“The results are terrible. I have taken some notes, on governance. 57% of the population are dissatisfied with the state of our democracy.”
For Faal, figure alone signals a major shift. “Gambia’s biggest point used to be that our democracy is top-notch. But now, more than half of the population is not happy,” he added, questioning how things had deteriorated so quickly.
Citing the same poll, Faal argued that dissatisfaction cuts across nearly every sector of governance. “About 62% of Gambians are dissatisfied with overall governance, how the country is managed,” he said, before driving the point further. “68% of Gambians are saying that Barrow’s government is handling corruption very badly.”
He added that “over 75% are saying that they are handling the economy very badly. Three quarters of the population is not happy, how can a government be proud of that record?”
He linked the economic strain to rising debt and policy choices. “The debt distress is choking us. It’s killing Gambians,” he said, arguing that priorities have been misplaced. “Instead of massive investments in infrastructure, the massive investment should have been on production.”
Faal also used the poll to question public trust in institutions. While noting that “65% of the people trust the military,” he contrasted that with dissatisfaction in other areas, including policing and governance structures.
He said: “I have traveled the length and breadth of this country I am yet to see a Gambian who is happy.”
Throughout the interview, Faal returned repeatedly to the Ceprass findings as evidence that public sentiment is shifting. “Every metric, every measure the government is doing very poorly,” he insisted.
The numbers, he argued, speak louder than any official narrative.
