Alkalo Faye believed that as a result of unwarranted political interference, the government's concession agreement with NEGMAR did not go through competitive bidding before and was never forwarded to parliament for ratification.
Faye, together with his VDC, made these reservations known during a Current Affairs radio program on Niumi FM anchored by Ousman A. Marong.
According to him, his only worry is the future of his village and his worry came when he discovered an allocation of a portion of Fort Bullen To NEGMAR, a Turkish Company that, in 2021, sent in their application to the government of the Gambia requesting to operate ferries on the Banjul/Barra crossing points.
"No one fights or scrambles with the government. No one can resist the government because there's nothing that you can do. If the Turkish can talk to the government to allocate them the space, where was the documentation held? I, in my capacity as the Alkalo of the village, have stopped them many times by conditioning them, i.e. (NEGMAR), that if there's no resolution between them and the villagers, there would be no work. What is important to look after is the effects or the cause of the excavation on Barra and the Fort itself. Let us not focus on the coming of the ferries without having to focus on the outcome of the digging on the sea. If the reactions are more than the realities on the ground, then the coming of the ferries wouldn't have any use because the river would be submerging the village. The government should provide us with boulder stones like they did to Senegambia before. If it's left this way without boulder stones as it's done around the Senegambia Beaches, I will say in the next 20 - years, the river will invade Barra," he said.
"Why is the Gambia giving a deaf ear to Barra, when we have the country's only capital city facing us? Why is it that the towns and villages that give their back to the capital are currently the most developed places in the country, except for Barra? We want our fair share of the national cake in terms of development. The continual silence and authorities giving their back to Barra is the least expected of them. Enough is enough and enough to all mockeries on Barra," he asserted.
Responding to Mayor Ahmed Talib Bensounda's rhetoric about Barra being part of the dirtiest regions, Alkalo Faye retorted that Barra should have its council. They are no match to the Mayor and his municipality.
"I do not know if you are called Bensounda or 'Bensada', but let me remind you of your duties, and that is if we (Barra) should have our council note, we are no match to you. If you have an issue with the president, please deal with him directly and leave Barra alone, and if not, you will hear something unpleasant, and you will be the cause. A leader should not be a mocker or cajoling people. Barra contributed to your successful installation as the mayor of KMC. If you brag about your mother being a Niumika from Bakindik, and we, the people of Barra, are from Bakindik, and you are referring to us as dirty, then yourself is the dirtiest. You called Barra, dirty because you had issues with the president. What is our business with you having an issue with the president," quizzed Alkalo Faye.
Commenting on NEGMAR'S excavation of the Fort, he said he has been confronting Hali Gaye, the deputy director of NEGMAR time without numbers, on the effects of excavation on Barra. I have confronted Hali Gaye multiple times, and I went further by telling him that he would not succeed. My reasons were that if Hali can crumble both Gambia Public Transport Cooperation (GPTC), now Gambia Transport Service Company (GTSC), and the Gambia Ferry Services (GFS), and now appointed deputy director NEGMAR expect nothing than him sinking the company."
