The Role Of Local Chiefs
Traditional leaders. Formal recognition. Real authority. Real accountability.
No government in The Gambia governs alone. Communities have always been held together not only by the laws passed in the National Assembly but by the authority of the Alkalo who settles a boundary dispute at the village edge, the Sayfo who mediates when families cannot agree, and the network of traditional leaders who carry the moral weight of generations in every word they speak. That authority is real, it is trusted, and it is irreplaceable. Yet it operates without formal legal recognition, institutional support, proper training, or accountability structures. Traditional courts handle cases without clear jurisdiction, without defined procedures, and without proper records. Chiefs make land administration decisions without adequate training in the legal requirements that now govern those decisions. Alkalos serve their communities without an official salary, without a formal code of conduct, and without the protection that formal status would provide against political interference in their decisions. This capacity is currently underutilised because there is no institutional framework for channelling it into the national development programme. The National Builders Party will change that.
A traditional leadership system that is formally recognised by law, properly resourced, professionally trained, and structurally accountable. Where every Sayfo and Alkalo has a clear mandate, a defined jurisdiction, a fair salary, a functional traditional tribunal, and the dignity that public office deserves. Where customary law is codified clearly enough that chiefs can apply it consistently, citizens can understand it, and the formal courts can engage with it. Where traditional leaders are active partners in land governance, community health, education, and development planning, not ceremonial figures standing at the margins of governance. Where Gambian culture and Gambian governance are not in tension but in partnership. This initiative is not about returning to the past. It is about preserving cultural identity while preparing communities for a more just, organised, and unified future.
The NBP will introduce the Chiefs Empowerment and Governance Act through the National Assembly, formally integrating the chieftaincy system into the national governance framework for the first time in its modern history.
The Act will be developed through nationwide consultation with traditional leaders, elders, historians, women's groups, youth organisations, civil society, the Ministry of Justice, and local government councils. It will formally recognise the chieftaincy hierarchy comprising Alkalos, Sayfos, and Senior Divisional Chiefs, each with a defined geographic jurisdiction, a defined scope of authority, official state residences where applicable, and defined relationships with local government and formal state institutions. It will establish clear jurisdictional boundaries specifying the categories of disputes and governance matters that traditional leaders may adjudicate, covering land boundary disputes within communities, inheritance and family property disputes under customary law, community peace and order matters, and minor civil disputes. Criminal matters and constitutional questions will fall outside traditional jurisdiction and be referred to the formal legal system.
The NBP will construct permanent state-owned residences for all serving Sayfos and Senior Divisional Chiefs, giving traditional leaders a home that is an expression of their public office and their permanent presence in the community they serve.
A chief who lives at the heart of their community is a chief who is accessible, visible, and accountable. Every official residence will be located within the community the chief governs, maintaining daily proximity to the people who depend on their leadership. Each residence will include comfortable accommodation for the chief and their immediate family, a dedicated space for administrative work and community consultations, and the facilities that allow the chief to discharge their governance functions with dignity and without interruption. Residences will be maintained by the local government council as government assets. Upon the retirement, transfer, or passing of a chief, the outgoing family will vacate the property so it is prepared and ready for the incoming chief, ensuring continuity of office and clarity of occupancy across generations. These are not personal gifts. They are instruments of governance.
The NBP will construct a purpose-built Traditional Court facility in every district across The Gambia, giving traditional justice a dignified physical home that signals to every community that the state takes their traditional governance seriously.
A community that has a proper court building takes its governance more seriously. The building is not merely infrastructure. It is a statement that traditional justice matters and that the state respects it. Every Traditional Court will include proper hearing rooms with appropriate seating for chiefs, parties, and community observers; a dedicated recordkeeping office and digital case management system; legal resource materials on customary law; training rooms for paralegal support staff; and waiting and consultation areas designed for the sensitive nature of family and inheritance matters. Each court will be linked to the Ministry of Justice and the local government authority to ensure transparency, standardisation, and record-keeping while maintaining the traditional character of proceedings. A Paralegal Support Officer will be deployed to every district to assist chiefs with documentation, legal referrals, and records management.
The NBP will support the codification of Gambian customary law through a National Customary Law Commission, so that chiefs can apply it consistently, citizens can understand it, and the formal courts can engage with it as a legitimate and documented legal framework.
The National Customary Law Commission will conduct nationwide consultations with elders, historians, and traditional authorities to record the best practices, principles, and limits of customary law across all regions and ethnic communities. In collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and cultural preservation bodies, it will compile a national customary law guidebook and publish a National Customary Law Framework following a 90-day public consultation period. All serving traditional leaders will receive foundation training based on the finalised Framework through the National Traditional Leadership Training Institute, with regional hubs and annual refresher cycles. Training will cover the principles of human rights, justice, and national law alongside customary governance, ensuring that traditional adjudication remains consistent with constitutional requirements.
The NBP will formally channel the community trust and social authority of traditional leaders into the national development programme, because they know who the most vulnerable households are, they can mobilise communities around development priorities, and they are the most effective communicators of government policy in communities the formal state cannot fully reach.
