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By Aminata Kuyateh
APP-Sobeyaa party leader Essa Faal has criticised The Gambia government over its “misplaced priorities” and “deceptive governance”.
Addressing residents during a recent visit in the Serekunda metropolis, Faal said Gambians are facing serious economic challenges while government officials continue to benefit at the expense of ordinary citizens. “We should not be here allowing them to do all sorts of nonsense while people are suffering. The country is suffering. We are a society where every Gambian should be able to live a decent life,” he remarked.
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Faal accused the government of spending over D1 billion on expensive vehicles for an international conference, which were later distributed among officials. He criticised the significant increase in the president’s salary, which rose from a little over D200,000 to D500,000 per month. “Meanwhile, someone earning D2,000 is told their salary was increased by 100 percent to D4,000. That is deception,” he said.
He went on to highlight similar increases for ministers, judges, and parliamentarians. According to him, the salaries of judges were raised from D190,000 to D290,000, while parliamentarians received both salary increments and expensive vehicles. He added that the Speaker of the National Assembly receives about D19 million every five years. “The president’s one-month salary equals his driver’s eight years salary,” Faal claimed.
On youth issues, Faal criticised the government’s controversial labour scheme in Spain, where young Gambians were recruited to work on farms harvesting mangoes, oranges, and potatoes.
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He alleged that the government collected D39 million from applicants, even though fewer than 100 people were expected to travel and only 39 eventually did, with many reportedly absconding upon arrival. “If you take a town boy who has never entered a farm and ask him to go and pick oranges, he will vanish,” Faal said.
He emphasised the need for a government that prioritises youth development, noting that young people make up 65 percent of the population. “If they are not developed, the country will not develop. We must invest our national resources into the youths,” he stressed, while calling for efforts to educate young people to reject corruption and embrace national values.
Faal pledged that under an APP-Sobeyaa government, US$50 million would be invested annually over five years to train Gambian youths in various professions. He also lamented the state of the health sector, pointing out that many trained nurses remain unemployed despite hospitals lacking basic supplies. “This is really a deceptive government,” he concluded.
