Dear Editor,
I am calling on President Adama Barrow to immediately demand the resignation from office of the Minister of Energy, the Management of Nawec and the board of directors of the company.
I live in Latrikunda and like most of the people in the Greater Banjul Areas, I have not been having power sometimes for 20 hours straight. My business is collapsing because I do not have a generator to power my freezers. Even if I have a generator, where am I going to get money to buy expensive diesel at D120 per litre to run the generator for 20 long hours?
My family cannot sleep in the house at night because it burning hot and we cannot sleep outside because of the mosquitoes.
I was shocked to hear Nawec saying things will continue like this until the middle of June or even further? I am sure things will get even worse as far as electricity is concerned during the rainy season as is always the case.
I believe, and here I speak for almost all Gambians, that the minister and the people heading Nawec don’t know what they are doing and that is why the president should push them if they refuse to jump.
Bai Bamba Ceesay
Latrikunda Sabiji
Recommendations for improving ferry services
Dear Editor,
It takes an hour to dig a grave by hand. It equally took us an hour to trudge from the garage to the ferry terminal to get a ticket. I was at the ferry terminal by 6:30am and only boarded the ferry 2 hours and 15 minutes later. This is the same time required to travel from Banjul to Dakar by air.
Sheep and cattle are transported the same way as we, the citizens of this country, struggle and hassle and tussle just to get to the entrance of a ferry.
You have hundreds, if not thousands, of people queuing for one thing: a ticket. And there are at most two ticket-selling points. This can never be justifiable.
The path from the garage through the terminal to the ferry is a needle’s hole. This is as bad as those restricted and retrained paths in concentration camps in war-torn countries. One step, two steps, you step on someone and you remain in the same place. You became stagnant and it is suffocating.
If I were to ask one thing to Gambian public workers and the government, I’d say without flinching: Do you enjoy watching innocent citizens struggle and suffocate and suffer and beg?
You’ll wait an hour, two hours, and when the ferry finally arrives, you wait another hour to get in. Don’t be shocked when the ferry arrives and you’re told you have to wait because they are fuelling or cleaning it.
If truly we are intellect-absent and do not know what the solutions to these problems are, we should ask the people what they want. Don’t do what you think they want. This is not an anniversary date where you surprise your partner with gifts you think she would want. This is a nation of people with different needs.
Also, one thing I really despise in this country, especially in these busy terminals, is the disregard for people with special needs, differently-abled people, the sick, the old, the pregnant, and women with kids. These people should have privileges, they should have special and first access (through a separate and stress-free route) to the ferry. Why treat tourists like gods and treat your citizens, especially the above-mentioned, like wild sheep?
My recommendations to the government are:
1. Rebuild the terminal entirely to fit modern standards and citizens’ needs.
2. Make it inclusive, accommodating people with special needs. Have separate and dedicated lanes for different people and different functions.
3. If you can’t, decentralise ticket selling and purchasing. Have different selling points, at least everywhere in Banjul (even betting companies do). Introduce off-site ticket purchase points in Banjul and Barra
4. Renovate and use one or two of the old ferries for cargo only.
5. Have emergency boats for transporting ambulances and sick individuals. People are dying between Banjul and Barra every day and this is avoidable.
6. Ask the people what they want.
7. Learn from other countries. Rwanda is a great starting point.
8. Stop the loot. We know the GPA has not been making a loss for a single year. Use the money for the interest of Gambian people.
9. Please leave office. What you haven’t done in ten years, you’ll never be able to do.
I might sound angry, but to me, the core issue is not “more ferries”, it is better systems and better design and better separation of services so people aren’t forced into a single overcrowded choke point like hell.
Even if I were dumb enough to consider voting for this government in the upcoming election, after crossing the Banjul-Barra ferry crossing, I have once again been reminded that they have no regard for our lives.
Amadou S Jallow
A rightfully angry youth.
