This disclosure was made on Tuesday at a meeting between The Gambia Red Cross Society and the Road Safety Association.
At the event, Momodou Senghore, secretary general, The Gambia Red Cross Society, while thanking members of the association for coming up with such an initiative to ensure safety on our roads, reminded that GRCS was created by an Act of Parliament as The Gambia like many other countries, signed and ratified the Geneva Convention, which among others, gives right to and requests governments to create safer societies for all.
“It also gives positions or privileges within the country to be able to act in support of government efforts, but in the event of conflict, the Gambia Red Cross Society will be respected as an independent in situation of humanitarian purposes and supporting. This is one of the reasons why we keep our independence so that in time of crisis, we can be as neutral and respected by all parties.”
SG Senghore indicated that as a society they are equally concerned about the surge in the number of accidents on our roads, further expressing his impression with the group’s stance and importance it attaches to safety of the populace.
Pateh Baldeh, executive director, Road Safety and Driving Standard Association (RSDSA), while thanking The Gambia Red Cross Society for their active stance in ensuring safety especially during humanitarian needs, affirmed his organisation’s readiness to work with the GRSC.
Baldeh disclosed that road safety is something that people don’t care much about and that is the reason why they initiated this association to sensitise the public on road safety.
The association, he recalled, was registered in 2018 and since then they have been working across the country.
“But we feel it is important that we start meeting our stakeholders who are active in this. So, this is why we decided to write to you people, and have meeting with you to discuss on the modalities and see how we can collaborate, build partnership in terms of training and advocacy in order to minimise road accidents in this country.”
Andrew Jarju, head of Disaster Management at The Gambia Red Cross Society, underscored the importance of the initiative, as it is trying to limit accidents on our road accidents.
Jarju observed that looking at the trend of road accidents in the country, The Gambia is ranked fourth globally, according to the information gathered.
“So, we can only reduce that through collaboration.”
Njie Baldeh, administrative secretary, RSDSA, described the meeting as timely and that the association will continue to call for more collaborations with institutions, international organisations and government to reduce road accidents.
Basiru Fadera and Ebrima Fye, programme officer, The Gambia Road Safety and Driving Standard Association and Regional Coordinator for North Bank respectively, both thanked Red Cross for the collaboration.
