{"id":91612,"date":"2025-12-09T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy"},"modified":"2025-12-09T09:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T09:07:24","slug":"sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy","title":{"rendered":"Sima Announces 2026 Presidential Run to Boost Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Modou Lamin Sima, leader of the newly formed Alliance for Progressive Citizens, formally launched his bid for the 2026 presidential election, arguing that The Gambia has fallen short of its economic potential and is in urgent need of a new direction.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In an interview announcing his candidacy, Sima cast the country\u2019s trajectory over the past nine years as one of stagnation, saying he believes Gambians \u201cexpected more\u2014and deserved more.\u201d Job creation, he said, has been elusive. \u201cJob creation is something we need, and it is not happening,\u201d he noted, adding that the economy remains heavily dependent on imports and dominated by foreign-owned interests. \u201cWe barely export anything,\u201d he said. \u201cBusiness activities are very dull in this country right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sima, who previously served as Ambassador-at-Large for Business and Investment, argued that The Gambia has failed to capitalize on its own advantages, including a youthful population\u201478 percent under 35\u2014its fertile land, freshwater resources, the River Gambia, and the Atlantic coastline. Yet the country continues to import basic staples such as rice, vegetable oil, chicken, potatoes, and onions. \u201cThis small country still cannot feed itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Casting himself as a break from \u201cpolitics as usual,\u201d Sima said his campaign would focus on tangible, measurable improvements rather than political rhetoric. \u201cWe are not politicians as usual,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want the reality,\u201d urging voters to support what he described as a results-driven agenda aimed at \u201cmoving the country forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Entering a presidential field already crowded by aspirants, Sima\u2019s campaign will vie for attention in a political climate charged with economic discontent.<\/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. Modou Lamin Sima, leader of the newly formed Alliance for Progressive Citizens, formally launched his bid for the 2026 presidential election, arguing that The Gambia has fallen short of its economic potential and is in urgent need of a new direction. In an interview announcing his candidacy, Sima cast the country\u2019s trajectory [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-91612","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>Sima Announces 2026 Presidential Run to Boost Economy - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Modou Lamin Sima, leader of the newly formed Alliance for Progressive Citizens, formally launched his bid for the 202 ...\" \/>\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\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sima Announces 2026 Presidential Run to Boost Economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Modou Lamin Sima, leader of the newly formed Alliance for Progressive Citizens, formally launched his bid for the 202 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-09T08:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-09T09:07:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765258460.909508.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=\"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\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sima Announces 2026 Presidential Run to Boost Economy\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-09T08:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-09T09:07:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765258460.909508.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/sima-announces-2026-presidential-run-to-boost-economy\",\"name\":\"Sima Announces 2026 Presidential Run to Boost Economy - 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