Barrow urges Sidia Jatta to join him in ‘national development’

As he launched road projects in Wuli, President Adama Barrow on Sunday intensified his call for veteran Wuli politician Sidia Jatta of PDOIS to join his national development drive.

Speaking in Foday Kunda where he laid the foundation for a road connecting several villages in Wuli East and West, Barrow told residents that it was their former NAM Sidia Jatta who had suggested that his government’s development agenda should begin in the Upper River Region including Wuli , an area deprived of their rights to development for decades.

“Today, Sedia’s prediction is right,” Barrow said, arguing that Wuli is now receiving the development it has long been deprived of.

The president then used the platform to publicly appeal to the veteran politician to join him in accelerating development efforts in URR and across the country, framing the region’s transformation as the fulfillment of promises he made.

“Foday Kunda is part of my political history too,” Barrow told supporters.

He recalled that during an earlier Meet-The-People Tour, he had intended to hold a political meeting in Foday Kunda after Bajakunda, but the deplorable state of the road made the journey impossible.

“Although residents insisted I proceed, I promised instead to return for a bigger rally in the future — a pledge I honoured,” he said.

According to Barrow, that rally became one of the most defining political moments of his career. He said he had invited another Wuli politician Mai Ahmad Fatty and Sidia Jatta, whom he described as a “leader, veteran, and native of Wuli.”

Barrow Youth Movement
The president also revisited the origins of the Barrow Youth Movement for National Development which he said was launched in Foday Kunda despite resistance from some of his own political allies.

“At that time, the people I was working with didn’t want my name to go public because they didn’t want my presidency,” Barrow said.

He alleged that attempts were made to block the Movement, but he personally financed its visibility by printing T-shirts and banners and transporting supporters to Foday Kunda for its launch.

Barrow said the Youth Movement later transformed into a fans club, which eventually evolved into the National People’s Party, making Foday Kunda a symbolic birthplace of his current political establishment.

In a broader political speech, Barrow said Gambia’s democratic space has become so free that “even people with small change in their pocket start forming a party;” arguing that many current political actors were absent before the democratic transition of 2016 because “they were hiding and afraid.”

He said of his opponents: “They think they have money, but that small money will be finished,” and development record remains beyond challenge.”

He accused opposition politicians of being motivated by personal ambition rather than national service.

Community leaders in Wuli described the road projects as a long-awaited breakthrough that would restore dignity, improve access, and unlock economic opportunities for rural communities.