By Alagie Manneh
Mamadi Kurang, a former presidential aspirant now in the opposition PDOIS, has said The Gambia’s economy is on life support and that the government’s flamboyant style could cripple it, if care is not taken.
Speaking to Star FM’s Wake Up Gambia programme to be aired today, Kurang explained that there are serious issues affecting the economy and “we have not seen any tangible measures that would address those issues because inflation and unemployment are getting higher by the day.”
An economist himself, Kurang added that the country’s tourism industry is also seriously underperforming while businesses are crippling because of hike in prices in the international market and the rapid depreciation of the Gambian dalasi.
“If the dalasi is going down significantly, the government should get up and try to address the situation. As a start, the government should control their spending. But you have seen the government hiring a special flight to the UN General Assembly taking individuals who have nothing to do there. They were put on the flight and stayed in the US for one week at our expense. This is unacceptable for a country that is struggling economically,” he said.
Kurang noted that while all other African presidents took sizable delegations and hurriedly returned to their various countries, “President Barrow and his team spent one week in New York at the expense of the tax-payers money”.
“Some of the people he took to New York cannot even interpret the president’s speech because they don’t even know what it contains. Yet, they were all paid per diem each night while they had nothing to do there that would benefit the country,” he added.
He said this demonstrates that Barrow government has no interest in ensuring fiscal discipline.
“So, really, the future of the country’s economy under President Barrow looks bleak and if the government fails to address the fundamental issue of cutting its spending we are doomed,” he concluded.
