{"id":95850,"date":"2026-04-13T09:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:51:48","slug":"mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Condemns Illegal Seizure of Village Head&#8217;S Stamp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Unite Movement for Change has sharply criticized a regional governor\u2019s decision to confiscate the official stamp of the Nyangen village head, describing the move as \u201cimmoral, unethical, and illegal\u201d and warning that it sets a troubling precedent.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In remarks addressing the incident, Mr. Bensouda said the involvement of an Alkalo\u2019s son in local administration is a longstanding and widely accepted practice in The Gambia. Village leadership, he noted, is often hereditary, and sons are frequently trained to assume responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou must bring up your son to make sure he is familiar with the operation of the office,\u201d he said, adding that he is aware of several cases in which Alikalolu have delegated responsibilities to their sons.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor called for the immediate return of the confiscated stamp and expressed concern over reports that the governor justified the action by alleging that the Alkalo\u2019s son supports the opposition U.M.C.\u201cIf you feel you have evidence, it must be reported through the right channels, but do not abruptly use your power and seize the Alikalo\u2019s stamp,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing on his tenure as the de facto governor of the Kanifing Municipal Council in 2021, Mr. Bensouda said that although there were suspicions at the time that some village Alikalos supported the ruling National People\u2019s Party, his administration did not take punitive actions such as seizing official instruments.<\/p>\n<p>He urged the governor to reverse the decision, framing the issue within the country\u2019s broader democratic trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have fought against dictatorship in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cRemember, the president you serve today was an opposition in 2016, so the opposition is not the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bensouda added that national challenges such as corruption, poverty, illiteracy, and poor governance should take precedence over political divisions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are all Gambians, despite our different points of view,\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. Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Unite Movement for Change has sharply criticized a regional governor\u2019s decision to confiscate the official stamp of the Nyangen village head, describing the move as \u201cimmoral, unethical, and illegal\u201d and warning that it sets a troubling precedent. In remarks addressing the incident, Mr. Bensouda said the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95850","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>Mayor Condemns Illegal Seizure of Village Head&#039;S Stamp - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Unite Movement for Change has sharply criticized a regional governor\u2019s decision to ...\" \/>\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\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Condemns Illegal Seizure of Village Head&#039;S Stamp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Unite Movement for Change has sharply criticized a regional governor\u2019s decision to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-13T09:29:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T10:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064686.842829.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"554\" \/>\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\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mayor Condemns Illegal Seizure of Village Head&#8217;S Stamp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-13T09:29:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T10:51:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\"},\"wordCount\":335,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064686.842829.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-condemns-illegal-seizure-of-village-heads-stamp\",\"name\":\"Mayor Condemns Illegal Seizure of Village Head'S Stamp - 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