By: Kebba AF Touray
The Gambia’s Vice President, Muhammed BS Jallow, has told the National Assembly that the NDMA is implementing measures to prevent flooding in vulnerable areas.
He said this while responding to a question put to him by the Member for TallindingKujang, Hon. Musa Badgie, on behalf of the member for Bundung-KaKunda, Hon. Sulayman Jammeh, on Wednesday, 3rd July 2024.
Hon Badgie asked the Vice President to explain to the assembly about the state of readiness of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), in terms of implementing measures to prevent flooding in vulnerable areas like Bundung, Tallinding, NemaKunku among other areas, before the commencement of the rainy season.
The Vice President said, “The preparatory activities for 2024 have commenced, as the NDMA in collaboration with partners is implementing short-term measures to mitigate potential flooding, and it includes the WACA Project, under the Environment Ministry”.
The Project, he added, is currently undertaking manual excavation of the Kotu stream to maintain its natural contour.
The Vice President was asked by the Member for Foni Bintang Karanai, Hon. Bakary Badgie to explain why he is residing in the Vice President’s Residence in Fajara.
The Vice President in his response replied that he is not residing in the said Vice President’s residence because the residence is currently undergoing rehabilitation works.
When asked by the Foni Bintang Karanai Lawmaker to state how soon the rehabilitation works will be completed, the Vice President replied “I want to inform this august assembly that I will be moving by the end of this month”.
FoniKansala parliamentarian, Hon. Alimammeh Gibba asked the vice President, to inform the assembly if the President is ready to make further inquiries into the sales of the assets of former President Yahya Jammeh.
He said there is ambiguity surrounding the sales of assets of former President Jammeh, such as without clear receipts of sales, no evidence of buyer’s names, and the cost of each asset.
This, he said, is a concern to the Gambian citizenry in terms of transparency of the government.
Vice President replied, “I wish to inform this assembly that my office is working in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, to put forward a comprehensive report as it relates to the sales of former President Jammeh’s assets during and after the sitting of the commission”.
On whether the government is considering an inquiry into the matter, the vice president said that the government is not contemplating any such action for now.
Member for Janjangbureh, Hon. Omar Jammeh, added that the executive informed the public about the purchase of vehicles for the just concluded OIC, through a pre-financing agreement with Muhammed Jah, owner of Espace Motors.
However, he said only 89 vehicles were handed over to the government, asking the Vice President to clarify how many vehicles were received from Espace motors, the nature of the signed contract, and provide evidence of signed contract between the government and Espace motors, with tender document and GPPA approval that were sought.
The Vice President explained: “One hundred executive vehicles were earmarked to be purchased for the OIC summit. However, the total number of vehicles was reduced to 89 due to changes in specifications of vehicles to be used by Heads of State, which had cost implications”.
He said that the contracts were through the Finance Ministry with GPPA approval, and thus referred the member to go to the relevant committees to access such information.
The Janjanbureh lawmaker also asked the President to state how many jobs has the government created in specific areas and inform the assembly of policy actions in place or being considered to create more employment opportunities in rural areas including his constituency, to curb rural-urban migration.
He said this is because the President has made a pronouncement that the government intends to create 150,000 jobs.
The Vice President replied that the 150,000 jobs pronouncement was based on the target set by the national employment policy and action plan 2022-2026.
However, the government’s role is to create an enabling environment for the private sector-led job creation.
Hon. Jammeh further asked the President to provide data on jobs created by the government, adding that it is the responsibility of the government to collect data and analyze the data to better inform the public on some of the progress the government is making, especially around employment.
Vice President Jallow said: “I concur with the Hon. Member for Janjanbureh that it is our role as a government to collect the data, but unfortunately, at this point, we don’t have the data. I know that the trade ministry is in the process of trying to put that in place”.
