State House,
Banjul, February 11, 2020 – A delegation of Banjulians, comprising
representatives at the Local Councils, National Assembly, civil society,
community groups on Tuesday, 11th February 2020, paid a courtesy call on His
Excellency, President Adama Barrow at the State House.
The
delegation of more than forty people, among several other requests, called for
street lighting, industries, town hall, youth capacity-building schemes and
more infrastructure that will help revive the capital city’s past glory as
administrative capital of The Gambia.
“The
cleanliness of Banjul today is unrivalled for a very long time, especially for
Half-Die,” Assembly Member Fatoumatta Njie told the President. She expressed
her impression with the ongoing works in the city, trusting that more of such
are in store for Banjul if the President is given the support he needs.
Muhammed Ndow
added his voice to the call for street lights in the city, so as to rid the
inhabitants of darkness at night. Lights will better illuminate the ongoing
works on roads, sewage and drainage systems, he fondly said.
To the
Banjulians, there still exists more land space for the construction of office
buildings in Banjul, which can further change the face of the city as the
capital of The Gambia.
So far, the
ongoing works have created great impacts on Banjulians that so many who wanted
to sell their landed properties so they can settle outside the city are
rethinking such proposals.
However, they
are worried that the sea port expansion plan in the city will affect so many
residences and make several areas inhabitable.
They want the
development of swampy lands into housing schemes that will expand settlement
opportunities for them.
“Lights are a
necessity just as trees in the city. It is important to have a town hall in
Banjul so that conferences can be hosted and artists can perform in the city,”
said Aji, Louise Jobe, a woman in her 60s. She added that establishment of a
youth centre and the revival of “Saroo” will greatly help create jobs and build
capacity for the youths.
Saroo was
famous for value addition of groundnuts as the country’s main cash crop in the
70s and 80s. Factories were set up to process groundnuts into finished goods
like cooking oil and its husks converted into briquettes.
Factories
were also set up to process fish from the city’s waters and cold stores existed
to help preserve raw food stuffs.
At one time,
turbines were used to generate electricity that supplied all of Banjul and
parts of Bakau. Now Banjulians want these to be revived and more.
The
President, who recalled fun memories of his youthful days in the city was
elated. He said Banjul as a capital should be a true reflection of the state of
The Gambia, hence his government attaches great importance to its
transformation.
President
Barrow takes lot of pride in being the first opposition candidate to win
against an incumbent President, which was unprecedented in 52 yeaars of the
city’s electoral history.
In 1978, he came to Banjul as a pupil to march
in the independence celebration and listened to country’s first President
address the students. In 2018, he was addressing students as President at the
same grounds with former President among the audience, because it was destined
to be.
He will hence
remain steadfast in executing his mandate as expected by electorates and will
continue to focus on constructing his legacy in office.
Basiru Ndow,
an official of President Barrow’s newly registered NPP, said the President’s
performance in office has already surpassed expectations as enshrined in his
campaign manifesto when he ran for office in 2016.
The
delegation was accompanied to the State House by Ministers of Finance, Mambory
Njie, Transport and Works, Bai Lamin Jobe and Fisheries, Mr. James F. Gomez,
who are all Banjulians and among a third of the Cabinet composition of
President Barrow’s government.