Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services
By Fatou Sillah
The Gambia’s minister of information, media, and broadcasting services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said in a radio interview that President Adama Barrow’s salary is among the lowest paid to heads of state in Africa, arguing that the office of the presidency should be understood as a call to public service rather than a path to personal enrichment.
Speaking on West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay dismissed public debate over the president’s remuneration, describing it as a distraction from the broader responsibilities of governance. “The salary of the president is not worth debating,” he said. “It is one of the lowest on the continent, and not everybody can earn it.”
He said that any political aspirant motivated primarily by the financial benefits of the presidency would fail to gain public support, noting that the position demands sacrifice and a sustained commitment to solving national problems.
“If anybody wants to go to the presidency because of the salaries taking you there, we cannot vote for you,” Dr. Ceesay said. “The presidency is not about the salary; it is about public service.”
The minister pointed to what he described as significant sacrifices made by the executive branch to expand access to basic services, including electricity and water, as well as investments in education, health care, and infrastructure. These efforts, he said, are intended to improve living standards and ensure that Gambians can live with dignity.
“We are serving the public, and we are doing everything possible, all the sacrifices to serve the public to increase public service delivery and ensure that every Gambian lives a dignified life,” he said.
Dr. Ceesay acknowledged that the country continues to face economic and social challenges but argued that the government has recorded meaningful progress despite difficulties inherited from previous administrations and pressures stemming from global economic conditions.
“Yes, there are challenges, and yes, we could do better as a country, but remember most of our problems are inherited, and development is long-term planning,” he said.
He urged the public and political actors to ground debates in facts about service delivery rather than focusing narrowly on salaries, saying that governance requires balancing immediate needs with long-term national planning.
“Every generation builds the country for the next; that is how it works, and we are tasked with two challenges. The first challenge is to give Gambians what they want today—the services today. The second challenge is to build the country for the future,” he said.