The Minister of Agriculture Hon Omar Jallow has assured the staff and management of Department of Livestock Services that he will ensure that it gets back YBK camp.
OJ said the camp does not belong to the Police Intervention Unit but a property of DLS.
He made this assurance during a meeting held at YBK camp with members of DLS as part of ongoing nationwide tour to various Agricultural sites across the country.
OJ promised to speak with the minister of Interior, Mai Ahmed Fatty, over the issue whose ministry oversees all security matters.
The agric ministry said livestock has been an integral part of socio-cultural activity of The Gambia, adding “for us to leave YBK camp will be failure on the side of the government. Therefore we are ready also to make sure that livestock play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of the country. We are also going to cultivate crops but now calling on diversification. .”
“Inasmuch as we need security, we equally need livestock. Therefore, I have to emphasize that YBK camp has to come back to its glory, pivotal role in the socio- economy development of the country,” he assured.
For his part, permanent secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Sait Drammeh commended Dr Duto Sainey Fofana for the effort he has put into the rehabilitation of the YBK camp.
He said when he took over as PS, during his first visit to YBK camp, “I found that the place was totally abandoned. Nobody was there for several reasons but one of the most important one was the occupation of the camp by the PIU and there was nothing we could do about it.”
He said YBK camp has been revived which was known as a center of excellence during PPP regime.
“We have to thank the entire project especially Nema- project for supporting this center. We assure Dr Fofana that we will support him at the level of the ministry to ensure that he achieves his desired goals,” he said.
