Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara [ 1 ] GCMG 16 May โ 27 August [ 2 ] [ 3 ] was a Gambian politician who served as prime minister from to , and then as the first President of The Gambia from to , when he was deposed. He is the son of Mamma Fatty and Almami Jawara. He trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Glasgow 's School of Veterinary Medicine , then completed his training at the University of Liverpool and the University of Edinburgh.
He returned to The Gambia in and married Augusta Mahoney , beginning work as a veterinary officer. He entered politics and became secretary of the new People's Progressive Party PPP and was elected to the House of Representatives at the election.
He became the leader of the PPP and then the country's first prime minister in , only the second-ever head of government following Pierre Sarr N'Jie 's term as Chief Minister. In , The Gambia became a republic, and Jawara was elected as its first president. Following the coup attempt, Jawara and Senegalese President Abdou Diouf announced the creation of the Senegambia Confederation , but it proved to be short-lived and ultimately collapsed eight years later in Following this, he went into exile, but returned in , and lived in retirement in The Gambia until his death in Dawda Jawara was born in to Almammi Jawara and Mamma Fatty in the village of Barajally Tenda in the central river region of The Gambia, approximately kilometres mi from the capital, Banjul , then called Bathurst.
One of six sons, Dawda was the last born on his mother's side and a younger brother to sister Na Ceesay and brothers Basaddi and Sheriffo Jawara. Their father Almammi, who had several wives, was a well-to-do trader from an aristocratic family who commuted from Barajally Tenda to his trading post in Wally Kunda.
His family, the Jawaras, had once served as members of the Gbara of Old Mali. Dawda from an early age attended the local Arabic schools to memorize the Quran , a rite of passage for many Gambian children. There were no primary schools in Barajally Tenda: the nearest was in Georgetown Janjanbureh , the provincial capital, but this boarding school was reserved for the sons of the chiefs.
