{"id":95437,"date":"2026-03-30T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/gdc-critiques-barrows-address-calls-for-2026-change"},"modified":"2026-03-30T09:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:59:41","slug":"gdc-critiques-barrows-address-calls-for-2026-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gdc-critiques-barrows-address-calls-for-2026-change","title":{"rendered":"GDC Critiques Barrow&#8217;S Address Calls for 2026 Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Ebrima Nyang, administrative secretary of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), on Saturday sharply criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s 2026 State of the Nation Address, arguing that it failed to confront the country\u2019s most pressing challenges and offered little vision for the future.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a statement following the address, Mr. Nyang said the country was \u201cheading in a bad direction\u201d and urged voters to seek change in the next election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe truth of the matter is The Gambia is heading in a bad direction and it is incumbent on us as concerned citizens to vote for a change in 2026,\u201d He Said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Nyang took issue with what he described as the president\u2019s emphasis on past achievements rather than forward-looking policies. He said he was \u201cdumbfounded\u201d that the address largely recounted developments over the past year without outlining a clear plan for the years ahead.<\/p>\n<p>He also criticized the government\u2019s approach to job creation, singling out the circular migration program as insufficient to address youth unemployment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year\u2019s SONA has clearly stated that besides circular migration there are no hopes from this government to create the needed jobs to keep the youths in this country,\u201d He Said.<\/p>\n<p>On security, Mr. Nyang questioned the government\u2019s characterization of The Gambia as one of the safest countries in the region. While the president cited favorable rankings, Mr. Nyang argued that many Gambians do not feel secure in their homes, workplaces, or on the streets.<\/p>\n<p>He further raised concerns about the rising cost of living, access to housing, and the state of education, saying those issues were not adequately addressed in the speech. Housing, in particular, he said, remains a significant burden for many families, compounded by low wages and increasing living expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Nyang also challenged the government\u2019s claims of currency stability, arguing that the dalasi continues to depreciate against major currencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe President has the audacity to tell us that the Dalasi is stable when it continues to depreciate against other currencies both in Africa and beyond,\u201d Nyang said.<\/p>\n<p>In his closing remarks, Mr. Nyang described the address as misleading and warned of broader implications for governance and public trust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 2026 SONA was a speech read by the President to mislead the nation and the impacts are far-reaching, striking at the foundations of democratic governance, social cohesion, and international credibility,\u201d he said.<\/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. Ebrima Nyang, administrative secretary of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), on Saturday sharply criticized President Adama Barrow\u2019s 2026 State of the Nation Address, arguing that it failed to confront the country\u2019s most pressing challenges and offered little vision for the future. In a statement following the address, Mr. Nyang said the country [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95437","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>GDC Critiques Barrow&#039;S Address Calls for 2026 Change - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Ebrima Nyang, administrative ...\" \/>\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\/gdc-critiques-barrows-address-calls-for-2026-change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GDC Critiques Barrow&#039;S Address Calls for 2026 Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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