By Kemo Kanyi
The Deputy Spokesperson of Gambia’s ruling National People’s Party (NPP), Seedy Njie, has defended President Adama Barrow’s recent comparison of Brufut to Dubai, citing unprecedented development in the coastal settlement.
Njie made the remarks over the weekend during the launch of the “Success Women’s Enterprise Fund,” where he outlined several infrastructure and social developments undertaken in Brufut under the Barrow administration.
According to him, Brufut has benefited from improved road networks, expanded electricity supply, access to clean water, and enhanced school infrastructure—developments he said had eluded the area since the colonial era and under successive post-independence governments.
“These are facilities the people of Brufut yearned for during the colonial administration and under the governments of Sir Dawda Jawara and Yahya Jammeh, but which were not delivered,” Njie said. “Under President Barrow, those needs are now being met.”
He added that the developments have turned Brufut into an attraction for Gambians in the diaspora and foreign visitors, contributing to local economic growth and a significant increase in land value.
“Brufut has effectively become a city-state,” Njie declared, adding that this justified the President’s comparison of the area to Dubai.
The NPP official further argued that similar transformations are taking place in other parts of the country, including Nianija, where electricity, roads, schools, and health facilities have been expanded.
Njie said President Barrow’s development agenda is aimed at transforming communities across the country and realizing the long-held aspiration of making The Gambia a middle-income nation.