In a press conference held Thursday at the UDP political bureau in Manjai, Ousainu Darboe, the leader of the opposition United Democratic Party, claimed that the recently passed national budget’s allocation patterns showed a glaring lack of vision for the nation’s development and that the welfare of regular Gambians was not given priority.

He said the budget was allocated as the economy remains steep in “inequality, poverty, unemployment, and entrenched, rampant systemic corruption.”

Darboe added that the government’s new taxes, announced by President Adama Barrow, will add extra suffering to Gambians, while the current budget has highlighted the disproportionate allocation of resources in favor of the rich, powerful, and connected, leaving struggling Gambians at a significant disadvantage. “The president has recently announced a series of service tax increases that will further fuel the hardships Gambians continue to face. Those of you who really go to the courts to file your processes will now face difficulties because it will be too expensive for the poor man to be able to afford the filing fees. So, on that account alone, the poor will be denied justice. Your land rents are going to be increased, as will the fees for leases, and generally, the ordinary person will not be able to have access to these services because of the increases in the rates that will be charged on them. And all these are done in order to be able to finance their own wasteful spending, as can be seen in this current budget.”

The UDP is adamant about returning the draft constitution to a referendum.

Ousainou Darboe responded to President Adama Barrow’s New Year message, announcing that his government is committed to taking the draft constitution to a referendum. Darboe expressed skepticism about the president’s commitment to the referendum, stating that “measures to give opportunities to other political parties can now turn around.

“When the draft constitution was taken to the Assembly, Barrow’s NAMs and his allies voted against it. But let me make it very clear that even if a single portion of the draft constitution is removed, we will not support it and we will vote against it. We will not accept any changes in the draft constitution,” he warned.

Darboe abhorres the increase in presidential candidate nomination fees.

Plans to raise the presidential nominee fee to one million dalasis were also criticized by Darboe. “In 2015, we all cried against it, and Jammeh reduced it to half a million. And now this government that has said it wants to ensure there is true democracy and described all those laws by Jammeh as anti-democratic and measures to give opportunities to other political parties can now turn around and want to implement such measures,” Darboe lamented.

“This year will be worse than 2023 because this government doesn’t care and doesn’t listen to what people say. They believe that no one on the surface of this earth will stop them from doing what they want to do. To them, they are more powerful than Yahya Jammeh because, apart from the entire security apparatus in the country, they have the ECOMIG forces in the country.”

Ousainou Darboe, however, answered vaguely when asked if he would contest the 2026 presidential election or give a chance to younger UDP aspirants. He stated that he would make a decision at the appropriate time.