By: Kebba AF Touray
Suwaibou Touray, National Assembly Member for Wuli East, has called for the harmonization and coordination of communities with wildlife unprotected areas.
This he said, will ensure that farmers harvest the fruit of their labour, adding that without which some wildlife such as hippos would destroy the produce.
Touray decried this on Thursday 20th June 2019, during the adjournment debate of the Legislature.
“Space should be created between the farmland and the river so that these hippos will have space to feed on and the other side will be left for the farmer to produce his or her produce. There should also be a collaboration between the communities and the officials of Wildlife so that the communities understand the concept of protecting the endangered spices”, he said.
He continued: “We have endangered spices relating to wildlife, we want them to survive due to the importance of their existence within our biodiversity, but we have wildlife in areas that are not protected areas and these are areas bordering farmlands. There must be other ways of giving incentives to the farmer to be able to leave some part of the farmland for wildlife and to be able to grow in other areas. But no agreement is done about this”.
He urged the National Disaster Committee to be proactive in making timely assessments, to ensure that the necessary assistance can be given, as stipulated in the Disaster Management Act 2008. He also urged for an early warning system to inform farmers about the probabilities of the future for them to make the necessary preparations.
“No preparation was done in the case of the recent disaster until it dawned on everyone and affecting everywhere”, he remarked.
He said the menace has destroyed infrastructures by pulling down communication and electric poles and blowing away whole roofs with their mangled corrugated iron sheets for almost a kilometer away.
He continued: “No early warning forecast or prediction was given to prepare the people, and the disaster has even caused some to lose their lives. So Honorable Speaker, we need to reactivate the disaster committee to be able to look into the issue and make every effort to ensure that the National Disaster Committee gets to the ground. We will help them do the necessary assessment, in order to provide the needed aid to needy victims.’’
He said the coordination among the village, district, region and Government, should be proactive so that whatever happens can be addressed immediately; that if this is not done, the institutions that should assist disaster victims will not serve the purpose for which they were created.
