Barrow And The New Youth Movement.

The spending of taxpayers money on President Barrow`s one year victory anniversary celebration has been condemned by United Democratic Party`s MPs.

Thousands of Gambians including President Adama Barrow and his cabinet ministers on Saturday 2ndDecember converged at the Buffer Zone in the Serrekunda metropolis to celebrate his victory in the December 2016 presidential election.

According to Hon. Sulayman Saho of Central Badibu and Fakebba Colley of King West, taxpayers money used to organise the event could have been spent on development priority areas.

MP Saho said on a day like this, the President should have addressed the entire nation through the media about his government`s development programmes, rather than “gathering people at the Buffer Zone.”

He said:

“We should concentrate on improving the living conditions of our people, not useless celebrations. It`s not a step in the right direction.

“Today I visited Central Badibu the place lacks solar energy, there is water shortage, bad roads and youth unemployment. That should be our focus.”

Saho reminds that amongst the reasons former President Jammeh was voted out is his wasteful spending on celebrations. He added that the money used to finance Barrow`s victory anniversary ‘is a lot’, which will not benefit Gambians.

Before becoming the Coalition presidential candidate and his subsequent victory, Barrow was a member of the United Democratic Party and enjoys lots of support from the party. However, according to MP Saho, they were not invited to the event as MPs and the UDP party executives were not informed.

He said in the 2018 National Budget, over twenty million dalasis has been budgeted for celebrations, which he is prepared to challenge. Saho added that if necessary, he will petition the executives about their wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money on unworthy celebrations.

The anniversary celebration has generated lots of attention on social media, as those known to be Barrow`s closest political ally`s distances themselves from the event. Fakebba Colley MP for King West, also of the UDP said the money used for the event, “should have been spent on priority areas.”

He pointed out the bad road conditions in his constituency that needs attention and added that MPs should have been consulted about the event for their advice. Equally, Hon. Colley explained that they were not invited to attend the event.

www.sbngambia.com  (December 3rd, 2017)