Africa-Press – Gambia. President Adama Barrow’s national address has come under criticism from the United Democratic Party (UDP), which has described his handling of the Jammeh asset sale scandal as “a mockery of Gambians’ intelligence” and a deliberate attempt to avoid accountability.
In a strongly worded statement released shortly after the broadcast, the UDP criticised Barrow’s refusal to establish an independent commission to investigate the sale of Jammeh’s properties. Instead, the president delegated the probe to the National Assembly and the National Audit Office (NAO) both of which the UDP claimed were under his party’s control.
“This address was not only brief and evasive,” the UDP charged, “but a betrayal of accountability at a time when Gambians are demanding answers.”
The opposition party questioned the president’s sudden confidence in the NAO, recalling how Barrow once dismissed audit reports such as those revealing financial irregularities at the Gambia Ports Authority and in COVID-19 funds as “mere opinions.”
The UDP also took aim at Barrow’s record on past investigations and reforms. They accused him of ignoring the Faraba Banta Commission report, stalling on implementing the TRRC recommendations, and pushing through an anti-corruption law “with no intention of enforcing it.”
“His promise to implement recommendations ‘to the letter’ is a recycled joke,” the statement said.
Doubts were also casted on the impartiality of the National Assembly. The UDP cited the legislature’s previous rejection of the 2020 draft constitution and diaspora voting, describing it as a “party-first, country-last” body.
UDP then issued four key demands: the creation of an independent presidential commission, full implementation of all past investigative recommendations, prosecution of individuals implicated in audit reports, and an end to the politicised denial of protest permits.
“The UDP will not relent,” the statement concluded, “whether through the courts, the streets, or the ballot box in 2026.”
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