{"id":85025,"date":"2025-08-29T16:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis"},"modified":"2025-08-29T17:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:25:37","slug":"udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis","title":{"rendered":"UDP Youth Leader Criticizes Government on Debt Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Hajie Suwaneh, Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s government over what he described as fiscal irresponsibility and anti-consumer policies that threaten The Gambia\u2019s economic stability.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>He was speaking in an interview with the Voice as he responded to the World Bank\u2019s latest report on Gambia\u2019s debt portfolio. Suwaneh said the report\u2019s findings painted a disturbing picture of unsustainable debt levels caused by misuse of public resources and poor financial discipline. He warned that such mismanagement risked mortgaging the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>Suwaneh also took issues with recent decisions by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC). According to him, despite tariff hikes on electricity and water, the quality of services remain poor, with Gambians continuing to endure frequent power cuts and unreliable water supply.<\/p>\n<p>Turning attention on to mobile data pricing, Suwaneh accused PURA of failing in its regulatory role. He recalled that when Comium introduced affordable tariffs, competition forced other providers to reduce prices and improve services. \u201cInstead of encouraging competition that benefits consumers, PURA now seems to resist it, leaving citizens to pay higher prices without better services,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>He further questioned government\u2019s approach to pricing policies, noting that while mobile data tariffs are dictated by the state, essential food items such as rice and cooking oil are left unregulated. \u201cThis contradiction undermines confidence in governance and unfairly burdens ordinary citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Citing a research by World Bank, Suwaneh stressed that internet penetration was a vital driver of national growth, with studies showing that a 10-percent increase in broadband penetration can boost GDP by 1.38 percent. He warns that raising data costs not only limits access to education, communication, and business but also hinders the country\u2019s development prospects.<\/p>\n<p>Suwaneh concluded by urging the government to prioritize accountability, transparency, and the creation of a genuinely competitive market that safeguards the welfare of Gambians.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Hajie Suwaneh, Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s government over what he described as fiscal irresponsibility and anti-consumer policies that threaten The Gambia\u2019s economic stability. He was speaking in an interview with the Voice as he responded to the World Bank\u2019s latest report on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-85025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UDP Youth Leader Criticizes Government on Debt Crisis - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hajie Suwaneh, Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s ...\" \/>\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\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UDP Youth Leader Criticizes Government on Debt Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hajie Suwaneh, Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\" \/>\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=\"2025-08-29T16:50:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-29T17:25:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/sm_1756475665.502931.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"532\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UDP Youth Leader Criticizes Government on Debt Crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-29T16:50:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-29T17:25:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\"},\"wordCount\":347,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/sm_1756475665.502931.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-youth-leader-criticizes-government-on-debt-crisis\",\"name\":\"UDP Youth Leader Criticizes Government on Debt Crisis - 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