Modou Turo Darboe spends about D2 million on Ramadan gifts

A prominent Gambian businessman, Modou Turo Darboe, had spent nearly D2 million on gifts to Muslims across the country during the Ramadan.

The money was spent through his organisation, Vision Development Foundation, and it included the purchasing of forty bulls that were also given out to Imams and other associations and departments, and individuals. 

The total money spent was revealed to the media at the last day of the Ramadan food aid distribution at Mr Darboe’s office in Churchill’s Town.

This year’s annual distribution was mainly presided over parliamentarians, cabinet ministers and top government officials who expressed their amazement with the gesture.

The public relations officer of VDF, Saikou Fofana, said the organisation has been rendering “this kind of services in the past years”.

He said the overall aim of VDF was to complement the efforts of the government and the community in support the poor and the needy.

He said due to the demand of the population, VDF has expanded its operation beyond the Greater Banjul Area to other regions such as Central River Region, North Bank Region and West Coast Region.

For her part, Trade Minister, Dr Isatou Touray, hailed Turo Darboe for supporting the poor and the needy during the holy month of Ramadan.

She said Mr Darboe’s support was “a great symbolic significance”.

“Mr Darboe gives out to the needy was a lesson for the government to try as much as possible to emulate him in a bid to reducing poverty,” the minister said.

Also speaking, the majority leader of the National Assembly, Kebba K. Barrow, confirmed that helping the poor during the Ramadan was a usual trend for VDF under its CEO Turo Darboe

He said one of the core activities of the VDF was to help the needy and the vulnerable members of the society.

He called on Gambian philanthropists to emulate Mr Darboe’s footstep.

For his part, the National Assembly member for Wuli West, Hon. Sedia Jatta, who was in attendance to help Mr Darboe in the distribution of food aids and cash, described the move as “a very good benevolent gesture”.

Modou Turo Darboe, for his part, said he inherited the benevolence from his father and he vowed to continue helping humanity.