Councillors from the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) and the Brikama Area Council (BAC) traded sharp words this week over their respective development records, each insisting their council had delivered more during its early years in office.
The exchange took place on Tuesday during a panel discussion on Kerr Fatou’s Politic Kaacha, hosted by Ebrima Jarra, where participants compared the first five years of KMC under Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda with the performance of BAC under Chairman Yankuba Darboe.
Karamo Ceesay, KMC councillor for Tallinding South, defended his council’s record by citing investments in waste management, transportation, infrastructure, and markets. He noted that KMC acquired 22 compactor trucks within its first year, later adding more trucks, motorcycles for revenue collectors, and pickup vehicles. He also highlighted infrastructure projects such as the emergency facility at Bundung Hospital, a new complex in Latrikunda, and concrete roads in Tallinding.
Ceesay contrasted KMC’s financial management with BAC’s, claiming that while BAC relied on overdrafts under former chairman Sheriffo Sonko, KMC avoided borrowing. He further pointed to market upgrades in Tallinding Jilifiti Kunda, Bakau, and Latrikunda, challenging BAC to identify comparable investments.
Responding, Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, BAC’s transport councillor, dismissed Ceesay’s assessment. He argued that BAC, despite being in office for a shorter period, had performed better in governance and development. Sonko said BAC had constructed markets in nearly every ward, fenced more than eight women’s gardens, and drilled over 40 boreholes across the West Coast region.
He emphasized that these projects were financed from BAC’s own resources rather than external programs, citing the rehabilitation of the Kuloro Health Post and electricity expansion projects. Sonko praised BAC’s decentralized approach, which allowed councillors to initiate projects in their wards, contrasting it with KMC’s tendency to concentrate recognition around Mayor Bensouda.
The spirited debate underscored the growing rivalry between two of The Gambia’s most prominent local government administrations. Both councils are controlled by opposition figures and oversee politically significant population centers. With national elections approaching, their competing claims of development success are increasingly shaping the broader political conversation.
