{"id":90542,"date":"2025-11-20T06:26:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs"},"modified":"2025-11-20T06:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:26:05","slug":"mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Bensouda Pledges Economic Reform Amid Rising Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>In a wide-ranging interview on West Coast Radio, Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Kanifing Municipal Council and a prominent member of the United Democratic Movement for Change (UMC) signaled that addressing the country\u2019s soaring cost of living would be his top priority in the first 100 days of office.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most pressing issue is the cost of living. That is more important than the constitution,\u201d Mayor Bensouda said. \u201cYou have to have a full belly to think about laws, and today the suffering of the average Gambian is beyond what anybody would think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While he emphasized the urgency of economic relief, Mayor Bensouda also expressed support for constitutional reforms, particularly regarding the Public Order Act and presidential term limits. \u201cI think there are certain laws that could not wait for the full constitution process to end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>To combat rising living costs, Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda proposed a series of economic initiatives focused on strengthening local production and optimizing the use of foreign aid. He criticized current government spending, calling for leaner budgets and more targeted support for domestic industries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAction is needed,\u201d Bensouda said, pointing to what he described as bloated government expenditures. He stressed the importance of nurturing local sectors, including poultry farming and furniture manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting the potential of domestic production, he questioned the necessity of importing eggs when local poultry businesses could receive government support. \u201cI don\u2019t see why there should be any importation of eggs in The Gambia when there are so many local poultry outfits that could be subsidized,\u201d he said. He also suggested sourcing furniture for government offices locally, noting that such a move could create jobs and foster economic growth. \u201cHow many jobs could that create? That could introduce economies of scale,\u201d he added.<\/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. In a wide-ranging interview on West Coast Radio, Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Kanifing Municipal Council and a prominent member of the United Democratic Movement for Change (UMC) signaled that addressing the country\u2019s soaring cost of living would be his top priority in the first 100 days of office. \u201cThe most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-90542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","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>Mayor Bensouda Pledges Economic Reform Amid Rising Costs - Gambia<\/title>\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\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Bensouda Pledges Economic Reform Amid Rising Costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. In a wide-ranging interview on West Coast Radio, Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Kanifing Municipal Council and a prominent member of the United Democratic Movement for Change (UMC) signaled that addressing the country\u2019s soaring cost of living would be his top priority in the first 100 days of office. \u201cThe most [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\" \/>\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=\"2025-11-20T06:26:05+00:00\" \/>\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\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mayor Bensouda Pledges Economic Reform Amid Rising Costs\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T06:26:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\"},\"wordCount\":315,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/11\/sm_1763608668.031204.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-pledges-economic-reform-amid-rising-costs\",\"name\":\"Mayor Bensouda Pledges Economic Reform Amid Rising Costs - 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