{"id":92124,"date":"2025-12-16T16:41:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:01:55","slug":"bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs","title":{"rendered":"BAC Chairman Blames Gov\u2019T for Rising Living Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), Yankuba Darboe, has leveled scathing criticisms against Barrow administration, blaming it for economic mismanagement, rising living costs, and policies that worsened hardships for many Gambian<\/b>s.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe made the remarks during a political meeting in Basse\u0301, where he also urged voters to support the United Democratic Party (UDP) in the next elections.<\/p>\n<p>He blamed the government for a persistent shortage of cement and sharp price increases, saying the cost of a bag of cement had risen from about D400 to D650 under the current administration. He said government policies have restricted small-scale cement importers across the Senegalese border and increased import taxes, limiting competition in the local market.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe alleged that these measures had benefited a few companies, including Jah Oil and Gum Limited, which he said were allowed to operate freely. \u201cThe government does not want to make things easy for Gambians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He criticized President Adama Barrow for highlighting spending on road construction while many Gambians struggle to afford basic food items. He suggested that some funds could be redirected to agriculture, particularly rice production, to reduce food prices and improve food security.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe also criticized the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority\u2019s (PURA) mobile data pricing policy, introduced in August 2025, which set a minimum price for mobile data, saying it made internet access more expensive for ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n<p>He further raised concerns over the Karpower electricity deal, alleging that a government minister misled the public about debts owed to the power supplier, describing the actions as \u201cstealing from Gambians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The council chairman accused the government of selling state assets, including Gambia Ports Authority facilities, the Senegambia Bridge, Gamtel, Megabank, and Mile 2 Prison, saying these decisions reflected poor management of public resources.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing youth unemployment and migration, he said economic hardship had pushed many young Gambians to attempt irregular migration to Europe. He claimed about 1,400 youths left the country this year, citing activist data from 2024 that over 1,600 Gambians died attempting the journey, with many others intercepted or returned.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe said loans taken by the Barrow administration could be repaid if properly managed, citing his experience at the Brikama Area Council, where he said outstanding loans were settled and council performance improved. He argued that similar development could be achieved at the national level under a UDP government, promising fair distribution of resources across the country.<\/p>\n<p>In his closing remarks, he urged Gambians to vote for the UDP, describing it as the most viable option for ending economic hardship and improved living conditions.<\/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. The chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), Yankuba Darboe, has leveled scathing criticisms against Barrow administration, blaming it for economic mismanagement, rising living costs, and policies that worsened hardships for many Gambians. Mr. Darboe made the remarks during a political meeting in Basse\u0301, where he also urged voters to support the United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-92124","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>BAC Chairman Blames Gov\u2019T for Rising Living Costs - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), Yankuba Darboe, has leveled scathing criticisms against Barrow administra ...\" \/>\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\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BAC Chairman Blames Gov\u2019T for Rising Living Costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), Yankuba Darboe, has leveled scathing criticisms against Barrow administra ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-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=\"2025-12-16T16:41:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T18:01:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765895310.829746.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\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"BAC Chairman Blames Gov\u2019T for Rising Living Costs\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-16T16:41:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-16T18:01:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765895310.829746.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bac-chairman-blames-govt-for-rising-living-costs\",\"name\":\"BAC Chairman Blames Gov\u2019T for Rising Living Costs - 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