By Fatou Sillah
Ousainu Darboe, leader of The Gambia’s main opposition party, on Monday sharply criticized President Adama Barrow’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), describing it as a “checklist of propaganda” and a thinly veiled campaign speech ahead of the 2026 presidential election.
Speaking on Coffee Time with Peter Gomez, a current affairs program on West Coast Radio, Darboe accused the president of using the national platform to promote his political agenda rather than outline substantive policy goals.
“It was certainly a checklist of a propaganda agenda. I can see that he is starting a campaign for the 2026 presidential elections. The paragraphs, there was a lot of vagueness in some of them, and in fact some areas that he dealt with, I think, more could have been said about what the government intends to do,” he said.
Darboe, who leads the United Democratic Party (UDP), expressed particular concern over what he described as the president’s inadequate engagement with foreign affairs, especially in light of Barrow’s current role as chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
“One area that concerns me more is the area of foreign affairs, foreign policy. I am interested in it because our president is the chairman of the OIC, and on this day, when the world is in turmoil, I think this is the time that he must stand up,” he said.
He emphasized that, in his role as Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), President Barrow should have taken a more proactive stance.
“He called for peace to return to the Middle East; that is really just sitting in the Gambia National Assembly and calling for peace as chairman; you ought to do more than that; you ought to engage others like world leaders would,” he said.
He added that President Barrow has yet to fully utilize the influence that comes with leading the OIC. Stating “As chairman of the OIC, he has 57 nations behind him; that is political weight, and I think it is a missed opportunity.”
Turning to domestic matters, Darboe disputed the government’s framing of the recent OIC summit hosted in Banjul as a diplomatic success. He argued that low attendance among member states was a reflection of poor preparation and ineffective diplomacy.“It was not successful. I think his emissaries should have done more to impress on member states that this is their conference. Gambia is hosting it and any failure in the organization is a failure for the entire organization. I think his ambassadors should have gone out and sat out there and made sure that all member states attended,” he said.
Darboe also took aim at recent government infrastructure projects, alleging that initiatives such as the installation of electricity poles and free utility meters are thinly disguised electoral tactics.
“We see poles being erected all over the country with wires, and I know in some places they have gone to dump meters on them and say it’s free; of course we all know what that means; it is an incentive for the 2026 presidential elections,” he said.
He added that, “How can you give meters to people for free when NAWEC is in such a dire situation?”
On the broader question of government spending, the veteran opposition figure called for a shift in priorities, urging the administration to invest more heavily in agriculture rather than focusing predominantly on road construction.
“All these monies spent on road infrastructure—if you take three quarters of that and inject it into agriculture, we would by now be near food self-sufficiency,” he said.
Quoting a Mandinka proverb, he added, “You have to have enough food before you concentrate on roads; feed the people first.”
Darboe concluded his remarks with a call for greater accountability in future State of the Nation Addresses. “It should not just be solemn declarations year in and year out; you said this last year; how far have you gone in implementing it?” he said.