Kanifing is a municipality in the Gambia, to the west of Banjul. It is coterminous with a local government area and a district. It has the largest population of any of the districts in the Gambia. It includes Serrekunda, the largest urban area in the Gambia. It is governed by the Kanifing Municipal Council.
Kanifing | |
|---|---|
Urban municipality | |
Clockwise from top left: Serekunda city centre, Kololi beach, Kachikally Museum and Crocodile Pool, market in Bakau | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of the Kanifing Local Government Area in the Gambia | |
| Coordinates: 13°27′N 16°40′W | |
| Country | The Gambia |
| Local government area | Kanifing |
| District | Kanifing |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council government |
| • Body | Kanifing Municipal Council |
| • Lord Mayor | Talib Ahmed Bensouda (United Democratic Party) |
| Area | |
| • Land | 75.5 km2 (29.2 sq mi) |
| Population (2013)[1] | |
| • Total | 382,096 |
| • Estimate (2023)[2] | 391,270 |
| Website | http://kanifing.gm/ |
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Kanifing is one of the most densely populated places in the country. Its population expanded in the post-colonial era. It has received many migrants from the rest of the Gambia and abroad. It has large populations of many ethnicities.
Kanifing is the economic center of the Gambia. Tourism is a major industry. There are several higher education institutes, including the University of the Gambia.
History
The local government area (LGA) of Kombo St. Mary was created in the 1960s. It was the eighth LGA to be created.[3]: 8 The Kombo Rural Authority was renamed to the Kanifing Urban District Council in 1974. In 1991, it became the Kanifing Municipal Council.[4]
Kanifing grew significantly in the post-colonial era. This was largely caused by immigration from nearby countries; in 1993, foreign nationals made up 20% of the population of the LGA. Kanifing's growth led to the country's urbanisation rate to increase from 23% in 1973 to 37% in 1993.[3]: 9 This expansion led to higher property values and foreign investment.[5]
Geography
Kanifing is one of the eight local government areas of the Gambia. It is the only one that contains only one district.[6]
Kanifing lies immediately west of the capital city of Banjul. Kanifing and Banjul comprise the Greater Banjul Area.[4] It has a land area of 75.5 square kilometers.[7] It includes Serekunda, the country's largest urban area.[8]
Demographics
Kanifing is the most densely populated part of the Gambia. It is the most populated district.[4]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 12,208 | — |
| 1973 | 39,404 | +222.8% |
| 1983 | 101,504 | +157.6% |
| 1993 | 228,214 | +124.8% |
| 2013 | 377,134 | +65.3% |
| Source: [3]: 9 | ||
Kanifing Municipality has a population of 377,134, as of the 2013 census.[6] The 2023 population estimate is 391,270. The sex ratio is 1:1. The mean household size is 6.7. There are 40,367 people (11.63% of the population) in poverty, 3,340 (1.0%) in extreme poverty, and 117,648 (33.9%) in food poverty.[2]
The predominantly rural Mandinka people moved to cities in the post-colonial era. Kanifing's share of the Gambia's Mandinka population increased from 3% in 1963 to 16% in 1993.[3]: 15 In 1993, Kanifing had about one-third of the country's Jola people, nearly one-quarter of Serahuli people, nearly one-third of Serer people, and the majority of Aku people.[3]: 18–21
As of the 2013 census, Kanifing has 33,790 immigrants, 30% of the country's total. The most common countries of origin are Senegal (34%) and Guinea (25%). As of 2020, it has 4,388 refugees and 211 asylum seekers. Senegalese people comprise 92% of these, most of which have fled the Casamance conflict. It has 35% of the country's internal migrants.[4]
In Kanifing and Banjul, the Wolof language is spoken as a lingua franca in multi-ethnic groups, rather than Mandinka as in the rest of the country.[9]
In 1993, nearly half of the country's Christians lived in Kanifing.[3]: 26
Settlements
Kanifing has nineteen settlements:
| Settlement | Population | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013[6] | 2003[10] | 1993[11] | |
| Abuko | 15811 | 8958 | 4345 |
| Bakau New Town | 25265 | 31600 | 26687 |
| Bakau Wasulun | 3545 | 1312 | 2195 |
| Bakoteh | 16924 | 17161 | 6594 |
| Bundungka Kunda | 55360 | 51869 | 41369 |
| Dippa Kunda | 17654 | 14965 | 15081 |
| Ebo Town | 22789 | 18363 | 2563 |
| Faji Kunda | 38121 | 23969 | 12744 |
| Kololi | 7257 | 5498 | 4416 |
| Kotu | 16358 | 11844 | 4419 |
| Kanifing | 14296 | — | — |
| Pipeline | 4317 | — | — |
| Latri Kunda German | 19765 | 24045 | 22902 |
| Latri Kunda Sabiji | 15619 | 14939 | 11289 |
| Manjai Kunda | 18601 | 14372 | 4800 |
| New Jeshwang | 17394 | 17023 | 21656 |
| Old Jeshwang | 7552 | 13319 | 8480 |
| Serekunda | 19944 | 19292 | 18901 |
| Talinding | 40562 | 34206 | 19773 |
Administration
Administrative divisions
The Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) is led by the Lord Mayor of Kanifing, who has administrative duties. Ward councilors manage welfare and development.[12] KMC is divided into eighteen wards: Abuko, Bakau New Town, Bakoteh, Bantaba Bore Hole, Bartez, Bundung Six Junction, Dippa Kunda, Fajikunda, Kanifing, Kololi, Latrikunda Sabiji, London Corner, Manjai Kotu, New Jeshwang/Ebo Town, Old Bakau/Cape Point, Old Jeshwang, Tallinding North, and Tallinding South.[13] It is further divided into seventy-four sub-wards, each led by a sub-ward chairman.[14]
The municipality has seven parliamentary constituencies: Serekunda East, Serekunda West, Serekunda Central, Jeshwang, Bakau, Latrikunda Sabiji, and Tallinding.[14]
