(Friday 18 October 2019 Issue)
Director and head of mission of the African Union- Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resourced (AU-BAR) to The Gambia has expressed his institution’s commitment to closely work with partners to strengthen veterinary legislation in The Gambia.
Professor
Ahmed El-Sawalhy was speaking at the end of a recent two-week seminar on
collective review of Veterinary Legislation organized and supported by AU-IBAR
for AU member states.
During
the seminar, Professor El-Sawalhy said the GAP analysis and evaluation of the
veterinary legislation undertaken since 2006 by the World Organisation for
Animal Health (OIE), highlights serious gaps in the national veterinary
services, and veterinary legislations and the need for strengthening at country
and REC levels.
He
further stated that AU-IBAR has initiated the process of harmonization of
priority domains of veterinary legislation in the various regions through the
Regional Economic Communities.
“The
RECs have identified priority domains and the training and the collective
review of the legislations you have undertaken this week will go a long way in
taking the process of harmonisation forward. I therefore request you as you
take the process forward to also ensure inclusion of regional perspectives in
the draft legislations”.
He also told participants that harmonization
of legislation would lead to cost effectiveness of our interventions at the
regional level and lead to our desired outcomes.
According
to him, the workshop has provided participants with an opportunity to enhance
their capacity to support the national processes for reviewing/updating of
veterinary legislation.
He
said bringing together health experts and legal drafting experts has allowed
production of high quality layman’s drafts and drafting instructions, saying
the continued consultation between animal health and legal experts will speed
up the process at national level, thereby assuring economy, effectiveness and
efficiency. “I am pleased to note that the training has fully achieved the
objectives and produced the expected deliverables that include: Layman’s draft
and accompanying notes; drafting instructions; country presentations on the
outputs; self- evaluation questionnaires.”
Professor
El-Sawalhy assured that his institution is committed to working with
participants as they take the process forward.
“AU-IBAR will provide support for national coordination and the
stakeholder engagement leading to National validation of the draft
legislations. Further support will be provided to support advocacy for
enactment and further capacity building”.
The
forum was hosted by the Department of Livestock Services under the Ministry of
Agriculture and was held at Senegambia Beach hotel. 23 countries, representing
over 70 participants in the continents, attended the seminar.
