Military Modernization
Rebuilding the Gambia Armed Forces into a pillar of national progress and security.
A nation that cannot defend itself cannot build itself. The Gambia Armed Forces were established in 1985 and in the four decades since have endured political manipulation, chronic underinvestment, and a fundamental absence of the strategic clarity, professional standards, and material resources that a modern military requires. Military bases across the country are aging, under-equipped, and in states of disrepair that communicate neither strength nor national pride. There is no dedicated military airfield capable of supporting the full spectrum of modern defence operations. Housing for service members and their families falls below the standard that men and women who dedicate their lives to national service deserve. The training and professional development system has not kept pace with modern security challenges. Most critically, the strategic role of the GAF has been insufficiently defined. A military without clear, constitutionally grounded boundaries between its role and the role of civilian government is a potential liability to democracy. The Gambia's history speaks to this reality. The National Builders Party will correct it, completely and permanently.
A Gambia Armed Forces that is professional in every dimension. Disciplined, trained, equipped, housed, and led to the standard the defence of a sovereign nation demands. That operates within clear constitutional boundaries under firm civilian oversight. That is respected by its regional peers, trusted by the Gambian people, and capable of defending every inch of this nation's territory, coastline, airspace, and river. That contributes to national development and disaster response as a partner of government. And that offers every Gambian who serves a career of dignity, professional growth, and genuine national purpose. Under the National Builders Party, the GAF will be reborn, not as a political instrument, not as a passive institution drifting without purpose, but as a pillar of national progress and security that makes this country proud.
The NBP will repeal and replace the Gambia Armed Forces Act of 1985 with a new comprehensive Act that establishes firm civilian oversight, clear constitutional boundaries, and the legal foundation for a professional defence institution in a modern democracy.
The new Act will clearly define the constitutional role of the armed forces as the defender of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the democratic constitutional order. It will establish explicit prohibitions on military involvement in political activity, partisan governance, or the suppression of civilian dissent. It will define the chain of command from the President as Commander in Chief through the Minister of Defence to the Chief of Defence Staff, with clear accountability at every level. It will codify the rules of engagement governing the use of force in all contexts. And it will create the legal basis for military participation in national development, disaster response, and humanitarian operations. The National Defence Committee of the National Assembly will provide parliamentary oversight of the defence budget, the defence strategy, and all significant military decisions.
The NBP will rebuild every GAF base to a defined modern standard and invest in military housing, medical facilities, and community infrastructure that treats service members and their families with the dignity their sacrifice deserves.
A national military infrastructure audit in Year 1 will assess every base for structural condition, operational adequacy, and welfare standards, producing a phased rebuilding and upgrade schedule. Every base will be rebuilt or comprehensively upgraded with secure perimeter infrastructure, modern command buildings with reliable power and communications, operational vehicle and equipment storage, training facilities including parade grounds and fitness centers, and reliable utilities. Modern military housing communities, fully serviced with electricity, clean water, and sanitation, will be built at all major bases. Each housing community will include Level 1 and Level 2 medical clinics, places of worship, and recreation centres. Behind every strong soldier is a stable home. The welfare of Gambian service members will be a cornerstone of the defence strategy, not an afterthought.
The NBP will construct a purpose-built National Military Airfield and establish a Gambia Air Wing as a functional component of the GAF, giving The Gambia aerial surveillance, rapid deployment capability, and humanitarian airlift capacity for the first time.
The absence of a dedicated military airfield is one of the most significant operational gaps in The Gambia's current defence capability. The new airfield, designed with modular expansion capacity, will include hardened aircraft shelters and maintenance hangars, a runway and taxiway system built to international military aviation standards, an Air Traffic Control facility, fuel storage and servicing infrastructure, and a rapid deployment apron. The Gambia Air Wing will initially focus on surveillance, transport, and humanitarian support, operating multi-purpose helicopters for troop transport, medical evacuation, and search and rescue, fixed-wing transport aircraft for logistics and border patrol, and unmanned aerial systems for persistent surveillance without placing personnel at risk. Construction begins in Year 2 and the airfield commissions in Year 4.
The NBP will upgrade the Gambia Navy and establish dedicated riverine and coastal defence infrastructure to provide credible maritime surveillance and enforcement across Gambian territorial waters and the full length of the River Gambia.
The River Gambia and The Gambia's Atlantic coastline are not merely geographic features. They are strategic assets and potential vulnerability points that must be actively defended and monitored. Permanent naval patrol stations will be established at strategic points along the full navigable length of the river. A coastal defence station on the Atlantic coast will provide maritime surveillance, fisheries protection enforcement, and interception of illegal maritime activity. A Maritime Operations Centre with radar coverage of Gambian territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, integrated with international maritime surveillance systems, will give the Navy real operational awareness for the first time. The naval patrol vessel fleet will be replaced and expanded with modern, reliable fast patrol boats and a larger offshore patrol vessel for extended maritime operations.
The NBP will build the Gambia Military Academy as the apex institution of military officer education and invest in continuous professional development at every level of the armed forces, creating a highly skilled, multi-role force capable of adapting to complex modern security challenges.
