By Kebba Jeffang
The Director of Press and Public Relations at the office of the President, Amie Bojang-Sissoho, on 26th October told journalists that President
Barrow is aware of the affected rice and groundnut farms amid lesser rain fall and the Ministry of Agriculture is assessing the situation.
“Right now the president has been briefed that in some parts of the country like the Lower River Region, rice and groundnuts are affected. Millet is good because they are more resistant. Right now the minister of agriculture is doing a monitoring to confirm the exact situation in the regions. And at the end of the day, there will be a technical advice,” she said.
Meanwhile, she said the Ministry of Finance is currently preparing policies on public sector restructuring, the development of a nationalization plan, Government vehicle policy and business travel policies.
“This is all in view of drastically reducing the need for Government to borrow, consequently leading to a decrease in interest rates. The reduction in interest rates is expected to encourage private sector lending,” said DPPR.
On the issue of migration, she said the International Organization for Migration received 3.9 million euros from the EU on returnees’ integration in The Gambia. She said the IOM works with the Ministry of the Interior through technical working groups, to implement the project.
According to her, President Barrow has been updated on the implementation of the projects targeting youths and migrants in particular.
“Government and its partners are working on a national migration policy which will spell out the comprehensive national response to migration and returnees’ management. The president has been informed about the 1,300 migrants who voluntarily returned to the Gambia,” she said.
On her final point of discussion, Bojang-Sissoho said the issuance of non-biometric passport has stopped. She said the process is underway to issue a new biometric passport in different parts of the world.
“Gambians travelling to The Gambia can obtain temporary travelling certificates from the nearest Gambian diplomatic or consular mission,” she informed.
