Sheriff Mustapha Dibba was a Gambian politician who became the country's first vice-president in 1970, founded and led the National Convention Party, contested several presidential elections, and served as Speaker of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2006.
Background
Dibba was born on January 10, 1937, at Salikene in Central Baddibu, north of the Gambia River. He was the son of Mustapha Dibba, a traditional chief and farmer who later became chief of Central Baddibu. His upbringing connected a chiefly family background in the rural North Bank area with the expanding educational and political opportunities of late-colonial Gambia.
He entered primary school in 1946 and continued his education at Armitage School before attending Methodist Boys' High School in Bathurst, where he studied until 1957. He worked for the United Africa Company from 1958 to 1959, including in its accounts department, before leaving commercial employment for full-time political work.
Education
Dibba attended Armitage School in Georgetown and later Methodist Boys' High School in Bathurst, leaving the latter in 1957 before completing the General Certificate of Education. Armitage developed during the colonial period as an important secondary school for Gambian boys, particularly those from provincial families. Methodist Boys' High School belonged to the Methodist educational tradition in Bathurst, the colonial capital and principal center of formal education and administration.
His education preceded the rapid expansion of Gambian electoral politics and prepared him for clerical employment before he entered party organization and public office. No university education is documented.
Career
Dibba began his working life with the United Africa Company from 1958 to 1959, working in its accounts department. The company was a major commercial presence in British West Africa, and this clerical experience preceded his transition into organized politics. In 1959 he helped Sir Dawda Jawara prepare the constitution of the People's Progressive Party and became its assistant secretary-general.
He won election from the Central Baddibu constituency in 1960 and again in 1962, when the PPP returned to power. He entered the government as Minister for Local Government in 1962, became Minister for Works and Communications in 1966, and served as Minister for Finance from 1968 to 1970. These portfolios placed him within the ministerial system through which the newly independent Gambia administered local government, public works, communications, and national finance.
In 1970, when The Gambia became a republic, Dibba became its first vice-president under President Dawda Jawara. He also served as leader of government business in Parliament. He resigned from the vice-presidency on September 15, 1972, after a smuggling incident involving his half-brother; Jawara's acceptance letter reportedly exonerated him from personal responsibility. Dibba subsequently served as The Gambia's ambassador to Belgium from 1972 to 1974 and returned to the cabinet as Minister of Economic Planning from 1974 until 1975.
Dibba left the PPP government in 1975 and founded the National Convention Party on September 7 of that year. The NCP became the principal opposition party after the 1977 elections, and Dibba remained its leading presidential candidate in successive elections. He was arrested after the 1981 coup attempt and detained for eleven months before being acquitted and released. He contested the presidential elections of 1982, 1987, 1992, and 2001, placing behind Jawara in the earlier contests and winning 3.8 percent of the vote in 2001.
Following the 1994 military overthrow of the Jawara government, political parties were banned and the NCP was unable to operate openly until its ban was lifted in 2001. After the 2001 election Dibba supported Yahya Jammeh and formed an alliance between the NCP and the APRC. Following the January 2002 parliamentary elections, he was appointed to the National Assembly and elected Speaker on February 3, 2002. The National Assembly was the Gambia's unicameral legislature, and its speakership carried responsibility for presiding over parliamentary proceedings.
Dibba was arrested and removed as Speaker in April 2006 after allegations that he was connected with an attempted coup. He was later released without being publicly convicted and withdrew from active politics. He died in Banjul on June 2, 2008, at the age of seventy-one.
Politics
Dibba's political career began in the People's Progressive Party, which was established in 1959 and campaigned for broader electoral representation beyond the colonial urban electorate. He helped prepare the party's constitution, served as its assistant secretary-general, and won election from Central Baddibu during the expansion of representative politics in the early 1960s.
After leaving the government and the PPP in 1975, Dibba founded the National Convention Party and became its leader. The NCP emerged as a major opposition force and nominated him for president in 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, and 2001. He was detained for eleven months after the 1981 coup attempt but was later acquitted and discharged.
After the NCP was unbanned in 2001, Dibba contested the presidential election and subsequently formed an alliance with Yahya Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction. He was appointed to the National Assembly and elected Speaker in 2002. His removal from the speakership and detention in April 2006 followed allegations of involvement in an attempted coup, although he was released without a public conviction. His career therefore encompassed the PPP's postcolonial dominance, the formation of organized opposition, military intervention, and the consolidation of executive power under the APRC.
Personality
Dibba was described as open, friendly, tolerant, and easy-going, with a political style associated with compromise and democratic accommodation.
Physical Characteristics:
He was described as having a youthful appearance.
Connections
Dibba was married and had seven children. His political career was closely associated with Sir Dawda Jawara through the People's Progressive Party and the governments of the First Republic. He later formed a political alliance with Yahya Jammeh and the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction after the 2001 presidential election.