The Gambia Military Academy, with its first officer cohort launching in Year 2, will provide the structured, rigorous leadership education that Gambian officers have not previously had access to within the country. A National Military Training Centre for enlisted personnel will launch in Year 3. Officers and enlisted members will receive continuous professional development in strategy, logistics, intelligence, cyber defence, and civil-military relations. International training partnerships with leading military academies and peacekeeping training centres in Europe, Asia, and Africa will be established on a systematic rather than ad hoc basis. Special emphasis on ethical leadership, human rights, and international humanitarian law will ensure the GAF operates with honour at home and abroad. A War College programme for senior officers will launch in Year 4.
The NBP will develop a Military Engineering Corps with the capability to build roads, bridges, and national infrastructure in remote and challenging environments, turning the GAF into an active partner in national construction and disaster response.
The GAF has enormous reserve capacity for productive national service that has been largely untapped. The Military Engineering Corps will be trained to civilian construction engineering standards, with soldiers earning nationally recognised construction certifications alongside their military qualifications. A dedicated MED equipment fleet, including motor graders, compactors, excavators, dump trucks, and bridge construction equipment, will be procured and maintained. The MED will work on rural feeder roads, emergency bridge replacements after floods, disaster response road clearing, and access roads to communities that commercial contractors will not bid for. Technical partnerships with military engineering institutions in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States will support training and doctrine development. The MED will maintain a rapid response capability for emergency road and bridge repairs, deployable within 24 hours of activation.
The NBP will establish a Military Cyber Defence Unit, recognising that the security threats of the 21st century do not only come from land, sea, or air but through digital networks that can disrupt critical national infrastructure without firing a single conventional weapon.
A dedicated Military Cyber Defence Unit will be established in Year 3, staffed by Gambian cyber security specialists trained in partnership with international cyber defence institutions. The unit will protect critical national defence systems, government communications, and key national infrastructure from cyber intrusion and attack. An intelligence capacity appropriate to a small, sovereign nation operating in a complex regional security environment will be developed, with clear legal boundaries governing intelligence collection and strict civilian oversight of all intelligence activities. A Border Surveillance Unit, using modern monitoring technology, will provide improved border visibility along The Gambia's extensive and currently under-monitored land borders.
The National Builders Party will rebuild The Gambia's defence partnerships, maintain a GAF battalion at UN peacekeeping readiness, and position The Gambia as a reliable, professional, and constructive member of the international security community.
Defence Cooperation Agreements will be pursued with Senegal, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Turkey, and Germany, covering training, equipment support, intelligence sharing, and mutual assistance. Full engagement with the ECOWAS Standby Force mechanism will make The Gambia an active contributor to regional security. A minimum of one GAF battalion will be maintained at the highest UN peacekeeping readiness standard at all times, deployable to UN, ECOWAS, or African Union missions. Financial returns from UN peacekeeping reimbursements will be transparently managed, with a defined portion directed to the welfare of deployed personnel and their families. A small Defence Attache network in key diplomatic missions will build and maintain defence relationships in the capitals where Gambia's security interests are directly engaged.
For Those Who Serve
You will be housed in a modern, fully serviced home on a rebuilt base, with a clinic for your family, a recreation centre, and the infrastructure that reflects the value of your sacrifice. You will receive professional development through a Military Academy and international training partnerships that build the career you chose when you enlisted. You will be paid fairly, equipped properly, and led by officers who earned their rank through merit. The National Builders Party sees your sacrifice. It will honour it not with words alone but with investment.
For Young Gambians
A rebuilt, professional GAF offers a genuine career pathway, not just a posting. The Military Academy will produce officers through rigorous, structured education. The Military Engineering Corps will train soldiers who can build roads and bridges and earn civilian construction certifications. The Air Wing will need trained pilots, maintenance technicians, and air traffic controllers. The Cyber Defence Unit will need specialists in digital security. A professional military that invests in its people is a military worth joining and a career worth building.
For Every Family
A GAF that operates under firm civilian oversight, with a constitutionally defined role and explicit prohibitions on political involvement, is a military that serves the nation rather than threatening it. Military humanitarian airlift during floods and disasters, the Medical Corps supporting healthcare in underserved areas, and the Military Engineering Corps building infrastructure in remote communities all mean that the GAF's presence in your life will be felt through service, not power. A military rebuilt on dignity, competence, and integrity is one every Gambian family can be proud of.
The Gambia Armed Forces will be reborn under the National Builders Party, not as a political instrument, not as a source of regime security, and not as a passive institution that drifts from year to year without strategic purpose. They will be reborn as a professional defence institution that earns the respect of the Gambian people through discipline, competence, and integrity. That defends this nation's sovereignty with genuine capability across land, sea, air, river, and digital domains. That treats every service member with the dignity their sacrifice deserves. That builds infrastructure and responds to disasters as a partner of government. That operates under constitutional boundaries that every Gambian can trust and that no future political actor can override. And that stands as proof that a small nation, when it invests in its institutions with discipline and ambition, can build something worthy of the world's respect. To every Gambian who serves or has served: the National Builders Party sees your sacrifice. We will honour it with investment, with infrastructure, with fair pay, and with a military institution built to the standard your dedication deserves.
A nation that cannot defend itself cannot build itself. The National Builders Party will rebuild the Gambia Armed Forces from the ground up: professional, equipped, constitutionally grounded, and worthy of every Gambian who has ever worn the uniform. Under NBP leadership, The Gambia's military will be reborn as a pillar of national progress and security.
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