By Fatou Sillah
The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Ahmed Bensouda, has publicly responded to remarks made by the Director of the National Roads Authority (NRA) regarding the existence of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NRA and KMC.
In a Facebook post, Mayor Bensouda addressed the Director’s claim on Tuesday during a Coffee Time program, where the NRA official stated there was no signed MOU with KMC.
The Mayor countered this assertion, noting that NRA officials had been urgently seeking a copy of the MOU from KMC’s planning department.
“The statement would make sense because I’m aware that officers of NRA were frantically trying to acquire a copy of the MOU from the KMC planning department yesterday. In their words, ‘we need it before 8 a.m. Friday morning,” he said.
He suggested that this frantic effort indicated either that the NRA had misplaced their copy of the document or intended to use it for constructive dialogue.
“First of all, this means their copy is lost; second of all, we expected they wanted it for positive constructive engagement and not to arm their director with tools to misinform the general public,” he said.
To support his position, Mayor Bensouda shared a signed copy of the MOU, which bears the approval of the Gambia Public Procurement Authority.
He further addressed additional claims made by the NRA Director, including an assertion that KMC lacks authority to construct roads—an allegation the Mayor interpreted as a potential government attempt to obstruct the project.
“Amongst the many falsehoods, which I don’t intend to respond to at this time. The director also claimed that KMC does not have the power to construct roads (this is a veiled message that the government intends to block the people’s project,” he said.
He added that “this saga is just beginning; however, I appeal to the good citizens and patriots within the ministry of works and national road authority to advise the director and minister that these roads are not for Talib’s house but for the people of the Gambia,” he said.
The mayor also presented correspondence from the NRA, referencing a letter sent after their minister criticized the NRA’s support for the project. Although NRA withdrew from consultancy roles, they agreed to remain as technical advisers.
“This was the letter NRA sent when their minister attacked them for supporting the project. They pulled out of the consultancy but agreed to stay on as technical advisers. According to the Director of NRA, KMC does not have the authority to build roads, so why this letter?” he asked.