Hon Ousman Sillah, the National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul North says Banjul is being threatened by Climate Change.
He made these remarks during an interview with The Point recently as he seeks re-election.
Hon. Sillah points out that one of the factors to mitigate climate change is to promote and protect the environment and the ecology.
“And one way of doing that is to build canals, this open drain that is just behind the National Assembly is an issue that needs to be tackled,” he observed.
He called on the next legislative body to focus on that, while urging the executive to ensure that not Banjul does not submerge.
Hon. Sillah said he always talked about the need to replace the clogged and mosquito-breeding open drains around Campama Estate or Tobacco Road with a properly constructed free-flowing canal, the relocation or proper management of the dumpsite at Mile Two or ‘Wenchor’ which emits stench and toxic fumes or smoke that pose a threat to the health of the patients at the sanatorium and inmates at the Central Prison. He said this also affects the inhabitants of settlement of ‘Ndangaan’, who are all in close proximity, as well as the management and protection of the ‘Tanbi Wetland’ among others.
According to him, he always makes called for government to invest in the productive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, capacity building or skills development, women and youth empowerment, among others, in order to create employment and boost the productive and export capacities of the country.
The Banjul North lawmaker added that he has propagated the need for accessible, affordable and quality health care, support to farmers, access to clean drinking water, boosting the economy through increased productivity and value addition to primary products.
Hon. Sillah is also an exponent of affordable housing and advocates the high cost of house rent. He called for extending the franchise or right to vote to Gambians in the diaspora, decent wages for workers, truth and reconciliation and acommitment to the governance agenda regarding constitutional, legal, institutional, administrative and security sector reform and others.
He said if he re-elected to serve for another five years as the NAM for Banjul North Constituency, he will launch a “campaign on environmental sanitation in Banjul North to address all the sewerage and drainage problems in the constituency, especially Campama Estate or Tobacco Road.”
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Hon Sillah explained that he will undertake initiatives such as the Crab Island TVET Centre to draw international partners to assist in helping to maintain a ‘Stench-Free, Filth-Free Tobacco Road and environs and to help transform waste into wealth by involving the youth in waste recycling for health, environmental sanitation and income generation, encourage and support women’s groups to engage in processing and value addition to food products for consumption and export.
He added that he will conduct more Civic Education to ensure that the sons and daughters of Christians and Muslims and other ethnolinguistic groups would work hand-in-hand as brothers and sisters to develop Banjul North to be an example of tolerance of diversity for Gambia and these would be done through educational, social, cultural and sporting initiatives.
“However, annual awards will be sponsored for civic groups that promote cultural diversity and national unity and to strengthen the Crab Island initiative and extend it to other constituencies and regions in the Gambia as well as make it serve as a model for other countries in the sub-region and beyond.”
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