The
secretary general and leader of the United Democratic Party, Lawyer Ousainou
Darboe has expressed his party’s resolve to work with the government of The
Gambia in a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus (covid-19).
Lawyer
Darboe was speaking during a press confab on Tuesday, as the party joins the
rest of the world to express concern about the deadly virus, which is spreading
fast around the globe.
The
UDP he said, will continue to give its full backing and participate in any
awareness campaign that the government may embark on.
It
could be recalled that the outbreak of the covid-19 has hit global economies,
which appears headed for uncharted but troubled territory.
Last
week, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak as a global pandemic.
To this end, the veteran lawyer and leader of the UDP, advised the government
to act fast, be proactive, decisive and put in place forward thinking
strategies to deal with the global menace.
“Although,
there have been no reported cases of the virus in The Gambia, but we are aware
that there are several cases reported in Senegal that has warranted strict
public health measures such as the closing of schools for the next three weeks
in Senegal,” he said.
He
thus on behalf of the UDP party urged government to convene a meeting of
stakeholders and setup a national emergency response team, which will comprise
relevant government departments, local government authorities and
non-governmental organisation (NGO) public health partners in the country to
assess the country’s health infrastructures’ level of preparedness to address
any potential outbreak.
“The
government should engage partners to assess the health infrastructures’ level
of preparedness to address any potential outbreak such as testing and screening
capacity availability of proactive medical supplies for frontline healthcare
providers’ measures and mitigate the spread of false information about the
virus by ensuring availability of water and hand washing station at public
places,” he urged.
Due
to the outbreak of the deadly virus, Lawyer Darboe declared that they (UDP)
have cancelled all their political activities which will encourage large
gatherings.
“The
UDP party through our National Assembly Members, Mayors and Chairmen of local
government authorities, is ready to and will stand by and support the
government with any interventions and measures to deal with the pandemic and
alleviate its economic consequences,” he said.
In
order to manifest one of their support to government, Darboe stated that he has
personally made arrangements for the installation of 16 hand washing stations
in the Greater Banjul area by members of the Youth Wing of the party.
This,
he said, is to promote the World Health Organisation’s popular “Safe-hands
Challenge”.
Meanwhile,
the party also promised to organise a quarterly briefing on contemporary
affairs and its activity.
