Businessmen
and women around the Banjul beach especially fishermen have expressed their
dissatisfaction in the way their businesses are been affected amid covid-19
outbreak in the country.
Fishermen
and vendors at the site have made complaints about how the covid-19 has
affected their daily activities as well as being sluggish.
President
Adama Barrow made a declaration in a televised statement on Friday evening;
designed to stem the spread of the deadly covid-19, which according to the
businessman and women has inflicted significant havoc on their businesses.
“Honestly
things are very difficult for us since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the
country. Our businesses have now been stagnant since the declaration of the
state of emergency due to covid-19,” said Hadim Ceesay, a fisherman at Banjul
fish landing site.
He
added that they are losing lot of income because people are afraid to come and
buy in the midst of the coronavirus.
“People
are no longer coming for shopping due to the fear of the virus. Sometimes even
to have money to buy fuel for our boat or ice blocks to ice for our catches is
a problem,” he said.
Pateh
Manneh, a fisherman, also said that the covid-19 is making things very hard for
them.
“We
will now invest a lot of money for fish and in the end, we would not even have
half of the money spent. People are no longer coming to buy fish which is
making things very difficult for us,” he said.
He
added that sometimes they would even go to the market to buy something for
their businesses, however, at the end of the day, all the shops are found
closed.
Amadou
Manneh said: Things are very hard for all businesses just like how it is around
the world. Since the covid-19 outbreak in the country, things have been very
difficult for businesses in the country. We appeal to the government to come to
our aid and assist us. This is the only place we get our earnings to feed
ourselves and our families.
The
vendors around the Banjul fish landing site have also made complaints about how
the covid-19 is making life difficult for their businesses.
Neneh
Loum, a vendor, said their businesses are at standstill.
“Before
the outbreak of covid-19, my business was really going well, but now things
have become very bad and this is the only place where I earn to feed my
family,” she said.
She
added that sometimes they would come to sell and there would be no customer as
everyone preferred staying home.
Absa
Sabally, also a vendor, said most of their customers are now afraid to buy
their wares due to fear that they would contact the virus.
“We
will invest lot of money in our business, but in the end, people would not come
and buy. This is something very bad for us,” she lamented.
Boat
passengers and customers also joined others to say that though the virus is
making things very difficult businesses, it is also spoiling all their
activities as well because of the fear of going out.
“We all need to be very careful about the
disease and know that things are very difficult for us and The Gambia in
general. We are all adhering to the advice given by the government and WHO to
stay at home,” said Yusupha Jabang.
