Africa-Press – Gambia. The Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Haji Suwaneh, has accused the government of corruption and mismanagement, which he says are pushing thousands of young Gambians to seek opportunities abroad.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Suwaneh said the lack of accountability and political will has left many young people disillusioned.
“From May 2025 to June 2025, in the space of one month, almost more than 2,000 young people left this country in search of a greener pasture; this was by IOM,” Suwaneh said. “If those 2,000 young people can live, risk their lives in the deserts or in the waters, do you think our country—we are at peace, we are not at peace—what is stopping us from having that pasture here? It is corruption.”
He criticized the government’s handling of major corruption scandals, citing the $20 million fertilizer procurement issue in 2021, which he claimed remains unresolved. “That 20 million failed scandal in 2021, that huge failed shortage still went unaccounted for,” he said.
Suwaneh also condemned the government’s response to the acute kidney injury crisis, which led to the deaths of more than 70 children. He accused authorities of attempting to offer compensation to victims’ families instead of pursuing accountability.
“The 70 children case about that acute kidney injury issue, the government was trying to bribe the parents instead of trying to find mechanisms of accountability; they tried to bribe the parents, they call it compensation, I call it bribery,” he said.
Suwaneh emphasized that a UDP government would implement a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and ensure strict accountability.
“UDP government would stand for accountability to ensure that Gambian people’s bututs wherever they went, would be accounted for; that is what we call accountability,” he said.
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