President Adama Barrow’s criticism, which described the Meet the People’s Tour as a political maneuver intended to achieve additional political objectives, prompted a response from leading NPP supporter Essa Dampha. According to the NPP supporter, President Adama Barrow’s large following of supporters during these visits is the reason for those criticisms. Also, the party (NPP) believes it’s essential to the tour’s success. Critiques find this disturbing.
Speaking back to the previous travels he had with the president, Mr. Dampha says he had been on them for five or six years but had never heard President Barrow use political terminology. However, he responds to people’s worries about development instead.
I have participated in the Meet the People’s Tour for five or six years, but during that time, I have never heard President Barrow engage in political rhetoric. However, in certain locations, community members have expressed their gratitude by recounting President Barrow’s previous accomplishments.
Essa praised President Adama Barrow for setting a price for groundnuts that, in his words, is more than the competitive price on the international market while highlighting the advancements made in this year’s Meet the People’s Tour.
In regards to the constitutionality of the tour, the Faraba native explained that section 77 permits the president of The Gambia to visit the people once a year in order to learn about their issues and develop strategies to address them. He said Barrow is following the provisions of that particular piece of the constitution to the letter.
