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.

The Democratic Congress Alliance (DCA) ran Reverend J. C. Faye, the party leader who was barred from running in his home of New Town.

[6]: 154  The unsuccessful PPP candidate in Kombo West, Famara Wassa Touray, was arrested amid electoral unrest.

[6]: 180 After the National Convention Party (NCP) was founded in 1975, Serekunda and neighbouring Bakau were the towns with the highest support for it outside of the rural Badibbu area.

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.

[6]: 211  Many young people in the city supported the coup due to disillusionment with the political system and living standards.

[9] 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.

[10] Sallah later held the Serekunda Central seat until he lost it to the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction in the 2007 election.

[11] 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.

[12] In October 2009, United Democratic Party (UDP) activist Femi Peters was arrested for organising an anti-Jammeh rally in Serekunda.

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.

[14] The retaliatory ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia included the deployment of Nigerian forces in Serekunda and Brikama.

[17] 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.

[18] 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.

[19] Serekunda and Banjul are located 18 kilometres (11 mi) from each other, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the Gambia River.

[22][23] 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.

The average daily erythemal ultraviolet dose is 5 kilojoules per square metre, with more variation during the rainy season.

[38] The Islamic Solidarity Association of West Africa functions as a non-governmental organisation that conducts foreign affairs, and it has built a medical centre.

[39] In 2000, Soninke religious leaders established the Imam Malik Institute, a madrasa and boarding school that teaches the sunnah.

[43] Imam Karamoko Dukureh, the son of a marabout from the village of Gambissara, established the Jamaat in the Gambia after studying in Saudi Arabia.

[45] After the Baháʼí missionary Fariborz Roozbehyan arrived in the Gambia in February 1954, a Spiritual Assembly was established in Serekunda.

[46] According to the 2013 economic census, Kanifing had 14,924 business establishments, the highest of any local government area and 40.3% of the country's total.

[57] Solar-powered cold storage was introduced in 2020, funded by the Kanifing Municipal Council and the High Commission of the United Kingdom.

Many are concerned that European tourists take advantage of economic inequality by persuading poor Gambians to have sex for money.

[72] The exchange, run by OG Financial Services Ltd., provides the internet for a large part of West Africa.

[76] The Kanifing Environmental Transformation Program, launched in 2022, plans to add more rubbish bins and convert Bakoteh Dump Site to a transfer station.

[80] Semega Promotion, founded by Fatoumata Semega-Janneh, has held matches between local wrestlers at the Serekunda West Mini Stadium.

[59] Ahead of the country hosting the 2005 African U-17 Championship, the Gambia Football Federation upgraded two stadiums in Serekunda, with support from the government and the FIFA Forward programme.

The Gambia National Olympic Committee's Sport Infrastructure Initiative Project completed a mini stadium in Serekunda in 2001, which opened in 2007.