{"id":90780,"date":"2025-11-23T17:14:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget"},"modified":"2025-11-23T17:38:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:38:46","slug":"udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget","title":{"rendered":"UDP Leader Criticizes Presidential Tour Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Ousainu Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has sharply criticized the government\u2019s allocation of D52 million for President Adama Barrow\u2019s annual \u201cMeet the People Tour,\u201d calling the expenditure excessive at a time when many Gambians are struggling to meet basic needs.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe living conditions are hard. Let them not be spending the money anyhow,\u201d Darboe said in an interview with Kerr Fatou on Thursday, urging the president to show greater compassion toward citizens facing rising costs of living.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran opposition leader recalled Barrow\u2019s campaign pledge to reduce the price of a bag of rice to D700, arguing that such a promise should translate into concrete investments in agricultural production. \u201cNow if you win, you should sit down with your department of agriculture to bring in programs that will increase rice production in the country, and the importation will be reduced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Darboe stated that with such a budget being spent on the tour, it will be hard for the productive sectors of the country to thrive. He added that underfunding will hinder their performances.<\/p>\n<p>Darboe warned that allocating millions to a nationwide tour undermines the country\u2019s already fragile productive sectors, many of which he said are underfunded and unable to perform effectively. He also questioned the status of \u20ac50 million reportedly secured from France during the tenure of former finance minister Amadou Sanneh, funds he said were intended to boost agricultural output, particularly rice production.<\/p>\n<p>Turning to the national debt\u2014which stood at D139 billion as of June 30, 2025\u2014Darboe predicted that borrowing would continue to rise under the current administration, burdening future generations. \u201cEven our great-grandchildren will not finish paying the loan,\u201d he said, arguing that the Barrow government has failed to take necessary measures to strengthen revenue-generating sectors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one is saying roads should not be constructed,\u201d he added. \u201cBut do not take loans to construct these roads. If it should be done, you should look at your program and be doing it in stages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Darboe further criticized what he described as the government\u2019s neglect of the tourism sector, warning that visitor interest will wane if the country continues to offer the same attractions year after year. He urged authorities to diversify tourism products to remain competitive.<\/p>\n<p>He also accused the government of giving away control of the country\u2019s river and marine resources to foreign interests, allowing illegal fishing to flourish. \u201cWe are not doing anything to protect our marine resources so that they are beneficial to the citizens,\u201d he said.<\/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. Ousainu Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has sharply criticized the government\u2019s allocation of D52 million for President Adama Barrow\u2019s annual \u201cMeet the People Tour,\u201d calling the expenditure excessive at a time when many Gambians are struggling to meet basic needs. \u201cThe living conditions are hard. Let them not be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-90780","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 Leader Criticizes Presidential Tour Budget - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ousainu Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has sharply criticized the government\u2019s allocation of D5 ...\" \/>\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-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UDP Leader Criticizes Presidential Tour Budget\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ousainu Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has sharply criticized the government\u2019s allocation of D5 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\" \/>\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=\"2025-11-23T17:14:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-23T17:38:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/11\/sm_1763906821.155886.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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=\"3 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-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UDP Leader Criticizes Presidential Tour Budget\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-23T17:14:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-23T17:38:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/11\/sm_1763906821.155886.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-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-leader-criticizes-presidential-tour-budget\",\"name\":\"UDP Leader Criticizes Presidential Tour Budget - 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