A petition calling on President Adama Barrow to revoke his appointment of Executive Coordinators for Banjul and Kanifing has received the signatures of at least nine civil society organizations.

The nomination of Bakary Singhatey of Dippa Kunda and Ebrima Jawo as Executive Coordinators for Kanifing Municipality and Banjul was ratified by the government last month. Since then, the action has drawn strong public criticism and controversy, prompting the President’s Office to clarify the Executive’s authority to make such an appointment.
“It is our considered view that the appointments contradict the government’s national development plan and will take away scarce resources that local governments need for development,” the civil society organizations said in a statement shared with The Standard Tuesday. In order to persuade the President to reverse his appointment of Executive Coordinators—whose roles, according to the recently appointed Executive Coordinator for Banjul, are essentially the same as those of governors, but having different titles—our statement will address these two concerns.

The president was also reminded by the undersigned CSOs of the decentralization concept as outlined in the NDP for 2018–2021.
“We believe that the hiring of executive coordinators and their deputies will need significant financial contributions from local governments. Executive Coordinators who are recently hired will get a salary, a fully furnished office, a car, drivers, all necessary personnel, office supplies, and programs to use in their administrative domain. The Executive Coordinators for Banjul and KMC would cost taxpayers at least D1.7 million in 2024 alone in salary and benefits, according to the 2024 Draft Budget,” it said.
The CSOs continued, “We urge the Executive to consider the benefit of allocating these resources to the existing local governance structures in furtherance of its development priorities, before the government decides to proceed with its decision to allocate all these resources to a new office that will potentially rival the existing local government structures.” This was in light of the limited resources available.

The CSOs recommended that the government go back to the drawing board and evaluate how well it is doing in achieving the decentralization goals outlined in the NDP 2018–2021, review the Local Government Act 2002 and other government policies to enhance decentralization, strengthen institutional and human capacities for decentralizing current local governance structures, and expand the revenue base. They also recommended that the government reconsider its decision to appoint Executive Coordinators for Banjul and Kanifing and consider whether it is necessary to appoint governors for other regions versus directing such resources into local government structures in other regions.

The statement was released by the following organizations: Activista, Right 2 Know, Solo Sandeng Foundation, Beakanyang Kafo, FactCheck Gambia, Salimatou Foundation for Education, Team Gom Sa Bopa, Baboucarr Nyang, Madi Jobarteh, and Omar Danso.