Written by: Mama A. Touray
Following the State of the Nation Address by President Adama Barrow on Thursday, National Assembly members have started delivering responses to the speech delivered by the president, with some praising the progress made while others offer criticism. Among those who commented on the speech was Hon. Abdoulie Njai, the National Assembly member for Banjul Central constituency.
While reacting to Barrow’s statement on electricity, Njai stated that “Everything looks good on document because when it comes to rural electrification, based on the speech they are more focus on accessibility than quality because when we were in chambers light was jumping on and off.”
Hon. Njai continued: “In as much as we are aiming for rapid development, are we getting value for money when it comes to quality production because people pay taxes to be able to enjoy these amenities, so in as much as we are moving rapidly in some of these development projects, it begs the question if we are really getting value for money.”
Hon. Njai further stated that the government faces challenges which the president left out in his statement. “Yes, the speech was a summary of what has transpired within the pass year however base on what I have seen when it comes to the challenges I have not seen the president go in-depth as to some of the sectorial challenges that are hindering certain processes ongoing.”
“When it comes to the area of accountability, the president talked slightly especially when it comes to judicial issues even though we know that there are a lot of ongoing legal cases that has to do with corruption and accountability but from the speech we haven’t seen the president going a little in-depth as to the measures government is taking in mitigating them,” he argued.
“We know it’s hard to do away from corruption but mitigating the process should be taken,” he added.
On the other hand, Njai stated that when it comes to certain sectors, the approaches are good “especially when it comes to media and broadcasting, we have seen headway when it comes to certain processes.”
