Former Gambian diplomat Essa Bokar Sey has maintained that President Adama Barrow has no right to pound his chest about the ongoing electrification of parts of The Gambia because the project forms part of a sub-regional initiative bankrolled by a sub-regional body.
Since late last year and the beginning of this year, the NPP government organized elaborate public events in parts of rural Gambia to inaugurate electricity projects that it said were in fulfillment of the administration’s energy ambitions.
However, Ambassador Essa Bokar Sey told Gambians and residents of the country not to allow themselves to be drawn into believing the government’s narrative.
“If Yaya Jammeh was here, he would have been the one to inaugurate these electricity projects,” Sey said. “This project is spearheaded and bankrolled by ECOWAS,” he added.
The fast paced electricity provision to several parts of the country is the outcome of the combined effort of the Organization of the Gambia River Basin (OMVG) and ECOWAS. While the OMVG built power stations in Soma, Kanilai and Brikama alongside interconnection lines providing links to energy sources such as Keleta, Sambangalou and Koribakoro dams, ECOWAS made a huge investment through the sub-regional power pool project.
