By Makutu Manneh
The information minister of The Gambia on Monday rejected claims that the country remains dependent on foreign powers, saying the government has moved beyond aid-driven relationships toward what he described as mutually beneficial partnerships.
Speaking in response to remarks by the veteran politician Sidia Jatta, the minister, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said that characterizations of The Gambia as unfree or dependent no longer reflect current realities.
Mr. Jatta had argued during a national dialogue organized by the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice that the country was still beholden to those who granted its independence, a position Dr. Ceesay dismissed as outdated.
“I think Sidia must be living in the past if he said that. Nobody is begging anymore. Now we are trading, we are dealing, and we are engaging our partners in a mutually beneficial manner in a win-win situation,” he said.
He said that external grants, often cited as evidence of dependency, now form a shrinking share of national financing and should be understood as part of negotiated development agreements rather than handouts.
More than 60 percent of the national budget, Dr. Ceesay added, is sourced locally—a figure he said underscored the country’s growing fiscal independence.
He described The Gambia as a stable multiparty democracy and one of the fastest-growing economies in the subregion, arguing that the nation has made measurable progress in governance and development since its political transition.
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay said the moment called for national reflection and celebration, urging citizens to consider how far the country has come from its starting point. He cautioned against what he described as overly pessimistic narratives, warning that they risk overshadowing tangible progress and hard-won gains.
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