Mama Kandeh (born 12 July 1965) is a member of the

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

from

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

. He is the founding leader of the

Gambia Democratic Congress Gambia Democratic Congress is a political party in the Gambia led by Mama Kandeh, a former APRC National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both hous ...

(GDC) political party, which he formed in the summer of 2016. He ran as a candidate in the

Gambian presidential election of 2016 Presidential elections were held in The Gambia on 1 December 2016. In a surprise result, opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated long-term incumbent Yahya Jammeh. The election marked the first change of presidency in The Gambia since a milita ...

and received 17.1% of the votes.

Background

He once attended Crab Island School in

Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, and (GTTI) in Jeshwang,

Serrekunda Serekunda (proper: Sayerr Kunda or Sere Kunda, ar, سيريكوندا, sometimes spelled Serrekunda) is the largest urban centre in The Gambia. It is situated close to the Atlantic coast, south-west of the capital, Banjul, and is formed of nine ...

Kanifing Kanifing (also Kanifeng) is a town in the Gambia, and lies immediately west of the capital city of Banjul. The Kanifing Local Government Area has the largest population of any of the administrative districts in Gambia. It includes Serrekunda, th ...

. He was formerly a member of the

Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction The Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) is a political party in The Gambia. Founded by army officers who staged a coup in 1994, it was the dominant ruling party from 1996 until 2016 with president Yahya Jammeh. History ...

, which was the ruling party at the time, but was expelled and formed the GDC. He pulled 17.8 % of the votes in the Gambian presidential election of 2016. In November 2021, Mama Kandeh's candidacy for the presidential election of 2021-22 is validated by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). He was endorsed by ex-President and former rival

Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of The Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 199 ...

References

Living people 1965 births Members of the Pan-African Parliament from the Gambia Place of birth missing (living people) Leaders of political parties in the Gambia Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction politicians {{Gambia-politician-stub