By Tabora Bojang
Opposition Kanifing Municipality Mayor Talib Bensouda has described the country’s economy under Barrow as “deeply risky and vulnerable” with about 90 percent reliance on imported foods.
Speaking on Kerr Fatou Thursday, Bensouda warned that as a result of this, Gambians risk dying from “starvation if there is a global crisis” since the country is food insecure with the government doing little to change the situation.
According to Mayor Bensouda, the country is facing serious economic challenges in the wake of global disturbances exacerbated by mass poverty, high unemployment, soaring cost of living, high borrowing, government overspending and shortage of access to quality health care, education and electricity.
He charged that in spite of these pressing challenges, the Barrow government is suffering from out of touch syndrome.
In a message directed at President Barrow, Bensouda said: “When you are in the State House, you are in a gated compound with everything provided and you only see people that you want to see, and the people who surround you who are most times sycophants only interested in protecting their individual interests.
They will come to you, tell you everything is great, or how handsome you are and even how divine you are. They only create rosy pictures, especially when they know the truth hurts you [ the head of stated and you don’t want to hear it. Then the longer you stay there [State House] the more you become in a bubble. That is why it is very important for a head of state to be in touch and to have that empathy and connection with the people.”
The mayor said ninety percent of Gambians are suffering and even though some people would appear to be alright but most are in a state of emotional suffering because of scarcity. “And scarcity brings domestic problems-gender based violence, child abuse, diseases, lack of education and other human development implications,” he said,
On the state of the economy, he said the government has failed to develop the productive base of the economy to feed the population.
“Almost 90 percent of our food is imported and it is our diaporans who are feeding our people. Imagine what will happen if a regional war breaks out? What if there is a global crisis and countries curtail their food exports as we saw in the period of the Covid? We might die of starvation,” Bensouda said.
He further charged that foreign loans under the Barrow government have ballooned from D48 billion under Jammeh to now D111 billion under Barrow’s seven-year rule.
“More Gambians are in poverty today than Gambians who are not. Everyday people are giving birth, the population is growing dramatically, the youths are unemployed because the productive sector is not creating employment. We have about 10,000 youths taking the irregular route to Europe every year and many of them are dying in the sea. Talk about infrastructure. One road being constructed that is not infrastructure, that is why I said Gambia needs a master plan where we build with a mindset of creating a productive sector that can repay these investments. It is not just about building roads but what economic growth are you experiencing from these roads that you are building,” Bensouda concluded.
