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Written by: Dawda Baldeh
Europe-based Gambian migrant activist Ebrima Drammeh has accused the government of plagiarising his migration data and presenting it in parliament without acknowledging the source. Speaking to The Fatu Network, Drammeh said the development exposes what he described as hypocrisy within government ranks, after officials previously dismissed and ridiculed the same figures when he first published them in January.
The outspoken activist said he was deeply frustrated that authorities who earlier questioned his credibility have now relied on his research without crediting him. According to Drammeh, government officials initially rejected his statistics on migrant deaths and disappearances, even suggesting that the information he presented was fabricated.
However, on Wednesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Sering Modou Njie, presented a situational report on irregular migration before the National Assembly that Drammeh said reflected the same data he had released months earlier.
Reacting to the presentation, Drammeh accused the government of “stealing” his data after previously attempting to discredit him, saying: “This was the data I published on arrivals, deaths and missing migrants. After my publication, the Ministry of Information debunked my figures and claimed I was lying. Yet the same data was later used in parliament without giving me credit.”
Drammeh said he has invested significant time and resources compiling information on Gambian migrants, often working independently to track deaths, disappearances and boat departures along migration routes. He also criticised officials who previously challenged the accuracy of his figures, stating: “Dr. Ceesay accused me of fabricating the data. But now the very same numbers the government said were false are being presented by the Foreign Affairs Minister in parliament. That is unacceptable.”
During his address to lawmakers, Minister Njie revealed that nearly 900 Gambians died attempting to reach Europe through irregular migration routes in 2025, a figure that mirrors the statistics Drammeh had earlier reported. “Eight hundred and ninety-three (893) Gambians reportedly lost their lives, while more than 1,254 remain missing,” Njie told the National Assembly.
The figure matches the number Drammeh cited during a press conference in January, when he said: “From January to December 2025, more than 893 Gambian migrants lost their lives.” Drammeh has now challenged the government to prove that the minister’s report was not based on his research, insisting the numbers presented were identical to those he previously released.
To support his claim, the activist pointed to an earlier The Fatu Network report published on January 5th 2026, in which he revealed that forty-six migrant boats had vanished without a trace, another detail he says now appears in the government’s latest report. A review of the data presented in parliament, according to The Fatu Network, shows striking similarities with the statistics Drammeh published months earlier.
Drammeh further argued that he remains one of the few individuals consistently compiling real-time data on Gambian migration, and challenged both the government and international organisations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to present alternative figures.
“What baffles me is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented my data at the National Assembly without acknowledging my efforts,” he said, adding that, to his knowledge, the ministry has not conducted its own independent data collection on migrant deaths at sea or on land. “These figures they shared are entirely based on the data I compiled.”
He insisted that recognition and transparency are essential in documenting the realities of irregular migration, warning that presenting research without attribution undermines the credibility of migration reporting and disrespects those working to record the human cost of the crisis.
