Matters arising

The other time we ran a story about a woman who was arraigned before the Brikama Magistrates’ Court and charged with murder.

The accused person, Adama Kinteh, who is currently remanded in custody, was alleged to have murdered one Sainey Njie, her own son, by giving him a noxious substance.

This and many stories of inhuman acts are what we read about in the papers every day. It is so disheartening!

But why would anybody even kill? Whatever the motive may be, murder is abominable!

Now, about the call made by the Gambia National Trade Union Congress (GNTUC) for a 500 percent salary and wages increase to keep up with the present cost of living.

During celebrations marking Workers Day, a day set aside to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the international labour movement across the globe, the GNTUC issued a 13-page resolution, which covered several sectors such as transport and agriculture, among others, as well as touching on many areas of concern to workers in The Gambia.

These include the need to implement international labour standards, ensuring a decent workforce, re-establishment of the ministry of labour, social security and social welfare, establishment of an enterprise development service, and establishment of a chamber of commerce for agriculture.

As always highlighted in these pages, workers deserve a better deal to meet the rising cost of living.

Though we cannot say by what percent salaries should be increased, we urge the employers to give a lot of thought to the matter of salary increase. Workers’ pay packets no longer match the rising prices of basic commodities.

Workers who live on a fixed income, are usually worse off when prices go up, especially so when they have no other source of income. As their income falls far short of their expenditure, they tend to live by their wits, or lose interest in their work. As a result, efficiency suffers.

Workers should be made to be able to pay their rents, feed their families, take care of, if not all, at least half of the needs of the family so as to maintain effective and efficient performance in their various offices, as better services will yield better results.

In our yesterday’s issue, we also carried a story about the arrest of four officers of the National Drug Enforcement Agency for allegedly torturing one Cherno Alieu Suwareh, which led to his death.

Though, we are told the matter is still under investigations, we believe that law enforcement officers should serve as role models in any society.

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

Albert Einstein