Amadou Jaiteh, Leader of PROGRESS
By Fatou Sillah
Amadou Jaiteh, a former diplomat and a lawyer, and leader of the Peoples Reformist Organisation for Growth, Renewal, Equity, Security, and Social Justice (PROGRESS), has sharply criticized local government leaders, describing mayors and council chairmen as extensions of political parties rather than true representatives of their communities.
In an interview with West Coast Radio on Thursday, Jaiteh said many local officials prioritize party loyalty over the needs of the people they are meant to serve.
“Remove mayors, remove chairmen, remove governors—these are all political tools; they have no use. All they do is represent their political parties; they collect revenue, and part of the revenue goes into funding their political parties anyway,” Jaiteh said.
He argued that this system undermines local accountability and suggested that revenue collection would be more efficient if centralized under the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA). According to Jaiteh, the GRA could conduct a thorough audit of commercial, residential, and rental properties, ensuring proper taxation and potentially doubling the revenue currently collected by the Brikama Area Council.
“Imagine the GRA comes in, the GRA is able to do a complete overhaul of the situation, and they get the right data for all commercial businesses, all residential homes, and all rental homes, and they put the right taxes there. We can double what the Brikama Area Council is collecting currently, or even more than that,” he said.
Jaiteh emphasized that the majority of the revenue should be returned directly to communities to fund development initiatives. “That 90%, if it is 500 million annually, that’s 400 million right there for the Brikama Area Council. Now the area council and the community members can set up a system that they want that can be representative of the people,” he said.
He also called for an end to the veneration of local officials, stating, “No more creating demigods in mayors and chairmen.”
Jaiteh’s comments reflect ongoing debates in The Gambia about local governance, accountability, and the role of political parties in municipal administration.