By Omar Bah
After years of chaos, and reported poor sanitation and unclear authority in The Gambia’s markets, Serekunda National Assembly Member Hon Musa Cham has tabled a Bill to create the country’s first comprehensive law to regulate, manage and operate all markets.
The Bill has passed its First Reading in the National Assembly and is set for consideration in Committee of the Whole House during the upcoming September session.
Cham, a former Councillor for Serekunda London Corner Ward, said the absence of a legal framework has left traders, vendors and local authorities without clear rules.
“As tensions grow around the upkeep and management of our markets, it is important for the public to know: The Gambia does not currently have a law specifically designed to regulate our markets,” Cham said.
“I have seen first-hand the challenges faced by market traders, vendors, local authorities and communities. This Bill is to fix that.”
If passed, the law will move from First Reading → Committee Stage → Third Reading → Presidential Assent to become an Act of the National Assembly.
Cham said the goal is not just regulation but transformation.
“This is about creating safer, cleaner and better-organised trading environments,” he said. “It is about protecting traders and consumers, clarifying the responsibilities of authorities, and ensuring our markets operate according to clear and enforceable standards.”
The Bill aims to standardise management of both public and private markets nationwide, protect traders and consumers through clear rights and responsibilities, define roles of councils, central government and market authorities and improve sanitation, safety and infrastructure in market spaces.
Cham stressed that markets are not side issues but backbone of livelihoods for thousands of Gambians.
“Legislation must respond to the realities faced by our people,” he said. “Our markets are an important part of our economy. They therefore deserve a proper legal framework.”
The Bill now heads to Committee level. If approved by the National Assembly and assented to by the President, The Gambia will for the first time have enforceable national standards governing how markets are run.