Lower Niumi Communities’ Elders Seek President Barrow’s Support
As President Adama Barrow embarked on the 2022 nationwide meet with the people tour which began on Monday through Barra Community, earlier on the day while waiting to welcome the President and his delegates, Various Imams and religious elders from different communities converged at the Barra Terminal Ferry to recite the Holly Quran, a sign of offering prayers for the peace, wellbeing and safety of the president and the Gambian people.
The recitation of the Holly Quran which is a norm by the elders of Barra and its surrounding communities, was said to be initiated by one Sarjo Bah many years ago for the same purpose, at any moment a president is to travel through Barra.
The theme for this year’s tour is “together we can accelerate socio-economic growth and maintain peace and stability”, is also regarded by communities of Lower Niumias a great opportunity for their concerns been looked after by directly having to dialogue with the president.
As our reporter earlier on discussed with some elders awaiting the president at the Barra Terminal, the Chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council of Lower Niumi and a resident of Sami Village, Imam Ebrima Abdul WahabJallow called on President Adama Barrow with considerations to allocate monthly allowance for the Imams in the various communities.
He stated that the Imams are conferred with one of the huge and most challenging responsibilities by leading Muslims in prayers in their various communities with other related social responsibilities such as tying of marriages, attending naming ceremonies and attending funerals for families and neighbors who lost their love ones among other matters.
He further appealed to President Adama Barrow for the provision of enough water and electricity supply, stating that their communities are currently suffering from shortages of water supply hence only few of the community members have access to water and electricity which is also a huge challenge.
Imam Jallow mentioned that even those with electricity supply keep suffering from frequent power cut and with low voltage and in some cases, they don’t have water supply for a week which are some of the many challenges they continue to face in the Lower Niumi communities.
With regard to their health, he noted that despite the fact they currently have few health centers with good structures, he cried out that they still encountering with the unavailability of medication. “We go to the clinics for medication, but to our surprise, the health personnel will only prescribe for us and ask us to go to the pharmacies to buy medicines from, which is a huge challenge to us,” he noted.
“Hence we could not have the chance to meet him at the State House and now we have the chance to meet him as he tours the country, we want to inform and appeal to him that we are definitely in need of electricity and water supply, good medication, because we do not have enough water from Barra to Kerewan village talk less of electricity supply. Only few compounds along the highway that have water supply and electricity supply, sometimes they also suffer from water shortage for some weeks,” he stated. He went further to also urge parents to teach their children good manners to be good future leaders.
Also speaking, Samba Ndow, the Secretary General of the Supreme Islamic Council of Lower Niumi and a resident of Samba Njabeh village also stated that all those remote village that are far from the big road are neglected. “As Gambians, we all need reflections, especially in the provision of enough potable water and effective electricity supply,” he concluded
Other speaker was Mr Baba Jerry Jah who also highlighted similar sentiments on behalf of AlhBabucarr Faye, the Alkalo of Barra.
The tour continues to Hakalan road project site visit and further to NdunguKebbeh village where the president is expected to hold a general meeting with those communities.
