By Sheikh Tijan Hydara
While the government celebrates macroeconomic growth in Banjul, the Central River Region (CRR) tells a different story—one of broken promises, $30 million in stolen tax revenue, and patients crossing rivers in paddling boats because a promised bridge never arrived. This analysis bridges the gap between official narratives and the lived reality of Gambians.
President Adama Barrow’s 2026 State of the Nation Address presents a government cloaked in the language of “progress,” citing kilometers of roads and a 5.9% GDP growth. However, when this narrative is measured against the lived reality of Gambians, a massive accountability gap emerges. The government celebrates “inputs” while ignoring the “outcomes” of a corrupt system that prioritises foreign interests over local survival.
1. The $30M Petroleum scandal vs provincial health
The President speaks of fiscal stability, yet the recent $30 million petroleum tax scandal exposes a gutting of the national treasury. While $30 million was diverted through tax evasion and suspicious account unfreezing, the URR, CRR, and LRR remain without state-of-the-art referral hospitals.
The Contrast: The government claims debt is “manageable,” but it is only manageable because the state fails to invest in life-saving healthcare. The $30M loss represents a direct theft from the sick and the poor in the provinces.
2. The fisheries betrayal: Depriving the plate
The address ignores the silent crisis in our waters. By granting excessive licenses to foreign industrial trawlers and allowing fishmeal factories to flourish, the government has effectively sold off the Gambian diet.
The Result: Gambians are deprived of quality fish at affordable prices. What was once a staple protein is now a luxury, as our resources are exported to feed foreign livestock while local markets sit empty. This is not “growth”; it is the systematic dispossession of the Gambian people.
3. Infrastructure: The “bridge vs ferry” deception
A glaring example of the gap between promise and delivery is the Banjul-Barra crossing. The original promise to the Gambian people was a permanent bridge to ensure seamless movement and economic integration.
The Reality: Instead of the promised bridge, the government has used a $20M grant to procure new ferries. While new ferries are an improvement over the old, broken ones, they represent a step backward from the vision of a permanent structural link. It is an “infrastructure trap” that keeps the nation dependent on slow, limited transit rather than bold, transformative development.
4. Dependency on the diaspora
The President touted $872 million in remittances (34% of GDP) as a sign of stability. In truth, this is an admission of domestic failure. The Gambian economy is currently on life support provided by the diaspora. While the government praises this capital, it continues to marginalise these very citizens, denying them the right to vote and failing to create an environment where their money can be invested in local industry rather than just family survival.
5. Accountability: A broken chain
The National Audit Office consistently identifies financial irregularities, yet there is a total lack of successful prosecutions. From the $30M petroleum scandal to “ghost workers” in the civil service, the government treats disclosure as the end of the process, rather than the beginning of justice.
A system of “detection without consequence”
The primary failure of the Barrow administration is not a lack of evidence, but a deliberate break in the chain of justice.
The primary failure of the Barrow administration is not a lack of evidence, but a deliberate break in the chain of justice.
The Investigative Dead-End: The National Assembly Joint Committees (FPAC and PEC) have already identified illegal acts in the $30 million petroleum scandal, including tax evasion, money laundering, and the use of sham corporate structures (like Apogee FZC and Creed Energy).
Selective Prosecution: While small-scale offenders face the full weight of the law, high-ranking officials and their “foreign partners” are protected. The Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) have been criticised for “lukewarm” responses to parliamentary findings that recommend criminal proceedings against ministers and corporate figures.
Judicial Sabotage: Reports of “forum shopping”—where specific judges are used to overturn freezing orders on suspicious accounts—suggest that the rot has reached the bench itself. Under the Anti-Corruption Act, these findings should trigger immediate asset forfeiture and imprisonment, yet the state remains silent.
Focus on the CRR: The Human Cost of Neglect
Nowhere is the government’s “State of Denial” more visible than in the Central River Region (CRR). While the $30 million loss is debated in Banjul, residents in the CRR are paying with their lives.
Conclusion
After nearly a decade, the standard of assessment cannot be “what was initiated,” but “what was delivered.” A government that loses $30 million to corruption, sells its fishing rights to foreigners, and replaces a promised bridge with a ferry is not a government in progress—it is a government in denial. Until policy leads to measurable improvements in the price of a fish and the quality of a provincial hospital, the “official narrative” will remain a fiction to the average Gambian.
1. Fiscal accountability: The “$30m recovery initiative”
The government must move beyond simply identifying “ghost workers” and tax evasion to active recovery and prosecution.
Special Prosecutor’s Office: Establish an independent body to investigate the $30 million petroleum scandal, with the power to freeze assets and prosecute high-ranking officials and their corporate accomplices.
