Africa-Press – Gambia. Transport, Works and Infrastructure Minister Ebrima Sillah on Monday accused the Brikama Area Council of obstructing government plans to construct several new markets in the West Coast Region, saying a legal dispute initiated by the council forced the projects to a halt.
Speaking at the President’s “Meet the People Tour” stop in Busumbala, Mr. Sillah held up a document he described as a sketch plan for a proposed market in Brikama containing more than 1,200 canteens. The project, he told residents, never proceeded because the council took the central government to court.
“They asked the court to bar the government from participating in the management of a market the government itself was constructing in Brikama,” Mr. Sillah said. “Because of this legal fight, the project stopped.”
The minister said the same dispute stalled planned market developments in Tanji, Brufut, Coastal Road, and Salagi, communities that have long urged the government to address overcrowding and poor infrastructure in their local markets.
“So the people of Brikama and the West Coast should ask their chairman and councillors why these markets were not built,” he said, insisting that the decision to freeze the projects stemmed directly from the council’s actions.
Mr. Sillah argued that the council’s lawsuit amounted to sabotaging economic opportunities for women and young people who, he said, would have benefited from expanded market space. “Brufut does not have a market today because your councils are busy fighting the central government, and we do not have the time for continuous legal battles,” he added.
Mr. Sillah framed his remarks as a statement of fact rather than partisan criticism and argued that the stalled projects had deprived women and young people of economic opportunities. “All these markets that we have listed here, if they were built, how many women and youth would have benefited?” he asked. “But it is sabotaged by your council.”
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