The event was graced by the First Lady of The Gambia, Fatoumatta Bah Barrow and former First Lady, Lady Chilel Jawara, the Mayoress of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe and the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, among a cross-section of the community.
Besides, the exercise, according to organisers, is a significant day in which they paid homage to the late first president of the Republic of The Gambia, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, who championed good-governance and environmental protection.
“He is someone who has done so much for us in terms of ensuring good governance, environmental conservation, peace and stability, not just in The Gambia, but in the whole of Africa.”
At the event, Lady Chilel Jawara, the former first lady expressed gratitude to be part of the initiative on behalf of her deceased husband, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara.
“I’m really touched and I miss him a lot, but I see that all of you are with me especially the Kaira organization. This gives me joy that everybody remembers him even though he is not alive. I’m very happy to stand here with the First lady of the Republic, Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, the minister of Environment and the Lord Mayor to do this.”
For her part, Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, the First Lady of The Gambia, recalled that last year they undertook similar tree planting exercise; they planted some trees named after Sir Dawda, Lady Chilel Jawara and the president of the Republic, Adama Barrow and herself.
She advised all to plant trees during this time of the year, saying fruit trees are productive as people will have fruits to eat and get shade at the same time.
“Now we are here to plant Cocoa tree and Cocoa is life because it has a lot of ingredients and protein in it. So, we are naming these trees after Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara and we pray that they live to benefit a lot of people.” she added.
Also speaking, Rohey Malick Lowe, the mayoress of Banjul, underscored the importance of the exercise, further describing the former Gambian leader as a man, who gave us democracy, good governance.
“He educated us, made us what we are today, then if we stand here today to plant a tree on his behalf and it’s like we haven’t done anything for him.” he added.
Rohey John Manjang, Mnister for Environment commended the local organisation for their foresight and intervention in protecting the country’s environment.
“What I also say is every citizen has a role to play wherever they are”
She thus urged the organisation to expand its activities as well as continue planting more trees in the country.
“It is good to plant trees but maintaining it is important, I’m very happy and we want to see more of this.” she said.
