Serekunda
Serekunda is a major city and the largest metropolitan area in The Gambia. It is situated close to the Atlantic coast, on the Gambia River, near the capital, Banjul. Serekunda and Banjul form an urban area known as the Kombos, with about half of the population of the Gambia.
Serekunda was named for Sayerr Jobe, who founded it in the 19th century. It merged with several villages into a larger urban area. Banjul's growth has been restricted due to being a small island, leading to Serekunda growing in population and businesses moving there from Banjul. Serekunda has been the site of political protests, and candidates from several parties have won seats. Since the 1980s, Serekunda has been a regional centre of the Tablighi Jamaat religious movement.
Serekunda's market is the largest in the country. Along the coast, the Senegambia Strip is a popular place for foreign tourists, including sex tourists. Gambian wrestling is a popular sport, and the city has multiple football stadiums.
History
Foundation and toponymy
Serekunda was founded in the second half of the 19th century by Sayerr Jobe, a Wolof man from Koki in the Kingdom of Cayor, in what is now northern Senegal. Jobe, whose family was part of the royal class, left Koki due to a power struggle. He went upriver to Niumi, then Banjul, before establishing Serekunda. Sukuta was the only nearby settlement, and the area was a thick forest. He delegated power to his seven sons before dying in 1896. The name 'Serekunda' is a corruption of "Sayerr Jobe Kunda". The street where his home was located was named Sayerr Jobe Avenue.Several villages, including Dippakunda, Latrikunda, and Serekunda, grew into the city of Serekunda. Touray Kunda was established by one of the first settler families.
Pre-independence
In the 1960 Gambian parliamentary election, the United Party 's candidate for the Kombo West seat was, a retired lawyer who had sometimes acted as party leader in place of his half-brother, Pierre Sarr N'Jie. The Democratic Congress Alliance ran Reverend J. C. Faye, the party leader who was barred from running in his home of New Town. H. O. Semega-Janneh, a local member of the Legislative Council, ran as an independent and won.In the 1962 election, the People's Progressive Party supported the DCA's candidate in Serekunda. Semega-Janneh, who had joined the UP, was reelected. The unsuccessful PPP candidate in Kombo West, Famara Wassa Touray, was arrested amid electoral unrest.
Post-independence
In the 1960s, Serekunda and Bakau expanded as satellite towns of Bathurst, forming a "Mandinka belt". In the 1966 election, Semega-Janneh was the PPP candidate for Serekunda. The UP chose. Jagne won with 68% of the vote. In the 1972 election, the PPP chose youth leader Omar A. Jallow to challenge Jagne. Jagne was one of only three UP candidates to win.After the National Convention Party was founded in 1975, Serekunda and neighbouring Bakau were the towns with the highest support for it outside of the rural Badibbu area. Though the NCP was primarily a Mandinka party, it, as well as the PPP, had wide support across ethnic groups in Serekunda. It gained support from Badibbu migrants in Serekunda. Jagne joined the NCP.
In 1977, the Serekunda parliamentary constituency was split in two. In that year's election, the PPP selected Jallow for the Serekunda East seat and for Serekunda West. The NCP selected Jagne for Serekunda West. Serekunda West elected the NCP and Serekunda East elected the PPP. Both races were close.
In the 1979 local elections, the Kanifing Urban District Council had eight seats won by the PPP and the remaining four won by the NCP. Serekunda's vote in this election was 63% in favour of PPP. In the 1982 Gambian general election, the PPP won both seats in Serekunda, with 63% of the vote, and the NCP kept a narrow hold of Bakau. The result in Serekunda West was influenced by a local man who had switched his support from the NCP to the PPP.
The leaders of the 1981 attempted coup held covert meetings in Serekunda. Many young people in the city supported the coup due to disillusionment with the political system and living standards. Jagne was arrested on charges of supporting the coup and was released one week before the 1982 election. The NCP lost support in the election due to the coup, and Jagne lost to N'Jie of the PPP in Serekunda West. In the 1987 election, Jagne retook the seat. Halifa Sallah ran in Serekunda East under the newly established People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism, which only ran in five races. He got 9.8% of the vote. In the 1992 election, N'Jie defeated Jagne. Sallah ran again with 11% of the vote.
A 1982 survey found that less than 10% of workers in Serekunda were in unions. In 1985, Serekunda's population was estimated to be 70,000. Many residents worked in Banjul. About 3% of residents were employed as farmers, and others raised crops or livestock, unlike in Banjul.
