By Sirrah Touray
A tense showdown rocked the National Assembly on Monday when Muhammed Kanteh, the Member for Busumbala, directly challenged the truthfulness of President Adama Barrow’s claim that The Gambia is the safest country in West Africa, leading to an immediate rebuke from the Speaker and a formal demand for disciplinary action by Nominated Member Kebba Lang Fofana.
The confrontation began as Hon Kanteh shifted his analysis of the president’s State of the Nation Address to the topic of national security. Voicing skepticism, he questioned the basis of the president’s optimistic assessment. “I don’t know where they have obtained that data or the methodologies that they used to drive to that conclusion,” Hon Kanteh stated.
He then issued a direct appeal: “The president should be truthful next time when doing this analogy. You cannot play politics with security.”
The remarks instantly created a stir, with the Speaker stepping in to caution Kanteh. Nominated Member Honourable Kebba Lang Fofana rose to object to Kanteh’s conduct.
Addressing the Speaker, Hon Fofana argued that the Busumbala NAM was making “unsubstantiated statements” without providing any evidence. He further stated that Hon Kanteh was willfully disobeying the Speaker’s authority to maintain order. Citing the assembly’s rules, Hon Fofana concluded with a stern request. “My request is, if he persists, let us go for disciplinary actions,” he declared.
The explosive exchange over security came after Hon Kanteh had offered a detailed and more measured review of other key areas in the president’s speech, primarily education and health.
In his earlier comments, the Busumbala NAM acknowledged the importance of the government’s focus on “Human Capital.”
He agreed with the budget allocation of 10 billion and 5 million dalasi to the education and health sectors, representing 7.7% of the nation’s total expenditure on Human Resources and Health.
However, while he appreciated that much of this money was being used for the construction of school buildings, he urged the government to shift its focus to the people within those buildings.
He called for an increase in the salaries and welfare of teachers, arguing that they are responsible for developing the country’s future leaders.
“Before you can be able to give a productive learning environment, you must have that stability of the mind,” Hon Kanteh explained.
“And you cannot have a stable mind if your pocket is empty.”
Similarly, on health, he recognised the allocation of 3.1 billion dalasi for upgrading health facilities. He added that while building modern structures is a welcome step, the government must also ensure that health personnel are properly trained to provide professional service to the people.