Ring-fencing Recovered Funds: Legally mandate that any funds recovered from corruption or tax evasion in the petroleum and civil service sectors be redirected exclusively to referral hospitals in URR, CRR, and LRR.
Public Contracts Register: Launch a live, digital portal showing every government contract, the beneficial owners of the companies involved, and the delivery status of the project.
2. Fisheries: “Gambia First” Maritime policy
The current model of “licensing for revenue” must be replaced with a model of “fishing for nutrition.”
Moratorium on fishmeal: Immediately halt the expansion of fishmeal factories and phase out existing ones (like those in Gunjur and Sanyang) that prioritize animal feed for export over human food for Gambians.
Artisanal Protection Zone: Expand the “exclusion zone” where foreign industrial trawlers are banned, and equip the Gambia Navy with modern patrol boats to arrest encroaching vessels.
Price Control & Cold Chain: Invest in state-owned cold storage facilities in inland markets to ensure that fish caught on the coast reaches the provinces at an affordable, regulated price.
3. Infrastructure: The “Bridge over Ferry” mandate
While the $20M ferry grant provides a temporary fix, it must not be used as an excuse to abandon the Banjul-Barra Bridge.
A Binding Bridge Timeline: The government must publish a transparent, year-by-year construction roadmap for the bridge, rather than vague “feasibility studies.”
Domestic Content Law: Legislate that a minimum percentage of any infrastructure project (bridge or road) must use Gambian-owned firms and local labor, moving away from total reliance on foreign contractors.
4. Health: Provincial equity standard
The disparity between the capital and the provinces is a violation of the social contract.
The 15% Abuja Pledge: Commit to the African Union standard of allocating 15% of the national budget to health, specifically targeting the construction of specialized surgical and maternity wings in Bansang, Basse, and Farafenni.
Incentives for Doctors: Provide hardship allowances and housing for medical professionals who serve in the URR, CRR, and LRR to ensure these hospitals are not just buildings, but staffed centers of excellence.
5. Diaspora empowerment: From Remittances to Representation If the diaspora provides 34% of the GDP, they must have a say in how the country is run.
The Diaspora Vote: Implement the long-promised mechanism for external voting in the 2026 elections.
Diaspora Investment Bond: Create a secure, government-backed bond that allows Gambians abroad to invest directly in healthcare and energy infrastructure with guaranteed returns, bypassing corrupt middlemen.
1. The Bansang Ferry: A Floating Death Trap
The promise of a bridge has been replaced by the reality of the Bansang-Bush Town ferry, which has become a symbol of provincial abandonment.
The “Paddling” Referral: It is a common, tragic occurrence for patients in critical condition to be offloaded from ambulances and carried onto paddling boats because the ferry is too slow, broken, or literally being pulled by hand with ropes.
Broken Livelihoods: This 200-meter crossing can take over an hour due to engine failure and “holes in the middle” of the vessel. This delay disconnects the northern bank of the CRR from essential trade and life-saving care at Bansang Hospital.
2. Healthcare in the CRR: Buildings without basics
Bansang Hospital, the major referral center for the region, is struggling under the weight of resource constraints.
Missing Equipment: While $30 million in tax revenue vanished, CRR clinics lack basic medicines and diagnostic equipment. During the rainy season, entire villages are cut off, leaving women in labor to rely on donkey carts on treacherous roads.
Personnel Shortages: The CRR suffers from a severe shortage of qualified healthcare professionals who are unwilling to serve in a region where the government refuses to invest in basic infrastructure.
3. Food insecurity: Fish as a luxury in the interior
The “giving away” of the fisheries sector hits the CRR hardest. As foreign trawlers deplete stocks at the coast for export to Europe and China, the “ripple effect” of scarcity moves inland.
Price Inflation: Fish that once reached CRR markets at affordable prices has become a luxury. Local traders must compete with industrial factories, driving the price of a basket of fish from D100 to over D500.
Nutritional Deprivation: For the people of the CRR, who already face high poverty rates, the disappearance of affordable fish means a direct decline in animal protein intake, leading to long-term health crises for the next generation.
Summary table: The CRR reality check
Transport “$20M Grant for new ferries” while patients crossing in paddling boats; ferry pulled by ropes.
Health: Detailed expenditures & initiatives but women in labor still use donkey carts; lack of basic equipment.
Food: Economic growth of 5.9% but fish prices up 500%; protein becoming unaffordable.
Justice: Respect for the rule of law but zero prosecution.
The author is the leader of The Gambia Alliance for National Unity (GANU)