Jammeh and Barrow administrations
When Jammeh's government redistributed the parliamentary constituencies, it used chieftaincy districts rather than population, which led to more populated areas, especially Serekunda, being underrepresented. In the 1997 Gambian parliamentary election, the first after Jammeh took power, the Serekunda East seat was won by the little-known Fabakary Jatta in an upset against Sallah. Sallah did not contest the result. Sallah later held the Serekunda Central seat until he lost it to the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction in the 2007 election.In March 1996, students at the Muslim High School in Serekunda were involved in a riot against Yahya Jammeh's military rule, which led to its principal, Pa Modou N'jie, being fired. In October 2009, United Democratic Party activist Femi Peters was arrested for organising an anti-Jammeh rally in Serekunda. He was sentenced to one year of prison.
In 2015, the Kanifing municipal government renamed Sayerr Jobe Avenue after the mayor, Yankuba Colley. The decision was criticised by Jobe's heirs, who thought it ignored his legacy, and other residents, who found it unnecessary to adapt to a new name.
In December 2016, after Jammeh rejected his loss of the election, the military deployed in Banjul and Serekunda. The retaliatory ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia included the deployment of Nigerian forces in Serekunda and Brikama. On 21 January 2017, when Jammeh left the country, a crowd celebrated at Westfield Junction in Serekunda. The management of emigrants who returned to the country post-Jammeh was concentrated in Serekunda. A group of returnees who had been stuck in transit in Libya stoned the International Organization for Migration's office in Serekunda, feeling frustrated that the government had not kept its promise to reintegrate them.
After incumbent Adama Barrow won the 2021 Gambian presidential election, the UDP candidate Ousainou Darboe contested the result. A group of supporters gathered at his house in Serekunda and were dispersed with tear gas, which was condemned by the National Human Rights Commission.
Geography
Serekunda and Banjul are located from each other, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the Gambia River. Serekunda is the most populous urban agglomeration in the Gambia. It includes the towns of London Corner, Dippakunda, Bundung, and Tallinding and is near the coastal towns of Kotu and Kololi. The conurbation of Serekunda and Banjul, known as the Kombos, is the only major urban area in the Gambia.The expansion of Banjul has been limited as it is an island surrounded by mangrove swamps, leading to Serekunda gaining its overflow population and some of its institutions. In the 2000s, offices in Banjul moved to more modern offices with better infrastructure in Serekunda. Bakau expanded from a fishing village to part of the urban sprawl of Serekunda.
Climate
Serekunda is near the Sahara Desert. It is cloudless on 80% of days. Its total ozone amount ranges from 225 to 329 Dobson units, with a mean of 268.1±15.97 Dobson units, as of 1993 to 1996. Its ozone peak is during the rainy season, from June to October. The average daily erythemal ultraviolet dose is 5 kilojoules per square metre, with more variation during the rainy season.Demographics
Population
As of the 2013 Population and Housing Census, the settlement of Serekunda has 19,944 people, including 9,758 women. Kanifing, which includes Serekunda, has a population of 382,096, including 189,679 males and 192,417 females. It has 67,119 households, with an average household size of 5.70. The urban agglomeration of Kanifing and Serekunda has about half of the country's population, as of 2018.Languages
Serekunda is ethnically and linguistically diverse. The Wolof language serves as a lingua franca in Serekunda and across the west of the country. Nearly all signage is in Gambian English. Nearly all residents speak either Wolof or Mandinka.Immigration
People from villages come to the Kombos to study, work, run small businesses, or join businesses of relatives. On average, these villagers stay for 2.2 years, as of 2010. Serekunda is an ethnic enclave of Soninke people, including many from the town of Sabi. Some Soninke migrants move their families to Serekunda. In the 1970s and 1980s, many wealthy Soninke people chose to move to the Kombos for business reasons.In 2003, after the Sierra Leonean Civil War, thousands of Sierra Leoneans lived in Serekunda and Bakau. Most identified as migrants rather than refugees, so they did not receive UNHCR aid; fewer than 200 lived in the Koudoum Refugee Camp. Many of the migrants had formal education and sought skilled jobs. About fifteen Sierra Leonean youth clubs were formed in Serekunda, mostly affiliated with the politically influential Sierra Leonean Union, formed in the 1980s. A Sierra Leonean Tablighi Jamaat centre was formed.