Hon Bakary Badjie, NPP KM Candidate with Hon Seedy Njie at the nomination in KM

By Ramatoulie Jawo

Hon. Bakary Y. Badjie, the National People’s Party (NPP) candidate for the upcoming Mayoral Election in the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has said that KMC needs a progressive mayor who can deliver on the needs of the people, and he is confident Kanifing Municipal residents will vote for him.

Hon. Bakary Y. Badjie, who is also the current minister of Youth and sports, made these remarks after summiting his nomination documents at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) office in Kanifing on Sunday.

“I am hopeful that come May 20th, the electorates In the Municipality will definitely give me their votes for very many reasons. One is that they need change, and they want something that is progressive, they want a mayor who is responsive to the people, who is open to the people, somebody who can be able to understand the needs of the people and work towards addressing them,” he said.

The crowd that accompanied Hon Bakary Badjie at the IEC.

Bakary Y. Badjie, who is running for mayor of Kanifing Municipality for the second time, said that the people of Kanifing want a mayor who will work closely with the central government to provide the services that the people need.

“We will do a lot of things differently. You do something different when the person there is able to do something that is visible, but as far as we are concerned, we have not seen it. I am a resident of the municipality and I know for the past years the current mayor has not succeeded in doing much base on the revenue he is receiving,” the NPP candidate said.

Hon. Bakary Badjie presenting his documents for nomination at the IEC regional office in KM

He went on to assure the voters that he would do things for them that the current mayor had not been able to do.

He said that if elected, he would prioritize digitizing the tax collection system in the council so that they could maintain a strong revenue stream to deliver the services that the people of the municipality expect.

Not only that, but he explained that the current manual tax collection system is inefficient and time-consuming and that it leads to a lot of revenue leakage. Furthermore, he said that a digitized tax collection system would be more efficient and would help to ensure that all taxpayers are paying their fair share.

“Based on the revenue he is receiving for a mayor who has been in office for the first time, increased taxes 100% and increased all licenses and everything by 100%, increased all the duties that women pay. And yet he is not able to provide a single market, road, school, or develop anything from the councils’ revenue. That mayor does not deserve a second term,” he said.

Hon. Bakary Y. Badjie is contesting against the Incumbent Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council, Talib Ahmed Bensouda.