By Nelson Manneh/Mustapha Jallow
The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), on Thursday April 2nd 2020 donated food items and sanitary materials to the Central River Region’s (CRR) Covid-19 taskforce.
The items donated include bags of rice; gallons of cooking oil and buckets containing sanitary materials.
According to Sanna Dahaba, the Executive Director of the NDMA, the donation of food items aims to address feeding challenges of people under quarantine whilst the sanitary items and buckets will promote hygiene.
Dahaba said the gesture will assist CRR Officials to combat the world’s newest deadly disease and advised the people residing in the region to put the donated materials into good use, in order to save the masses in case of hunger emergencies.
Aba Sanyang, the Governor of CRR expressed gratitude to Government through the NDMA for the noble gesture, saying it will go a long way in assisting people living with food insecurity as a result of the Corona virus emergency declaration by the President.
It could be recalled that President Barrow banned public gatherings such as weekly markets commonly known as Lumos. This had drastically affected rural communities who largely depended on these markets for their livelihoods. However, Governor Sanyang said many rural dwellers are in doubt as to how they would sustain their families in the immediate future now that the weekly markets are closed.
In a related development, Karpowership also donated food items such as rice, oil, sugar, onion, soap and detergents to the Gambia Police Force (GPF) on 7th April 2020.
Yankuba Mamburay, the country manager of Karpowership said the donated items were in recognition of the important role being played by the men in uniform during this difficult time.
“It is very paramount that we do this because it is a time that we are asked to stay at home. But if you stay at home, you should have some other means of survival and the Police play a very important role for us because we see them both day and night, wherever we are.’’ he said. Mamburay further explained that Karpowership Company started working officially in the country in May 2018; that the Company was mandated to produce 30 MW of reliable and affordable electricity in the Gambia which they were doing.
According to Mamburay, the food items presented to the Police, the Banjul City Council and the Orphanages etc., cost over D1m.
IGP Mamour Jobe expressed his satisfaction about the items and assured the Karpowership Company’s country MD that they will be put them into good use.
According to IGP Jobe, it is difficult for them to be at home at all times because of their duty; that they need to assure the Gambian public that they prevent crimes from happening in the society. In conclusion, IGP Jobe applauded Karpowership for the gesture and thanked them for the donation.
