By Ramatoulie Jawo
The People’s Alliance Party (PAP), under the leadership of Ebrima Tabora Manneh, convened a press conference on Saturday to address pressing issues impacting The Gambia.
The event brought together PAP’s executive members, party affiliates, and concerned citizens to discuss the challenges facing the nation and propose actionable solutions for its development.
Key topics discussed included the state of the healthcare system, challenges in the agricultural sector, education, environmental concerns, and the much-debated 2024 draft constitution. Party leaders underscored the urgency of addressing these issues to promote progress and stability in the country.
In his opening remarks, PAP Secretary General and Party Leader Ebrima Tabora Manneh highlighted that many of the country’s challenges are man-made and require immediate and decisive action from authorities. He expressed frustration over systemic failures in governance, citing corruption, mismanagement, and misplaced priorities as major impediments to national progress.
“Let the Gambians know that currently, our government is bankrupt because right now they said that they will spend fifty-three billion dalasis and where are they going to get that because they only collected twenty-nine billion dalasis from the tax. This meant that they are only lobbying for grants and when they get that, they shared it among themselves,” he said.
He expressed concerns about the payment of farmers through QMoney, emphasizing that it should not be mandatory for farmers to receive their payments via QMoney services.
Mr. Manneh also lamented the challenges farmers face this year, noting that the rainy season has been unfavorable, resulting in poor harvests, particularly for groundnut farmers. He added that introducing a mobile payment system under these circumstances would only exacerbate their frustrations.
“Some of the formers normally walk a long distance before they can access their money and in most cases, the QMoney agents do not have enough money to pay the farmers at once, they have to go and come back which will cost the farmers a lot. And some of these farmers do not even have a mobile phone or a Qcell line, so if you don’t have a Qcell line it is a problem for you to receive your money as a farmer after working so hard,” he stated.
He also criticized the government for its shortcomings, particularly in addressing the economic challenges and social issues facing The Gambia, while emphasizing the need for improved leadership and greater accountability.
“Only a few people are in control of the Gambian economy I can say is only less than five percent of the population are in charge of the economy and laws and all they are doing is to enrich themselves and develop their families, while the rest of the population are suffering and Gambians should not allow this trend to continue,” he stressed.
Discussing the constitution, Manneh highlighted the importance of term limits, stating that his party strongly advocates for a provision ensuring that no President serves more than two terms in The Gambia.
He further asserted that a victory for Barrow in the 2026 election would spell disaster for the country. Manneh criticized Barrow’s administration as a failure, accusing it of falling short of Gambians’ expectations.
“Our economy currently has been destroyed look at our Ports is completely destroyed before people came from within the sub-region and got their goods in this country and took them to Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and other countries with their foreign currencies but today that is not happening because of the carelessness of the government. Now all our goods are offloaded at Senegal’s Ports and that is why CFA is increasing against the dalasis and that is why we are lacking the Dollars and Euros,” he stressed.
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