Government
Talib Ahmed Bensouda, a member of the United Democratic Party, was elected Lord Mayor of Kanifing in the 2018 election.[15] He was reelected in the 2023 election.[16] He is the son of lawyer Amie Bensouda.[17]
The Deputy Mayor of KMC is Binta Janneh Jallow. She is the first woman to hold the position. She was appointed in July 2021 after the resignation of Pa Musa Bah. She was previously the ward councilor of Bakau New Town.[18]
The Crime Management Coordinator of KMC is Pateh Bah, As of February 2024[update].[19] He has held the position since its creation in 2017 by the Adama Barrow administration.[20]
The Law Court Complex in Bundung houses the High Court, the Magistrates Court, and the Cadi Court.[21] The Kanifing Magistrates Court functions as the Children's Court on Tuesdays and Thursdays, despite the constitution providing for a full-time juvenile court.[22]
Economy
Kanifing is the commercial hub of the Gambia.[12] It has the highest concentration of industry of any district. Major industries include tourism, trade, and government. Kanifing has most of the country's hotels and coastal resorts. It contains the national football stadium and the Gambian Industrial Estate.[4]
Of the 251,712 people who are 15 or older, 122,726 are in the labor force, including 108,474 who are employed and 254,337 who are unemployed. Child labor affects 3.5% of children aged 5–11, 9.7% aged 12–14, and 14.6% aged 15–17.[2] Private firms employ 50.8% of the workforce, including 32.5% in wholesale and retail, 13% in manufacturing, and 17.5% in services. The city's youth unemployment rate is 6.5%, lower than most of the country, but it is over 20% for people with higher education.[4]
Bensouda's government has planned an affordable housing project to build 8,000 homes.[23]
Infrastructure
Waste management
The Local Government Act (the Gambia) 2002 gives municipalities the responsibility of waste management. The Environment and Sanitation Unit (ESU), part of the KMC's Directorate of Services, is responsible for waste and other environmental health issues. The ESU performs daily street cleaning and market waste collection, collects waste from public facilities, and clears illegal dumps. The KMC has no official waste separation or recycling programmes. It has created pilot programs for composting. KMC spends 25% of its budget on waste management.[24]
The Bakoteh Dumpsite is the largest in the country, collecting all waste in the Greater Banjul Area. It is overfilled and does not have modern disposal systems. It is located in a dense area, near Bakoteh, Dippa Kunda, and Manjai Kunda. Its environmental impacts include methane fires, water contamination, and odour. The city hires bulldozers to transport waste to the dump, but it is sometimes blocked from being waterlogged in the rainy season. Many residents of the area around the dumpsite make a living from informal recycling. KMC has planned to establish a new dumpsite and turn the old one into a transfer station.[24]
The Mbalit project (meaning waste in Wolof) performs household waste collection. It assigns each ward a garbage truck that collects waste from each household weekly. It uses a digital ticket system to pay for the service. Informal waste collectors use donkey-drawn carts to collect waste from households not covered.[24]
In 2022, KMC estimated that it had 460 tons of waste per day, of which 57.5% is from households, though this data is imprecise. The city has 370 waste management workers, of which 227 are under the ESU and 143 are under the Mbalit project, As of 2022[update].[24]
Bensouda invested in waste management and called it his number-one priority as mayor. KMC developed a five-year waste management plan (2017 to 2021) in consultation with the community and the private sector. It focused on public awareness, new waste sorting strategies, expanded household waste collection, job creation, and partnerships with informal waste management. It created the Mbalit project, the first household waste collection programme in the Gambia. It set up ten communal skip bins and reduced the number of illegal dumpsites from 65 to 17. The programme's success improved the government's image.[24]
Transport
The Gambia Transport Service Company has a bus depot in Kanifing. There are international buses to Dakar and Bissau.[25][26]
Bensouda's government has planned an urban bus system that would introduce fifty buses and twenty routes.[23]
Education
Kanifing has most of the country's tertiary education institutes, including the University of The Gambia, the American International University West Africa, the Gambia Technical Training Institute, and the Management Development Institute.[27]
Kanifing's library began construction on 18 August 2022. It will be the first municipal library in the country. It is an intiative of Bensouda and the Kanifing Environmental Transformation Programme, funded by the European Union. The Peterborough City Council in England contributed. The project cost 45 million dalasi.[27]
Sport
The Kanifing Municipal Sports Committee (KM Sport) is one of the Gambia's seven regional sports organisations. Its chairperson, elected from the chairpeople of its constituent district sport committees, represents Kanifing in the National Sports Council.[28]
Sister cities
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Mbao, Senegal
The sister city of Madison has provided funding for Kanifing's garbage trucks and its public library.[30]
External websites
References
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