By Fatou Sillah
A Gambian migration advocate has accused the government of relying on data he compiled on migrant deaths and disappearances after officials earlier questioned the credibility of his figures.
Ebrima Drammeh said he spent much of 2025 collecting information on Gambian migrants who died or went missing during journeys across sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. The data, he said, was gathered through contacts with migrants, families, and networks monitoring migration routes.
Mr. Drammeh said he organized a press conference in early January to present his findings and invited representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, and the International Organization for Migration, but neither attended.
After he publicly released the figures, he said, the Ministry of Information challenged the accuracy of the data.
“After I announced the number of the dead and missing migrants I recorded in 12 months, the Ministry of Information came out and attacked me, saying these figures are not true,” Mr. Drammeh said. “They said they don’t believe the government is going to make an inquiry about these numbers.”
Mr. Drammeh said he was later surprised when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Gambians Abroad presented figures on migrant deaths and disappearances to the National Assembly of The Gambia that he said closely resembled his own without acknowledging his work.
“Where did the ministry get this figure of the dead and the missing migrants?” he said. “Because I know they don’t have any data collection on migrants dead in the sea, on land, and in the desert. They never collect data in the first place, and the data the minister gave to the National Assembly is my data.”
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Gambians Abroad have not publicly responded to the allegation.
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