President Adama Barrow has revealed that his government will start paying village heads a monthly salary worth D3,000 from January 2022.

President Barrow was speaking in Niumi Ndogu Chareng as he begins his nationwide election campaign.

Barrow is seeking a second term in office on December 4 when voters go to the polls.

The president told his audience: “I know you, the Gambian people, are wise and my other gift for you is that since The Gambia became independent, we know the alkalos [village heads] are elderly people. 

“And village head is a job and anyone who is working should be paid but no one pays the village heads. 

“Any stranger who visits a village comes to the home of the village head and whatever the government needs in a community goes to the village head.

“Every state meeting is the village heads who are invited and any difficulty in the village is faced by the village head, so is it that the village heads are not humans?”

“And now I have brought a budget and the National Assembly members have agree to it and I have signed it and my government has endorsed it and it is in our budget. 

“By January 2022, every village head in The Gambia, President Barrow will pay you 3,000 dalasis,” he added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba