Misleading! Secka’s claim President Barrow’s office spent D1.2bn in 2025

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Dawda Baldeh

Claim: Gambian opposition Vice-Presidential candidate Nenneh Cheyassin Secka claims that President Adama Barrow’s office spent D1.2 billion in the 2025 fiscal year.

Verdict: Misleading. The claim by opposition Vice-Presidential candidate Nenneh Cheyassin Secka is directionally accurate but factually imprecise. Official financial records show that the Office of the President spent D1.32 billion between January and December 2025, exceeding the D1.2 billion she cited by over D120 million. 

Full Text

Speaking to journalist Sukai Jarjusey in a video posted on the TikTok account “Insightful,” opposition Vice-Presidential candidate Nenneh Cheyassin Secka stated that Gambian President Adama Barrow spent D1.2 billion of the national budget in 2025.

“Every year, President Barrow spends over a billion dalasis of your money. Just last year, the president spent D1.2 billion,” she claimed.

Secka made these remarks while responding to questions about her lifestyle as displayed on social media. 

As part of her defence, she justified spending money on popular artists, addressing allegations that she gifted one million dalasis to famous Senegalese singer Wally Seck last year.

At the time of conducting this fact-check, the interview video had generated over 26,000 views, nearly 2,000 likes, 30 comments, 212 favourites, and 61 shares.

Accusations of public fund overspending by the Gambian government have gained fresh institutional weight. Pressure groups have also occupied the streets, accusing the government of corruption. 

This statement comes at a time when the country is grappling with skyrocketing debt and cost of living, coupled with acute electricity shortages.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed in its late May 2026 Article IV Consultation report that the Gambian government missed two critical quantitative performance criteria for the end of December 2025 by a “large margin,” explicitly citing substantial expenditure overruns.

Given the public interest and the specific economic figures cited, DUBAWA launched an investigation to verify the accuracy of the data.

Verification

To verify the claim, DUBAWA reviewed the 24-page “2025 Budget Performance Report” published by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.

Data extracted from the report, specifically page 19, Annex 4, shows that the Approved Budget for the Office of the President for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) was GMD 1.37 billion. 

The actual expenditure recorded for the year stood at “GMD 1.32 billion”, leaving an unspent balance of D50 million. This represents a budget execution rate of 96%.

The official report explicitly identifies the Office of the President as one of the top-spending budget entities in the country. 

The final expenditure figure of GMD 1.32 bn confirms that actual spending surpassed the D1.2 billion figure cited by Secka.

Furthermore, the document notes that the Office of the President accounted for approximately 4% of total government expenditure in 2025. 

This allocation covers the operational affairs of both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential offices. 

Conclusion

Based on official financial records from the Ministry of Finance, Secka’s claim is misleading. While she correctly identifies that the Office of the President spent over a billion dalasis in 2025, her specific figure of D1.2 billion understates the actual expenditure. 

The end-of-year budget performance report confirms total spending reached D1.32 billion, which indicates a D120 million increase above the amount she cited.