President Adama Barrow
DATE: 30TH MARCH 2025
Fellow Gambians,
Residents and Friends of The Gambia,
Tomorrow, Muslims will celebrate the feast of Eid ul-Fitr to mark the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. In appreciation of the blessings and mercies showered upon us, I thank and praise the Almighty God for peacefully living through this blessed month again.
Every year, Muslims look forward to Ramadan to repent and piously engage in acts of worship and good deeds. It is a period when we supplicate for safety and fulfilment of our desires; therefore, I pray that Allah accepts our prayers and fulfils our expectations.
Like the Muslim Umma, the Christian community is in a similar state of devotion to prayer and worship, as they observe Lent and prepare for the feast of Easter. I pay my respects to them and pray for their wellbeing.
Fellow Citizens,
Residents and Friends of The Gambia,
As we prepare to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, locally referred to as Koriteh, I pay tribute to the Muslim Umma and congratulate every Muslim on the occasion of this great feast. In particular, on behalf of my government, I thank all those who engaged in preaching, teaching, or promoting peace, piety, solidarity, and good deeds.
As believers, religion teaches us to accept one another as servants of God and to foster love and mercy among humankind, live in harmony, support one another, and be kind to all. We continue to be taught to appreciate and uphold the values of good citizenship, good neighbourliness, and working hard to live decent lives.
These religious values perfectly match both the social values we share and the democratic principles expressed in our Constitution and practise in our governance procedures.
The same values are at the core of the plans and programmes my government implements, as we collectively continue to develop the nation so that all Gambians live comfortably and peacefully.
As it is mandatory for believers to live by their religious principles and values, so is it obligatory for us to work together in the service of the nation and for the progress of everyone. The end of Ramadan must not stop us from continuing our gooddeeds. So, I urge all Gambians to steadfastly continue devotingthemselves to the progress of the nation.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fasting teaches us that life comes with trials and hardship, such as hunger and poverty. Thus, it requires fortitude for us to stand strong against every trial or challenge to emerge victorious in the end.
We live in circumstances that are strongly influenced by harshglobal trends beyond our control. Although we are not fully protected against the economic crises and unrests that occasionally affect economies around world, we can always devise mitigating initiatives to survive them and emerge stronger than before.
This is the wisdom behind the plans we develop and implement, which we must revise whenever the need arises. It is abundantly clear that all our development plans are coming through well. Nonetheless, it is equally obvious that, with the full cooperation and support of all our citizens and partners, we can do much better.
Fellow Gambians,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are lucky that the unhealthy religious intolerance that causes unrest in many communities does not exist in The Gambia. Assuch, let us maintain our prevailing inter-faith solidarity as a shining model for others to emulate. On the other hand, it is time to let this huge achievement feature in all our relationships and erase the differences that disunite us and slow down our progress.
Like religious tolerance, we should strive to become an illustrious model of political tolerance. Once we attain this, all other shades of differences would give way for easy accomplishment of our goals, no matter how ambitious or farfetched they may seem. Political intolerance is a global threat to peace and stability. Let us arrest its growth instantly!
I encourage our religious leaders, from all faith-based communities, to continue to work together to unite their congregations, harmonise the differences in the country, and put due emphasis on our values and commonalities to address the development challenges that confront us.
Now that the holy month has ended, let us re-dedicate ourselves to the nation and work much harder to realise our goals in every area of development.
I commend those who have contributed to the availability of the basic commodities required around the country. Nevertheless, we appeal to the business sector to further cut down on their drive to maximise profit. Being considerate in business is a patriotic way of not only easing living conditions but also contributing to national development.
Although we appreciate the taxes businesses generate, we plead that business operators do more to make our basic commodities readily available and affordable, especially for the weak. My government will continue to support business enterprises in every way possible.
In the same manner, I encourage every Gambian to take up farming, either for subsistence, business, or recreation. The rainy season is several months away, and now is the time to clear the farms for agricultural endeavours. It is only through production that we can reduce the high dependency on foreign goods that has persistently rendered us vulnerable to external market prices.
The time to transform The Gambia into a basically productive nation to process our produce is long overdue. My government will support all those willing to boost industrial production in the country, particularly in response to our basic requirements.
We will step up energy production and availability for industries to thrive in The Gambia. In addition, we will continue to do our utmost to improve our infrastructure and services for user satisfaction.
Similarly, through our security services, we assure everyone of a safe environment for business and residency purposes. My government reassures everyone, nationals and non-nationals, of our fullest cooperation and commitment to the welfare of every citizen and resident of The Gambia.
Fellow Citizens,
Distinguished Residents and Friends of The Gambia,
Once again, I congratulate you all on the feast of Eid ul-Fitr. May Allah grant us the blessings and many happy returns of Ramadan and the Eid. I pray also that our Christian brothers and sisters have a blessed Easter.