Businessman and politician Pa Njie Girigara has called for an end to the practice of validity expiry dates on mobile data and credit in The Gambia, describing it as unfair and illegal.
Speaking in one of his regular public addresses, Girigara argued that once customers pay for data or credit, it should remain theirs without restrictions. He compared the practice to a shopkeeper forcing buyers to consume their purchases within a set time.
“It’s like buying coffee and being told that if you don’t finish it in four days, you must return it. That makes no sense,” he said.
Drawing on his experience in the telecom industry in Senegal, Girigara noted that consumers there are also challenging the same policy, while some countries have already abolished it.
He dismissed the operators’ justification that expiry dates help free up server space, insisting it is the companies’ responsibility to provide adequate infrastructure. “What you can’t keep, don’t sell,” he stressed, vowing to push for legal action to protect consumers.
