Business tycoon Sillaba Samateh has urged Gambians to understand and be patient with President Adama Barrow whom he said took office under difficult circumstances.
Speaking in a Star TV Gambia Foloo programme airing every Tuesday, Sillaba added: “We should understand that apart from having to deal with a country that was badly divided, Barrow headed a fragile coalition government in his first term which has seriously affected his efforts at fulfilling his campaign promises. This is why I believe he needs patience from Gambians to be able to achieve his dreams and targets.”
He said Barrow is capable and ready to lead and despite all frustrations directed at him he remains on course to realise the National Development Plan NDP.
Sillaba claimed that Gambians should be proud of President Barrow’s achievements. “As far as I am concerned, he has lived up to expectations. I just want the Gambian people to understand that there can be only one president at a time,” he said.
He added that the Barrow administration has done tremendously well in the areas of infrastructure.
Food prices
Commenting on the high prices of essential goods, the businessman said a country like the Gambia that imports almost 90 percent of the food it consumes will find it difficult to control prices.
But he said still now, the staple diet rice, is cheaper in the Gambia than Senegal, Guinea Bissau and other neighbouring countries.
“This is why you see businessmen smuggling food items from the Gambia to Senegal because they are cheaper here,” he said.
He said the government’s decision to purchase 70 buses to ease the suffering Gambians endure in traffic is testimony that they care and listen to the cries of the electorate.
“It is normal to criticise the president or his government but we should do it fairly and justifiably,” he said.
Barrow’s third term
Samateh said he agrees with NPP’s campaign manager Lamin Cham that President Barrow deserves another term or more.
GRA
On GRA’s groundbreaking D1.5 billion revenue collections last month, Sillaba said: “I just hope and pray that Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe will train his staff to be like him so that when he retires, they will take over from where he stops because as a businessman, I can tell the amount of energy the GRA is putting to ensure they collect the needed taxes for the government to function”.