Senior Divisional Chiefs will serve on Regional Development Planning Councils, providing formal input on behalf of traditional communities in regional development decisions. Sayfos will be formal members of District Councils with defined speaking rights on matters of community welfare, customary rights, and the impact of development decisions on community life. The quarterly District Chiefs Council comprising all Alkalos in each district will coordinate responses to district-wide issues and collectively represent community perspectives. A Traditional Leaders Health Partnership Programme will train Alkalos as Community Health Liaison Officers, enabling them to promote maternal health, immunisation, nutrition, and disease prevention in communities that formal health workers visit less frequently.
The NBP will establish the Traditional Leadership Oversight Authority to investigate complaints against chiefs, protect community members' rights, and ensure that the authority entrusted to traditional leaders is exercised with integrity and in line with the national legal framework.
The TLOA will receive and investigate complaints from community members about the conduct of traditional leaders, with the power to recommend disciplinary action, suspension, or referral for criminal prosecution where warranted. A formal code of conduct, published and distributed to every traditional leader on appointment, will define the ethical standards they are expected to meet. The Act will explicitly prohibit the use of traditional authority and official platforms for partisan political purposes. An annual TLOA Accountability Report will be published, providing full transparency on complaints received, investigations concluded, and actions taken. Traditional leaders who consistently perform well against their governance mandate will be publicly recognised in the Annual State of Gambian Communities Report produced by the National Council of Chiefs.
The NBP will establish the National Council of Chiefs as a formal constitutional advisory body, elevating the collective voice of traditional leadership to the national governance level and ensuring that communities have a structured channel to the highest levels of government.
The National Council of Chiefs, comprising all Senior Divisional Chiefs, will be established as an advisory body to the President on matters of national cultural policy, customary law, inter-community relations, and the perspectives of traditional communities on proposed legislation or development programmes. The Council will be formally consulted before any legislation that materially affects customary rights, traditional tenure, or the governance functions of traditional leaders is introduced to the National Assembly. An Annual State of Gambian Communities Report will be produced by the Council, providing the government with the community-level intelligence that formal government systems cannot easily generate. The Council does not hold legislative power. It holds the power of knowledge, of cultural authority, and of the community trust that no formal government institution can fully replicate.
The National Builders Party will pursue gender inclusion in traditional governance, because the historical exclusion of women from formal traditional roles is not consistent with the values of equality and dignity that the NBP holds, nor with the practical reality that women are often the most effective community governance practitioners when given the opportunity to serve.
Every district chief's court and every community-level governance forum under the Act will include at least one female member with voting participation rights, ensuring that women's perspectives are structurally represented in traditional governance decisions that often affect women disproportionately. A Women in Traditional Governance programme will support women already recognised in traditional leadership roles, including female Alkalos and women elders with customary governance functions, to access the formal training, documentation, and recognition that come with the institutionalised system. The National Customary Law Commission will specifically examine customary governance practices related to women's rights and make recommendations to the National Council of Chiefs on areas for voluntary modernisation of customary norms in line with constitutional equality guarantees.
For Communities Across The Gambia
Your Alkalo will have a formal mandate, a defined code of conduct, and the legal backing to settle disputes that currently resolve only by whoever is louder or better connected. Your Sayfo will have a properly built court, a trained paralegal, and a structured relationship with the District Council that gives community perspectives a formal seat at the table. The traditional governance that your community has always depended on will be strengthened, not replaced, by its integration into the national framework.
For Young Gambians
A traditional governance system that is trained, transparent, and accountable is one that young Gambians can trust, engage with, and one day contribute to. The codification of customary law means that you can understand the rules that govern community life, not just inherit whatever interpretation the most senior person in the room prefers. The Women in Traditional Governance programme creates pathways for young women in particular to play formal governance roles in their communities. Traditional leaders who are partners in development will help connect young people to the programmes and opportunities the national government is building.
For Every Family
Land boundary disputes resolved by a trained chief in a proper court, with records kept and decisions appealable. Inheritance matters heard by a Sayfo who has been trained on both customary law and national legal requirements. A Community Health Liaison Officer who knows your household and can connect you to the health services and immunisation programmes you need. Traditional leaders who are engaged partners in the development of the community you live in, not sidelined figures with authority but no resources to exercise it. The National Builders Party recognises that community governance is the foundation of national governance.
The New National Standard for traditional governance is the same standard that applies everywhere else in this manifesto: clear roles, proper resources, genuine accountability, and measurable results. A chief who serves their community is not doing a favour. They are performing a public function that the nation depends on. They deserve the facilities, the formal recognition, the training, and the legal framework that any other public official performing that function would receive. And like any other public official, they must be accountable for how they exercise the authority entrusted to them. The chieftaincy system will be recognised. Resourced. Regulated. And integrated. Traditional leaders will be partners in justice, partners in development, and partners in the building of the Gambia that this manifesto describes. Gambian culture and Gambian governance will not be in tension. They will be in partnership. The National Builders Party will build that partnership.
By restoring the authority and dignity of local chiefs, the National Builders Party will reinvigorate the moral and administrative fabric of communities across The Gambia. Traditional leaders will not be sidelined. They will serve as partners in national development: trusted by their communities, respected by the state, and empowered to deliver justice and leadership in line with Gambian heritage and modern governance principles.
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