By Lamin Kujabi
His Excellency President Adama Barrow, on Thursday, 3rd November 2022, received district chiefs at the State House in Banjul. The chiefs were there to commend and thank him for the support he gave them during their trip to Guinea Bissau to pay condolence for the death of Guinean Paramount Chief.
He expressed appreciation to the chiefs for the initiative and described the two countries as one.
He noted the importance promoting our norms, culture and values.
The President took the opportunity to talk about the issues in the country and his government’s efforts to ameliorate the difficulties.
He said his government has already subsidised cost of fuel in order to avoid increase in the price of fuel.
He also promised that he will always protect the resources of the country as his government has introduced a plan with a business man who imports lots of cooking oil and sells them less than the market price. This he said will force the market price to go down from D2000 to D1900 and eventually to D1600.
He also informed the chiefs that government is introducing a new rice variety, that being given to farmers to multiply it so that the whole country can benefit from it. He explained that one hectare of the variety can produce up to three to seven tons of rice.
“The government is also discussing with a potential investor who is ready to engage in rice production of 10, 000 hectares. This cultivation will happen three times a year and if we are able to produce 90,000 tons,that will be enough for home consumption,’’ he assured.
Honorable Dawda Jallow, Attorney General and Minister of Justice explained that the law of the country gave power to the Chiefs to maintain peace in their areas.
He also revealed that the Anti-corruption bill is still at the National Assembly and that government has never withdrawn the bill from the NA.
He however promised that the government is committed to fighting corruption but also called on Gambians to stop giving bribery because corruption is act of two people.
Honorable Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs explained that the crisis and difficulty that Gambia is facing is the same as other countries in the world are facing.
He took the opportunity to inform that the Senegambia bridge used to generate D18 million per month, but that since the government regulated the bridge, it is now generating D40 million per month.
The chiefs thanked the President for his support and pledged allegiance to him.
