On November 10, 2025, the President of the Republic of the Gambia, H.E. Adama Barrow, departed from the State House for his annual tour. The “Meet the People’s Tour” by the president is a Constitutional exercise guaranteed under Section 222 (15) of the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia, which states that, “The President shall undertake a nation-wide tour at least twice a year in order to familiarize himself or herself with current conditions and the effect of government policies.”
This exercise aims to engage citizens and assess the impacts of the government’s programs, policies, and other development infrastructures across the country.
How much is allocated for the Meet the People’s Tour?
The National Assembly Members of the Gambia, every year, debate on the budget estimates, consider, and then to final approval. The budget for the President’s Meet the Tour, which is under the Office of the President, continues to face contentious debates from NAMs on the estimates tabled by the Finance Minister, increments, reductions, and then approvals by virtue of voting when consensus is not met during debates.
During the Fourth ordinary session in the 2024 legislative year, watch from timestamp 2:23:28 to 2:26:42, the NAM for Kiang West, Hon. Lamin Ceesay, highlighted some of the increments made to the budget for the tour.
Here is a rundown of the allocations made for the exercise from 2022:
In 2022, the approved budget by the National Assembly for the President’s Meet the People’s Tour was six (6) million. However, the actual amount used by the president was twenty–five (25) million dalasi, timestamp 2:23:52 to 2:24:21.
Ten (10) million was allocated in 2023, and the actual amount used was sixty–three (63) million during the tour, timestamp 2:24:21 to 2:25:01. The amount has risen by four (4) million in actual allocations, and a thirty-eight (38) million difference in actual expenditures from twenty-five million to sixty-three million dalasi. A significant hike in budget allocation from 2022 to 2023.
During the 2024 session, the Minister of Finance, Seedy Keita, tabled a budget proposal for the increment of the Meet the People’s Tour. Thirty (30) million was allocated for that year, despite fifteen (15) parliamentarians voting in support of the motion to reduce the amount; twenty-six
(26) voted against the reduction, while maintaining the 30 million budget for the 2024 Tour.
The budget for the exercise keeps rising every legislative year during the budget session, bringing a significant difference between the year that precedes and the year ahead.
In another debate session by lawmakers at the end of 2024 approved forty-five (45) million for the tour by the President. The initial projected budget by the government was fifty (50) million; however, it was reduced by the NAMs during a tense debate in the parliament. A fifteen-million addition was made to the thirty million approved in 2024.
Does the Meet the People’s Tour always turn political?
The tour, despite being a constitutionally mandated exercise, has received backlash from the public regarding the political propaganda used by the President and his cabinet ministers during the tour, highlighting a growing concern about a shift in the pattern of the exercise.
During one of the president’s joint meetings in Sanunding, in the Basse and Jimara constituency, he criticised the villagers for only requesting new demands and forgetting the developments he had already made there. He urged them to discuss the work done first, and then they could ask for more. The presidents stressed in the meeting that the speakers only asked for what they wanted, timestamp,1:12:25 to 1:13:27, without acknowledging the development that has taken place.
In the same gathering, the president urged villagers to register during the upcoming voter registration, timestamp: 1:19:09 to 1:19:40, acquire their voter card and vote for his government to continue till 2031 if they want the work to continue.
The deputy speaker of the National Assembly, who doubles as the deputy spokesperson of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), Seedy SK Njie, during his speech in Njoben, CRR, while addressing the crowd, spoke in Fula and it was translated into Wolof, said that President Barrow has worked in Saloum, Upper Saloum, Nianija, Niani, and Sami, stating that the elders of CRR promised Barrow in 2026 indicating that is their benefit, the children, their peace, and the country and that is best for CRR.
Demba Sabally, Agriculture Minister in Daru Mbayen, Upper Saloum District, CRR North. Speaking in Fula and translated into Wollof, told the gathering that the oppositions are just roaming there and they will promise them, the “villagers”, but cannot do anything about those promises. He continued by stating that the IEC will soon start voter registration, and anyone who knows that their children are eighteen (18) years old should make sure they all have a voter card. Emphasizing that even their children who are in Senegal and were born in the Gambia they should all have a voter card if they come for the registration, so that they can vote for President Barrow.
The minister states that those who will be giving the voter card will be saying this person was born in the Gambia, and he asserts that nobody knows who was born in the Gambia more than the Alkalo or the Seyfo. He urged them to listen to those empty words and try for their children to acquire a voter card and vote for Barrow in December. The timestamp of the statement is from 1:47:47 to 1:49:32 on the video.
What are social commentators saying about the Meet the People’s tour?
Madi Jobarteh, a prominent human rights activist, in a publication made through his Facebook page, has stated that what is happening in the tour has exposed disturbing truths, stating that the president is openly violating the letter and the rule of law. In the same statement, he states that not only is the tour conducted unlawfully, but also a massive waste of public resources due to the number of personnel accompanying the president.
Similarly, the administrative secretary of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), Ebrima Nyang, equally criticizes the tour, highlighting that it no longer serves its purpose, stressing that the tour continues to “divide us as a nation rather than unite us as a country.” He points out that the purpose of the tour has been defeated for a very long time; the people who are supposed to speak about their problems are the very ones who beg and praise the president for development.
Basidia M Drammeh took to his Facebook page, outlining how a constitutionally mandated exercise has drifted far from its original purpose. He argued that rather than serving as a genuine feedback mechanism between citizens and the presidency, the exercise has increasingly morphed into a full-blown political campaign platform for the incumbent. This distortion has fueled growing calls for the tour to be either removed from the constitution or fundamentally restructured, indicating that many Gambians hoped that the Barrow administration would break the current tradition and restore the tour’s integrity.
Can the President’s Meet the People’s Tour be stopped?
The current exercise is constitutionally mandated under Section 222 (15) of the 1997 Constitution, which gives the President the mandate to meet the people twice in a year. An exercise, which is formally called “Meet the Farmers Tour,” has been turned into “Meet the People’s Tour.” The exercise, which remains constitutional, can only be stopped through the National Assembly if parliamentarians can amend the current section in the constitution.
As the fourth ordinary session (budget) of the National Assembly in the 2025 Legislative Year kicks off, concerns have been raised among deputies surrounding the budget. This could, however, see a sharp increase in the allocations for the office of the president, which could potentially see an increment in the President’s Meet the People’s Tour budget.
This Fact-Explainer is part one of the President’s Meet the People’s tour in the provinces, while we keep track of the tour within the Kombo’s.
By Momodou Janneh