EFF Gambia Leader Backs Candlelight Protests, Offers Four-Week Emergency Power Plan

By Seedy Jobe

Prince Ebrahim Sanyang, leader of Economic Freedom Fighters Gambia, has backed nationwide candlelight protests over persistent electricity outages and offered to help lead an emergency effort he says could stabilize the country’s power supply within four weeks.

In a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Mr. Sanyang described demonstrations that spread from Banjul to communities across the Greater Banjul Area and West Coast Region over the previous 24 hours as a “national distress call.”

He said the protesters’ demands reflected the frustrations of families, students, health workers, traders, and businesses whose daily lives and livelihoods have been disrupted by prolonged and recurring blackouts.

Mr. Sanyang said he stood with Gambians peacefully demanding reliable electricity, while urging demonstrators to remain calm and responsible. He also called on the authorities to protect citizens exercising their right to peaceful protest and appealed directly to President Adama Barrow to listen to their concerns.

The electricity crisis, Mr. Sanyang argued, has grown beyond an operational problem at the National Water and Electricity Company, or NAWEC, becoming an issue of economic security, national productivity, public confidence, and political leadership.

He criticized what he described as temporary improvements in electricity supply following demonstrations, saying short-term relief was no substitute for a dependable national power system.

“Access without reliability is not electricity,” he said, arguing that the number of communities connected to the grid mattered little if consumers could not depend on having power.

Mr. Sanyang said he had warned in May that weaknesses at NAWEC, coupled with insufficient generation, transmission, and management capacity, could have economic and political consequences. He said the latest demonstrations underscored those concerns.

Pointing to his previous involvement in the energy sector, Mr. Sanyang said that in 2016, before seeking political office, he participated in high-level diplomatic and commercial discussions involving TBEA, a Chinese power transmission and infrastructure company, as well as Gambian and Chinese stakeholders.

He said the discussions focused on rehabilitating, expanding, and modernizing The Gambia’s electricity infrastructure.

Mr. Sanyang said TBEA and an affiliated solar company subsequently secured contracts under the Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernization Project, known as GERMP. He said three contracts were valued at a combined $56.2 million as part of a broader program worth about $164 million.

Photographs included with his statement, he said, were taken during those earlier meetings and were not produced for his current political campaign.

Mr. Sanyang argued that international partnerships alone could not guarantee reliable electricity without competent management, effective supervision, and institutional accountability.

He said he was prepared to meet immediately, without partisan conditions, with President Barrow, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, NAWEC, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, development partners and independent energy specialists to develop an emergency electricity stabilization program.

“By Allah, I will deliver permanent solutions within four weeks,” Mr. Sanyang said.

He did not provide detailed technical or financial specifications for how the four-week plan would be implemented.

Mr. Sanyang said Gambians should not have to wait until the December election for improvements in electricity supply. Regional power imports, he added, should supplement domestic generation rather than determine whether households and businesses have electricity.

He urged Gambians to assess political leaders by their records and their ability to mobilize financing, expertise, technology and international partnerships rather than by campaign promises.

Hospitals, schools and businesses all depend on reliable electricity, Mr. Sanyang said.

“The Gambia needs a solution,” he added, “and I am ready to lead it.”