Dr. Ousman Gajigo
There is nothing more indicative of a government being increasingly out of touch with reality than persistently claiming the opposite of what real people are experiencing every single day. Over the past couple of months, the country has been facing food security challenges, a migrant crisis, and health sector problems. Yet officials in the Adama Barrow government would have you disbelieve your own eyes.
Everyone in The Gambia today knows that the cost of living has increased tremendously under the Barrow administration. This reality is evident to every Gambian because we experience it daily in both urban and rural areas. The government’s own Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) has confirmed this fact in multiple publications. In fact, in their most recent report on food security, GBOS indicated that two out of every three Gambian households are food insecure.
Yet Adama Barrow stated recently at a political rally that every Gambian has three meals a day. Adama Barrow should realize that people sitting around a bowl three times a day does not mean they are consuming an adequate amount of food. In fact, there are households that have difficulty in having three meals a day. Yet, here is our president claiming the opposite of what is happening in the country.
The backway crisis has returned. Gambian youths are now undertaking the risky journey in numbers not seen since the last years of the Yahya Jammeh regime. Not only are the numbers of departures on the rise, but so are the fatalities. Over the past month, well over 200 deaths have been confirmed. It is clear to everyone that the rising number of youths leaving the country is due to economic hopelessness resulting from the Barrow government’s inability to create conditions for employment generation.
What do our president and his close advisors have to say about this migrant tragedy? One of President Barrow’s ministers claimed that there are other reasons besides the poor economic situation. The president himself seems to blame relatives for financing these trips. Absent is any indication that his corruption-laden government bears the bulk of the responsibility for its mismanagement of the economy.
Another major failure of the Adama Barrow regime has been the poor state of our healthcare system. Health facilities are dilapidated and lack medicines and equipment. The few treatments that are available are often unaffordable. Gambians are left with the options of going to expensive private clinics or traveling to Senegal to access healthcare.
But according to President Adama Barrow and his ministers, the healthcare system in The Gambia is operating perfectly. He even claimed incredulously that Gambians are leaving the US to seek medical treatment in The Gambia. If our country had world-class medical services, why would President Barrow’s family members, advisors, and members of his cabinet seek medical care outside of the country?
The pattern here is simple. The Adama Barrow government is in no position to address the actual problems facing Gambians. It is a prerequisite to approach a problem clearly and honestly before devising an appropriate solution. If the government is not even prepared to honestly acknowledge the problem and the reality facing Gambians, then there is no hope for a solution from this government.
This is a government that has become so comfortable in power that it has become detached from reality. The government is now clearly focused on prioritizing the interests of a connected few at the expense of the many. The Gambian people have a duty to remind the government who wields the ultimate authority. Once a government forgets whom they should be working for, the electorate must bring about change at the ballot box. That is the only way to ensure accountability.
