As government signed a major waste management contract with an international agency, Kanifing mayor Talib Bensouda, the leader of opposition Coalition 2026 has said Gambia would have had that project long before now had the government not block his proposed waste management plan for political reasons.
He said the company he made arrangement with is the same one President Adama Barrow’s administration has now approached.
Speaking at a political rally in Basori, Bensouda narrated how he approached a Ghana-based company in 2020 with a proposal to address The Gambia’s waste management problems and shut down the Bakoteh dumpsite.
He said he travelled to Ghana to meet the company, called Just One Group, before inviting its representatives to The Gambia for discussions with the Ministry of Local Government.
He alleged that the minister rejected the proposal because he, Bensouda, was in the opposition.
“I later approached the European Union and secured a new project worth up to €48 million to close the Bakoteh dumpsite and relocate waste disposal operations to Tambana, but the government rejected that proposal too simply because it was promoted by me,” the mayor said.. He added that he was disappointed that the government had now contacted the same company after years of refusing his proposal.
