By Seedy Jobe
A senior official in the Unite Movement for Change has sharply criticized Adama Barrow’s administration, saying that after nearly a decade in office, it has delivered “far less than the moment demanded.”
The criticism, from MC Cham Jr., a business councilor at the Kanifing Municipal Council, came on Tuesday, March 24, less than two days after Mr. Barrow presided over the commissioning of a newly acquired ferry in Barra.
In a statement, Mr. Cham argued that the government’s record did not match its rhetoric, pointing to the ferry purchase as an example of what he described as modest achievements being presented as major milestones.
“After ten years in office, Adama Barrow’s government has delivered far less than the moment demanded,” he said. “In all that time, the administration has managed to acquire only a single ferry, yet this is presented as though it were an extraordinary national achievement.”
Mr. Cham contrasted the administration’s record with that of Yahya Jammeh, Mr. Barrow’s predecessor, noting that multiple ferries had been commissioned during Mr. Jammeh’s two decades in power.
“In any serious country, leadership is measured by vision, delivery, and the ability to move a nation forward with purpose,” Mr. Cham said, adding that governments elsewhere were investing in large-scale infrastructure projects, including bridges and modern transport systems.
He accused the Barrow administration of lowering public expectations by framing incremental progress as significant achievement. “Here at home, we are being asked to applaud what should never have been framed as a grand accomplishment in the first place,” he said, describing the period as “an age of lowered expectations.”
Mr. Cham also criticized what he called a gap between official promises and lived realities. “The grand language of development has not been matched by the substance of development,” he said. “Gambians were promised progress. What too many have received instead is stagnation dressed up as success.”
He further alleged that governance under Mr. Barrow had been marked by “corruption, drift, and the careless mismanagement of national resources,” though he did not cite specific examples.
Looking ahead, Mr. Cham expressed support for Talib Bensouda, the mayor of Kanifing, whom he described as representing “energy, clarity, and a modern sense of purpose.”
He concluded with a call for political change, suggesting that upcoming elections should serve as a referendum on the administration’s performance.
“December must be the moment when illusion gives way to truth,” he said. “The time has come for Adama Barrow to go, and for a new chapter of transformation to begin.”
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