Promises without solutions will not fix the Gambia’s crisis. Gambians have heard it before: another pledge, another deadline, another assurance that relief is just around the corner. When President Adama Barrow stated recently that the electricity crisis would be resolved by the end of October, many did not reach for hope, they reached for their generators and braced themselves for yet another disappointment. Because the truth is simple: you cannot fix a broken system by treating only its symptoms while leaving its disease untouched.
The Gambia’s electricity crisis is not fundamentally about insufficient power plants or a lack of fuel. It is a crisis of governance, integrity, and accountability. At its centre is NAWEC, our national utility, whose inability to deliver consistent power has become the single greatest drag on our hospitals, our businesses, our schools, and ordinary family life. But NAWEC’s struggles are not happening in isolation. They are the most visible face of a rot that has spread across public institutions nationwide.
The root causes are widely documented yet consistently ignored: Systemic corruption that bleeds resources meant for maintenance and expansion, chronic mismanagement that sees qualified voices sidelined in favour of political loyalty and a total absence of accountability, where recommendations from audits, commissions, and inquiries gather dust rather than producing change. President Barrow knows this. His own government’s reports detail these failures. Yet he acts as if the problem can be solved simply by wishing it away or setting arbitrary dates. That is not leadership, that is delusion.
It is not just NAWEC that is struggling. Public commissions have found serious wrongdoings and recommended the suspension and investigation of several senior officials, including ministers. The recommendations sit on the President’s desk, ignored. Public audits revealed misuse of public funds yet rarely do those responsible face consequence. If you do not hold people accountable when they steal or mismanage our resources, why should anyone believe you when you promise they will suddenly do better? If you disregard the very institutions established to ensure transparency and fairness, how can you expect those institutions to function effectively?
This is the pattern: promise a solution, avoid the hard choices, blame external factors, and hope the public’s patience holds out a little longer. But our patience is not infinite. Our progress cannot wait. We are told to trust, yet what evidence is there that this trust has been earned? For instance, the two-term pledge: abandoned; the three-year transition vow: unfulfilled; the TRRC recommendations: largely unimplemented, despite the gravity of the injustices they addressed; and electoral commitments: too many forgotten or discarded. A leader who feels no obligation to keep his word is a leader who feels no obligation to the people he serves.
Therefore, if President Barrow wins another term in December, there is no reason to believe the pattern will change. The deadlines will come and go. The outages will continue. The corruption will persist. And we will be told to wait a little longer. What Gambians need is not a waiting list for a change for the better. We do not need a change of personalities. It is about more than simply swapping one leader for another. Real change means system change. It means: Empowering our public institutions so they operate independently and transparently, enforcing every recommendation from commissions and audits—no exceptions, protecting public resources so they serve the people, not the few, and holding every public official accountable, from the lowest office to the highest seat.
When institutions are strong, electricity flows. Hospitals function. Businesses thrive. Opportunities multiply. When institutions are weak, as they are today, no amount of presidential promises will light up The Gambia’s future. Thus, the choice before us in December is not merely between three candidates. It is a choice between more of the same and a new beginning. It is a choice between a leader who asks us to trust him despite a record of unfulfilled commitments, and a chance to build a system where promises are kept because the structures exist to ensure they must be.
We do not need another deadline. We need another direction. We do not need more assurances. We need more accountability. If we cross that finish line in December with the same leadership that has ignored our problems for years, we do not just continue to be doomed, we accept that doom as our choice.
I am a voice, not an echo.
Sulayman Jeng