By: Kemo Kanyi
The leader of the People’s Alliance Party (PAP), Ebrima Tabora Manneh, has stated that if voted into office come 2026, PAP will place a high premium on addressing youth unemployment in The Gambia to stem irregular migration to Europe by Gambian youths.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the PAP leaderstated that youth must be meaningfully engaged in the country’s workforce with reasonable wages for any government to address this “menace’’ that the country faces, saying most of the problems The Gambia faces are man-made, acknowledging some natural causes.
“My government will create at least five young Gambian millionaires annually by giving them financial support to engage in trading activities across the world, provide training for them to get the knowledge required in trade, help them to import products, and restrict certain businesses for citizens only, this is what is happening in all the developed countries I have visited,” he stated.
“This country is currently facing so many disasters most of which are man-made; most of the poverty in the country is man-made, corruption, conditions of irregular migration, poor health care system, unfortunate situation currently faced by the farming community. All these are man-made and can be addressed. This shows the failure of our government. They are mostly reliant on loans and grants, which is unfortunate for a nation. The issue is that the government is bankrupt,’’ Mr. Manneh told the press.
He pointed accused the government of using public funds to enrich themselves when majority of Gambians are suffering, adding that government officials must be held to account for mismanagement of public funds when they leave office.
“Whenever they [NPP government] leave office, we are going to hold them to account because we know all their corrupt tactics and plans. So, they must take the responsibility of their actions. They think governance is about looting public funds. Those few people at the top of the governance structure are depriving Gambians of their economic opportunities by wasting tax-payers money for luxury lives of owning expensive cars, building mansions, and even investing in other countries to deceive Gambians of what they are into,’’ he added.
