Brikama Area Council Chairman Yankuba Darboe has launched a blistering attack on President Adama Barrow and his government, accusing them of deliberately withholding development projects in the West Coast Region (WCR) as political revenge for electing an opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) chairman.
In a strongly worded statement shared with The Alkamba Times, Darboe claimed the president openly admitted during the recent “Meet the People’s Tour” that the government is denying WCR modern market infrastructure because voters rejected the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in local elections.
“What kind of human being punishes an entire region for exercising their democratic right?” Darboe said. “The monies they are refusing to invest do not belong to the President or his Ministers, but to the very people they claim to be depriving.”
The chairman singled out the controversial management of the newly constructed Brikama market complex, which the central government handed over to the regional governor rather than to the elected council. Darboe insisted that market management has historically been a local government function, even under former president Yahya Jammeh, and accused the Barrow administration of changing the arrangement only after the NPP lost control of the council to the UDP.
“The vindictive government changed everything when they realised they had lost the polls to UDP,” Darboe charged. He pointed to the market in Basse, Upper River Region – an NPP stronghold – which he says was built by the central government but remains under the Basse Area Council’s control, asking: “Can they explain to Gambians who manages that market – the council or the governor?”
Darboe revealed that the council took the regional governor to court after the government attempted to divert market revenue away from the council, describing the move as unprecedented retaliation. “WCR has had many governors before, but since time immemorial, we have never heard of governors running markets. That is for councils,” he stated.
The council chairman contrasted his administration’s approach with the central government’s, noting that despite having NPP councillors in Brikama, the UDP-led council does not withhold development funds from wards represented by the ruling party. “We know those funds belong to the people, not to us,” he said.
Describing the government’s actions as “disgraceful, vindictive and evil,” Darboe called on residents of the West Coast Region to recognise what he termed “the worst disrespect ever” shown to them by President Barrow’s administration.
The statement has intensified an already heated dispute between the country’s largest local authority and the central government. Neither the Office of the President nor the Ministry of Lands, Regional Government and Religious Affairs has officially responded to the allegations at the time of this publication.
Political analysts say the row highlights deepening tensions between the Barrow administration and opposition-controlled councils since the 2023 local government elections, with funding and control of revenue-generating assets emerging as major battlegrounds.
