The Secretary General and party leader of the opposition United Democratic Party, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, claimed that the national debt of the Gambia has significantly risen to a global figure one hundred and ten billion dalasis.
Speaking at the UDP’s press conference held at the party’s Manjai Bureau, the veteran politician said, Yaya Jammeh has left us with D48 billion debt, but under president Adama Barrow, this has increased by D62 billion in seven (7) years, thus, our national debt now stands at one hundred and ten billion dalasis (D110,000,000,000).
“Our balance of payment and terms of trade are both negative,” Darboe said.
He accused the government of misleading the Gambians by pegging official inflation rate at a desirable figure.
“The government in its own desire pegs the rate of inflation at 18% to mislead the Gambians. This is really a misleading statistic. The market has told us that the inflation rate is much higher than the government’s official rate.”
In his continued elaboration on the national economy status, Darboe mentioned that the debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is about 85% of the GDP.
“The interest payment on our national debt increase from three billion five hundred million dalasis (D3.5 billion) to seven billion five hundred million dalasis (D7.5 billion), which is more than combined allocation for health, education and agriculture in this year’s budget,” he lamented.
He further said the reason Gambia Football Federation struggles to finance the national team is because the government is misplacing priorities on areas that do not deserve such huge financial allocation, taking reference from the allocation of D872.6 million for the office of the president, while the ministry of youth and sports are only allocated D122.3 million.
Darboe expressed his concerns about the trajectory of the current government, citing what he called a lack of responsiveness to public sentiments.
‘’This year probably will be worse than 2023 because this government has taken it upon itself not to care about what people say. They don’t care and don’t listen to what people say,’’ he charged.
‘’They believe that no one on the surface of this earth will stop them from doing what they want to do. A government that you elected, a government that to whom you ceded your powers, your sovereignty and asked them to be your agents in the exercise of your dedicated power can turn around to you and tell you I am as powerful as Yahya Jammeh, in fact more powerful than Yahya Jammeh because apart from all the security apparatus Yahya Jammeh had, I also have ECOMIG” the opposition leader added.
Darboe urged citizens to bring about political change in the 2026 presidential elections, emphasizing the need to initiate efforts promptly.
“I think all of us should commence our drives, should now commence our serious efforts to terminating this government’s existence in 2026. It must start now and we cannot postpone it. We cannot wait until 2026 and start on that exercise. It has to be done now,” he said.
By Kemo Kanyi. Thevoice
