“The government of The Gambia is not taking the welfare of its citizens lightly, they put high premium on the welfare of the citizens which is why the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance took it as priority during the Supplementary Appreciation Bill (SAB), to allocate significant amount of money to NDMA for disaster victims across the country,” he explained.
According to Mr. Dahaba, the D40 million given to the NDMA yesterday is to support the disaster victims in addition to the D10 million which was transferred to them previously about two weeks ago by the government. “The government of The Gambia should be highly commendable for the tremendous support they’ve been giving to its people,” he said.
“We have just completed a cash transfer of eight million, thirty two thousand five hundred dalasis (D8,32,500), to one thousand and seventy one (1071) beneficiaries across the country,” he disclosed.
He said that money was originally transferred before the disastrous windstorm that happened some weeks ago to take care of some disasters and operational issues, while the government also transferred D10 million to the NDMA account before the windstorm.
According to him, as soon as the windstorm happened, the money was immediately used as the first phase of the agency’s intervention. “I want to take this opportunity to thank President Barrow and the Ministry of Finance for the D40 million to respond and support to the windstorm victims and also thank the National Assembly who just concluded the SAB in which a significant amount of money was allocated for the NDMA,” he noted.
Mr. Dahaba further said that Barrow’s government places high premium on disaster governance in this country as “The Gambia is the only country in the whole world during the peak of the Covid-19 that supported 84% on emergency food support to its population.”
The NDMA director disclosed that disaster is an indispensable part of human life as even the most advanced countries in the world are going through the same disaster but what’s important is how much support government gives to assist its people; which Barrow has always been doing for the Gambia’s populace, he said.
“The biggest challenge when it comes to disaster management in this country is attitudinal change, as well as compliance and enforcement. These are also a big problem that my office faces because many people are settling at unregulated housings when most of them built on waterways and indiscriminate dumping of waste which induces floods,” he highlighted.
