{"id":95345,"date":"2026-03-28T10:14:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T10:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/darboe-unimpressed-by-presidents-address"},"modified":"2026-03-29T07:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:31:17","slug":"darboe-unimpressed-by-presidents-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/darboe-unimpressed-by-presidents-address","title":{"rendered":"Darboe \u2018Unimpressed\u2019 by President\u2019S Address"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Following President Adama Barrow\u2019s 2026 State of the Nation Address at the National Assembly yesterday, main opposition leader Ousainu Darboe, offered a critical review, describing the speech as \u201cthe usual statement\u201d that felt more like a look into the past than a bold plan for The Gambia\u2019s future.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking to a crowd of journalists at the National Assembly, Darboe explained that while the president listed his government\u2019s accomplishments, the speech lacked the forward thinking vision he had hoped to hear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy expectations are that there will be more investment in health and education. It\u2019s the usual statement. It looks like a report book on what has been done,\u201d he panned.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the president\u2019s statements on security, Darboe drew a sharp line between the safety of the state and the safety of ordinary citizens in their daily lives. \u201cWhen you talk about security, you have to distinguish between state security and the security of the individual. As far as state security is concerned, I think it\u2019s really in place. That cannot be doubted. But individual and personal security is a different matter. We just have to provide training for our security personnel. Give them the necessary tools they need to do their work,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>He specifically mentioned police officers and other security forces who need better resources to protect communities effectively, stressing that this was not a problem that could be fixed with words alone, but required concrete action and investment.<\/p>\n<p>Darboe acknowledged the pivotal role of agriculture saying: \u201cNo one can ignore agriculture. It\u2019s the backbone of the economy of this country. So any president, any government, any politician has to address issues related to agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He turned to his party\u2019s core message, linking it to the nation\u2019s broader goals. \u201cLook at our motto. It\u2019s just peace and progress. One cannot exist without the other and that stability is the foundation for any successful development. You cannot have stable progress if you don\u2019t have peace. It\u2019s only through peace and stability that all our developmental agenda can be achieved. We have to agree that we need peace and stability in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said the nation is waiting for a clear and inspiring roadmap to a more secure and prosperous future from the government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Following President Adama Barrow\u2019s 2026 State of the Nation Address at the National Assembly yesterday, main opposition leader Ousainu Darboe, offered a critical review, describing the speech as \u201cthe usual statement\u201d that felt more like a look into the past than a bold plan for The Gambia\u2019s future. Speaking to a crowd [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","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>Darboe \u2018Unimpressed\u2019 by President\u2019S Address - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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