Business tycoon Sillaba Samateh, a devoted supporter of NPP, has appealed to Gambian businesses to be more considerate to the plight of the people and stop overpricing their goods or else Barrow would be forced to go into business to save the public.
“I urge the business community to be considerate to the plight of the masses because situations like what is happening now prompted former president Jammeh into business and they must not allow President Barrow to take similar steps,” he told The Standard.
He argued that the price hikes of food commodities cannot be entirely blamed on the government.
“It should be a collective responsibility that business owners also have a role to play. I travelled to most of our neighbouring countries including Senegal, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Conakry, Ivory Coast among others but to be honest, prices of basic commodities are cheaper in The Gambia compared to those countries. In fact, most of our neighbours are coming here to buy rice, oil, flour and other commodities because of the cheaper prices,” he said.
Opposition
“I want to urge the Gambian opposition to stop blaming the government for everything and start providing solutions to the problems they are talking about. They are governments in waiting. They should be able to guide the government where necessary and stop crying like babies about everything without offering remedies,” he chastised.
Mr Samateh commended finance minister, Mambury Njie and GRA boss Yankuba Darboe for their stance and resilience in keeping the economy intact.
“I don’t usually want to single out but I feel the two gentlemen have been doing phenomenal in the past five years or so. They have made significant contributions in collecting taxes and ensuring government’s discipline spending,” he said.
He urged Gambians to overwhelmingly vote for NPP and its ally candidates.
“If you give the NPP majority at the parliament, the country will witness unprecedented development in the next five years,” he claimed.
He said the opposition should not be taken seriously because they are not offering any good service to the nation.
