GFA debunks Minister Sabally over ‘disrespectful’ comments against BB Dabo

The Gambia For All (GFA) has sharply rebutted remarks by Agriculture Minister Demba Sabally during his appearance on QTV, responding to a GFA’s criticism of government’s failures in the agricultural sector.

In a focused rejoinder issued after the broadcast, the GFA said it would limit its response to the policy points Sabally addressed — and stand by its earlier findings on three core failures: chronically late fertiliser deliveries, the absence of meaningful agricultural financing for smallholders, and the neglect of village horticultural gardens.

The GFA reiterated that government-supplied fertiliser has “chronically arrived late,” a claim it said is not partisan but confirmed by the National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO’s 2024 performance audit, the party noted, documented late arrivals of fertiliser in 2020–2023 across all regions, citing direct farmer interviews.

The GFA added that Minister Sabally’s denial was contradicted by facts on the ground. “at the time of the minister’s June remarks, “not a single kilogram of fertiliser had reached farmers upcountry,” the party said. “For the Minister to stand before the nation and deny this reality is not only factually wrong — it reveals how deeply out of touch he is with conditions on the ground,” the statement read, concluding that Sabally’s continued leadership signalled the administration’s lack of seriousness about agriculture.

Responding to the minister’s point that the government provides agricultural finance through the Social Development Fund (SDF) and programmes such as GAMIRSAL, the GFA rejected the claim as misleading.

The party said the SDF’s agriculture mandate has been “long discontinued” and accused the SDF’s management under the Barrow administration of financial mismanagement. According to GFA, the SDF became largely non-functional after the Managing Director and Director of Finance were removed following alleged misappropriation of millions of dalasi intended for entrepreneurs. “The claim that this administration has been providing agricultural finance is demonstrably false,” the GFA said.

On GAMIRSAL — an African Development Bank (AfDB)-backed scheme the minister cited, GFA argued that donor financing alone does not prove government-delivered results. The party said Sabally offered no figures on how many farmers or agribusinesses actually received funds, and therefore failed to show any meaningful, government-attributable financing reached Gambian smallholders.

Horticultural gardens deprived of support
Turning to village horticultural gardens, the GFA described widespread neglect: insufficient or absent water, inadequate borehole capacity where boreholes exist, and virtually no cold storage for perishable produce. The party said most functioning gardens were established under the former Jammeh administration and that current seed distributions are too small and too late to be effective.

“Primary support comes from communities, private philanthropists, or external donors — not from government,” the GFA said, accusing the Barrow administration of having “no credible track record” in supporting horticultural production.

Issues left unanswered
The GFA also noted two major allegations the minister did not address including delayed payments and price stagnation for groundnut farmers, and declining irrigation investment combined with alleged diversion of development funding.

According to the party, some farmers wait up to five months to be paid for groundnut deliveries and face a government payment system that “places additional burdens on farmers rather than easing them.” On irrigation, the GFA said the total irrigated area has fallen, citing disrepair at Jahally Pacharr rice fields and alleging that at least D500 million in AfDB financing earmarked for rice development and irrigation had been diverted to associates of President Barrow.

“Minister Sabally’s silence on these points speaks volumes,” the GFA’s rejoinder concluded, urging that the record of former vice president BB Dabo speak for itself.