Veteran politician and National Assembly Member for Wuli East, Sedia Jatta, has urged the authorities to evaluate the possibility of outsourcing waste management to private entities if Councils proved incompetent to carry out the task.
Jatta, who was addressing his colleagues at an adjournment debate on the Assembly floor, inquired where 60% of Council’s revenue that should have been ploughed to the people are invested.
“What is the responsibility of the Councils? We are paying rates and taxes to Councils and the law says 60% of money paid to Councils shall go back to the people in the form of services. Is that happening?” Jatta questioned.
“What is happening to the huge sums of money that people are paying into the Councils’ coffers all over the country? So after doing all that we are told ‘you must go and clean it yourselves’.
“If Councils are found inefficient or incompetent to carry out such a monumental and necessary task, why can’t we think of outsourcing it to somebody or a company that can do it efficiently in the interest of the people?”
Jatta enjoined authorities to work on such pertinent issues such as dumpsite in the wake of the Bakoteh crisis and also the means of waste collection.
“Anybody who is coming from Brikama this morning once you arrive at Tallinding Kunjang market, on your right hand side, there is lot of eyesore there and the funny thing is waste is dumped right in the street,” Jatta said.
“We say the practice was and it seems to be continuing but the fundamental question was not resolved. When we collect these wastes, where we are going to dump them was not resolved at all.”
Jatta also spoke on the need to institute blood banks in every health centre and ensuring continued electricity generation in those health facilities.
Meanwhile, Muhammed Magassy, the independent candidate for Basse has urged the government of President Adama Barrow to help improve medical services in his constituency.
Magassy said his region is the most neglected in terms of health care in the country, claiming that they have only two doctors in the entire constituency and no road network.
He said the cooling system at the Basse mortuary has not been working.
Other issues that were discussed by lawmakers were insufficient medicine at hospitals, poor road networks in most parts of the country, especially in the Wulis.
The sitting was attended by the women’s affairs minister Fatoumata Jallow Tambajang, information minister Demba Jawo, Environment minister Lamin Dibba and Forestry minister James Gomez.
