By Olimatou Cocker
A large contingent of riot police from the PIU on Saturday blocked a large gathering of people from Sukuta, from holding a press conference at the Salagi community forest.
Led by the village development committee and other local community leaders including the National Assembly Member for Sanementereng, the villagers had called the media to the site to express their opposition to government’s decision to allocate part of the forest to a private company for use as a depot and truck garage for basalt trading.
The police said they got orders not to allow anyone on the site.
After a heated standoff between the villagers and the police, local NAM Fatou Cham led the crowd to another venue to hold the press conference where speaker after speaker denounced the decision to give the reserved land to “a private businessman for profit making without consulting them”.
“Salagi Forest Park hosts boreholes that supply water to most parts of the Greater Banjul Area and it is therefore our view that using a portion of the forest as a basalt depot and truck garage will pose significant risk to the health of masses. These non-forestry activities will undoubtedly affect our ecosystem, damage forest cover, and accelerate the impact of climate change on our community”, Cham said. She lamented the unwillingness of the authorities to listen to the community in the engagement between the villagers and the ministry of environment.
Saikou Janko, chairperson of the Coalition of Environmentalist Organisations and many other residents vowed to fight for the protection of the land.
