2026, the residents of Gambia have become restless, as power outages are happening more and more. The outages can last anywhere from eighteen to forty-eight hours, causing Gambians to have to sleep in heat and mosquitoes, and plan their lives around the outages. This past Monday, September 7th, people flooded the streets of major cities across Gambia, including Gambia’s capital, Banjul. Roads were blocked, tyres (tires) were burned, and many people stood outside the State House, where President Adama Barrow resided, chanting “Barrow must go.” President Barrow, as well as many other politically influential people, have tried to calm the situation since then. Barrow visited two major power plants in the country just a day after the protests, and gave a speech that night. However, even with a speech that promised to deliver an end to power cuts, people across Gambia continue to have little faith. Sudan is not the only country to have power cuts. This seems to be an increasing problem in Africa, with African countries not having enough money to fund power plants. I think this is due to colonization of Africa and its peoples, as well as the hunger many first world countries have for the minerals that African countries possess. Had colonization and the greed for minerals not existed, Africa would most likely be one of the most prosperous places in the world. If the power cuts don’t end, I could see a war breaking out between the people and their government, considering Gambia’s population is already in unrest. One of the stakeholders, President Barrow, has responded by seemingly trying to help the country and decrease, or completely deplete, the amount of power outages. However, with Barrow attempting to run for a third term in the December election, this could very well be a front. Another stakeholder would be the people of Gambia, who have responded to these power outages with anger and discontent. If power outages don’t stop by October, as Barrow said they would, the people of Gambia will respond with violence. Both stakeholders have needs: Barrow needs to win the public favor for the upcoming election, and Gambians need protection from the sweltering heat. Overall, the infrastructure of Gambia seems to be unstable due to the power cuts. It’s causing food to spoil, businesses to be unable to operate, and a weakened healthcare system. Since Gambia does not usually make it’s own energy source, importing electricity from Senegal and making the country of Gambia reliant on an external infrastructure, the country will have to learn how to make enough power to support it’s civilians. If this doesn’t happen, protests will become more violent and a civil war may break out.
