By Fatou Sillah
Lamin Manneh, Deputy Secretary for External Affairs of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly criticized Finance Minister Seedy Keita, describing him as the worst-performing finance minister in The Gambia’s recent history.
“Seedy Keita is one of the worst ministers of finance, if not the worst minister of finance we have had in this country. The guy is a joke,” Manneh said, taking aim at the minister’s record on economic management and public finance.
Manneh expressed deep concern over the continued depreciation of the Dalasi, noting that the currency has weakened significantly against major international currencies over the past several years.
“From 2022 to now, the dollar has lost at least 65% of its value. Last month, in November, the dollar was at D73; today it’s D74. At the beginning of the year, it was at D69; today it’s at D74. By the end of next year, it will be over D80,” he claimed.
According to Manneh, the currency’s decline is driven by structural weaknesses in the economy. “The Dalasi is depreciating constantly and continuously because we do not have a real economy to sustain the dollar. We import every single thing in this country,” he said.
He criticized the government’s reliance on imports and its limited export base, saying the country lacks meaningful production capacity. “We do not manufacture anything, we do not export anything; the only thing we export is groundnuts,” he added.
Turning to the tourism sector, Manneh highlighted growing challenges facing industry operators, particularly the impact of rising electricity costs. “When you increase the electricity cost for the hotel industry by 47 percent, all the prices in the hotel industry go up,” he said, arguing that such increases further undermine competitiveness.
Manneh also questioned the introduction of new charges, including the airport security levy imposed on travelers. “They have put on this security port levy at the airport; the amount is not much—it is D2,000, but it’s the principle that puts off a number of those people,” he said.