By Fatou Sillah
The Gambia’s information minister on Tuesday accused the mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council of neglecting his official responsibilities in favor of political campaigning ahead of the December 2026 presidential election, sharpening tensions between national officials and one of the country’s most prominent local leaders.
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, said in an interview on West Coast Radio that Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda had effectively neglected his official duties, devoting much of his time to political engagements outside the municipality rather than managing local affairs.
“What’s happening at KMC is sad,” Dr. Ceesay said. “What the mayor has done is to abandon KMC. Today he is in Sabach Sanjal, and tomorrow he is somewhere else.”
The minister argued that the mayor’s mandate was clear and geographically bound. “The people of KMC voted him in to work in KMC,” he said. “As long as he’s the mayor, he should stay and work in KMC.”
Dr. Ceesay went further, accusing Mr. Bensouda of devoting himself almost entirely to politics. “He is now focused on his politics—the time he is spending on politics is 100 percent politics,” he said. “He has abandoned KMC totally.”
The criticism was echoed by Ebrima Sillah, the Minister of Transport, Works, and Infrastructure, who questioned the council’s management of municipal services and finances. He suggested that shortcomings in sanitation and public maintenance reflected weak oversight rather than limited resources.
“A basic, important facility like a market should not be a problem for a municipality to clean,” Minister Sillah said, describing the state of municipal markets as emblematic of broader governance shortcomings.
He argued that even modest equipment, if properly deployed and maintained, could meaningfully improve sanitation conditions across KMC’s busy commercial spaces. He also called for stronger waste management coordination and greater community involvement in keeping public areas clean.
Mr. Sillah also raised concerns about the council’s revenue base. He claimed that the council collects substantial revenue from property rates and local levies—enough, he said, to dwarf the annual budgets of multiple government ministries combined.
“The KMC alone, the amount of money that they are collecting on rates and small little taxes for the activities is in excess of more than what one or two or three ministries’ annual budget,” he said.
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