Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration unless NPP and UDP reconcile. \u201cThe issue of joining the government is a political matter and I don\u2019t share the same political beliefs with the government. It is an NPP government and I am a member of the UDP. That can only happen if UDP and NPP reconcile and become one,\u201d he told Star FM in an interview to be aired today.<\/p>\nHe added: \u201cBut to be honest, my focus is KMC and I am satisfied with this job. I am very happy serving my people and I believe I will have more impact on people\u2019s lives here. This is why I have a lot of projects in place to transform KMC\u201d.<\/p>\n
On whether he will seek re-election, Mayor Bensouda said: \u201cWe have not reached that time yet. My preoccupation right now is about serving the people of KM and at the end of my term, I will declare my decision on whether I will seek re-election or not. That is my stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to his council\u2019s achievements, the mayor said: \u201cWhen we came in 2017 the KMC budget was about D100 million but that has significantly gone up in 2022 to D300 million and we have budgeted D438 million for 2023. This is just to tell you that the KMC budget has grown significantly because of our successful fight against corruption and the increment of staff incentives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Bensouda disclosed that he was able to build a very strong and professional team of staff who saw the progress of the council first before anything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have seen my vision and embraced it. So, that has been the secret behind our success,\u201d he said. He said the council is working on a municipal road project to build thirty eight kilometers of roads with drainage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have realised that my first five years focused too much on the garbage project but it\u2019s time now for us to focus on feeder roads and the 2023 budget will mainly focus on that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He said the council is still committed to building parks and completing the construction of its multimillion library, garbage transfer station, slum development project and a radio station.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole project including the tricycle project in Ebo Town will cost the council D100 million. Another component is to buy sixteen more service vehicles \u2013 six for the garbage project and the ten will be service pick-ups,\u201d he said. He said the council is also working on a project for an affordable housing company just like the transport company. \u201cWe have seen how much our people are suffering in paying rent,\u201d he said. He added the 2023 budget will subsidize the council buses. \u201cWe are targeting about 50 buses to run in KM,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Bensouda condemned the process of appointing interim committees to overview councils during elections. \u201cThis is illegal and don\u2019t get me wrong, this doesn\u2019t mean that I am scared of anything or being checked. We just want to be treated like the president and the National Assembly members are treated. We want to be respected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He denied awarding contracts to his family-owned businesses. \u201cWe have been very transparent and even insiders at the National Audit Office are telling us we are rated as one of the most transparent councils in terms of compliance with procurement rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was serving as lawyer for the Council even during Mayor Yankuba Colley\u2019s time but when I came, I called a meeting and requested that her contract should be terminated because she is my mother and the council endorsed that and the contract was cancelled. So, if I am able to do that, why would I in turn give my contracts to families?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the people of KM should trust him and challenged anyone who has anything against him to come forward with proof. He said the council gives D200, 000 subvention to ward councillors every year for small initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cKMC is the only council doing that in this country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Tune for more of the mayor\u2019s interview on Star FM this morning 96.6 FM<\/b><\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Omar Bah Africa-Press – Gambia. The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration unless NPP and UDP reconcile. \u201cThe issue of joining the government is a political matter and I don\u2019t share the same political beliefs with the government. It is an NPP government and I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[2355,2361,260,5258,8565],"class_list":["post-22597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia","tag-mayor","tag-reconcile"],"yoast_head":"\n
MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1006\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\"},\"wordCount\":728,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\",\"Mayor\",\"RECONCILE\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\",\"name\":\"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":1006,\"caption\":\"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE - Gambia","description":"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE","og_description":"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":1006,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE","datePublished":"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile"},"wordCount":728,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Gambia","Gambia","Mayor","RECONCILE"],"articleSection":["all news","community","head lines","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile","name":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-04T16:25:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-04T16:48:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda has ruled out accepting appointment from the Barrow administration un ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_4-633c63c6170fc.jpg","width":720,"height":1006,"caption":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-i-will-not-accept-barrows-job-unless-npp-and-udp-reconcile#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MAYOR BENSOUDA: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BARROW\u2019S JOB UNLESS NPP AND UDP RECONCILE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}