A leading disability rights advocate in The Gambia has publicly challenged claims by the country's information minister that people with disabilities are benefiting from the government's flagship cash transfer programme.
Lamin Manneh, chair and secretary general of the National Organisation for Disabled and Orphans (NODO), dismissed remarks by the information minister, Ismaila Ceesay, describing them as "a misrepresentation of the facts".
The dispute centres on the Naafa (NAFA) cash transfer scheme, introduced to support vulnerable households across the country, particularly women-headed and disaster-affected families.
Speaking earlier this week, Ceesay said persons with disabilities had also been integrated into the programme as direct beneficiaries. But Manneh said his findings from across the country contradict that claim.
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"Dr. Ceesay's claim is a misrepresentation of the facts, misleading and a figment of his own imagination. I visited 31 villages in the country, and all the persons with disabilities organisations denied having ever directly benefited from the NAFA cash transfer scheme."
According to Manneh, visits to more than 30 villages revealed no evidence that people with disabilities had been directly included in the initiative.
"He has touched an area that he knows nothing about," he said.
The outspoken advocate also accused the minister of failing to meaningfully engage with the disability community.
"He doesn't want to know us. Let him stop bragging about the names of persons with disabilities."
Manneh further pointed to what he described as a contradiction between Ceesay's past and present positions, recalling that the minister had previously criticised the government's handling of disability issues before taking office.
"But now he is talking about it in a different way, as if governments do something good for us because of his selfish ministerial positions, trying to mislead people with disabilities and their parents and caregivers as well," he said.
Condemning the remarks as "totally misleading" and "unacceptable", Manneh issued a warning to both domestic and international actors.
"I therefore condemn it as unacceptable. I warn everyone, both in the Gambia outside, to either support people with disabilities sincerely or stay away from their affairs, and do not be the obstacles to others who are willing or about to do something for them, particularly international donors. Dr have stepped beyond our boundaries, be warned."
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