Africa-Press – Gambia. The Minister of Local Government, Lands, and Religious Affairs, Hamat N.K. Bah, on Tuesday accused several local government councils of prioritizing political interests over their core responsibility to serve residents, arguing that political rivalry has undermined service delivery at the municipal level.
Speaking at the government’s end-of-year press conference, Mr. Bah said many councils have strayed from their development mandate, focusing instead on political positioning rather than meeting the expectations of the electorate.
“The problem of the matter is these councils are more political today than they are serving the people that elected them; they are more into politics than delivering service and dividends of democracy to their electorate,” he said.
The minister rejected claims by some councils that interference from the central government is responsible for poor performance, dismissing the allegations as unfounded.
“It is a baseless allegation; it’s not true, and the public knows that they are collecting hundreds of millions on their behalf and they are not putting it into proper use,” he said.
He urged councils to take responsibility for how public funds are managed, warning against shifting blame to the central government when faced with public criticism. According to the minister, attributing shortcomings to government interference has become an “escape route” for councils unwilling to account for their performance.
Mr. Bah also said the Barrow administration has provided more support to local councils than previous governments, though he did not provide specific figures.
During the briefing, the minister gave an update on the government’s affordable housing programme, which aims to construct 200,000 housing units over the next decade. He said the project, initially expected to begin earlier, experienced minor delays but is now close to implementation.
“The project is to take off by the next two weeks; we wanted to do it this week, but we had a few hitches. We are almost there, and we are finalizing the details,” he said.
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