According to her, communities that once stayed silent are now confidently asking for roads, electricity, water and health facilities, not because of politics, but because they have seen neighbouring districts receive them.
“Now everyone is saying if they have a road, we also want a road,” she said.
Mrs Sissoho explained that this shift was clearly felt during the 2025 Meet the People’s Tour, where complaints were no longer about whether development was possible, but about when it would reach specific communities.
She revealed that the President repeatedly responded to frustrated speakers with a line that has now become his tour mantra “You can say I have not reached you, but you cannot say I will not reach you.”
Behind the scenes, she said, the tour is not just talk. Permanent secretaries, deputy permanent secretaries and directors travel with the President, taking detailed notes of community demands. Back in Banjul, those notes trigger meetings and follow ups.
She also rejected claims that the tour has become more political than developmental, arguing that politics naturally follows the presidency. “You cannot separate politics from a president,” she said, adding that the priority of the tour remains governance and government programmes.
Mrs Sissoho disclosed that this year’s tour recorded fewer complaints about electricity and roads, a sharp contrast to previous years. In earlier tours, rural communities repeatedly complained about buying ice blocks across the border every Ramadan due to lack of electricity.
“This year, we didn’t hear that,” she said, noting that only a few areas like parts of Niamina raised electricity concerns.
“Instead, recurring issues included groundnut prices and the use of mobile money for farmer payments, particularly in areas with poor network coverage.” She said government has already begun improving payment systems in response.
On criticism about the cost of the tour, Mrs Sissoho insisted that budgets are reviewed and controlled, stressing that not everyone in attendance is funded by the state. “People see a crowd and assume government paid for all of them, that is not true,” she stated.
As for viral controversies like the crocodile reportedly presented to the President, she distanced the presidency from the incident, saying it happened before the President arrived and without official involvement.
“The people are demanding because they have seen change, and now government has to keep up.”
