By: Kebba AF Touray
Mr. Sanna Dahaba, the Executive Director of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), has recently informed journalists that waste management has been a critical challenge when it comes to development in the country.
“This is why there is always the need for the NDMA to partner with all the relevant stakeholders, such as the Councils and Environment Agency, so that we can come up with a lasting solution in terms of managing waste in the country,” he said.
He said with respect to disaster, the government is the primary duty bearer and other stakeholders may also come in to provide additional support to the government so as to help implement government’s efforts to mitigate and respond to disaster incidents.
Dahaba said COVID-19 is a clear eye-opener that demonstrates to the people how government responds to disaster situations through the provision of food aid and medical care to the people, most especially the victims.
“We will continue to engage government and partners so that collectively we would be able to address the issue of food security and all humanitarian responses associated with COVID-19,” he said.
“To mitigate disaster, the government needs to strengthen human capacity and also allocation of the requisite resources to address disaster.”
The director said amidst the major infrastructure developments taking in Banjul, they would continue to intensify their engagements with the government, councils and other relevant stakeholders, so that the remaining critical hotspots in the capital city would be addressed. He said last year, the agency worked with the Councils to address disaster problems in Kabakama.
“Kabakama has been a long disaster hotspot when it comes to flash floods and this was the reason the Agency collaborated with the Councils so that collectively, we can have the needed equipment and put resources together to reduce the impact of floods in Kabakama,” he said.
Dahaba said globally, waste management is a daunting challenge and The Gambia is good at generating waste, but find it difficult to manage waste.
