Bakau NAM Remonstrates with Business Community

Calls for Revocation of some Licences

In yet another bout of criticism against what many regard as the non-co-operation of business operators in The Gambia by way of proportionate price reduction, Hon. Khalifa Jammeh, National Assembly Member for Bakau, picked on what he described as the lack of mercy for Gambian citizenry. The state is doing all it can to encourage the business sector but the so-called business tycoons have no mercy for the Gambian citizenry. Therefore whoever is not meeting the requirements of the business sector let them revoke his/her license because the state is more powerful than an individual,” Hon. Jammeh contended.

Contributing to the motion on the Adjournment Debate of the National Assembly last Wednesday, Hon. Jammeh stressed the need for the institution of control measures in the inflation of prices, saying that failure to do so would result to more harm than good.

According to him, citizens duly empower businesspeople only for the latter to enrich themselves at the end of the day. “They have no mercy or good intention for the Gambian populace. There is no logic to say that there is no conducive environment to operate. It is better to revoke their licenses,” he added.

Hon. Jammeh further argued that no single individual should make the whole nation suffer just because of his/her selfish interest. “We cannot all be deviating from the fact, we must face the reality.”

Turning to tourism Hon. Jammeh expressed his total opposition to the way in which some foreign managers treat Gambian employees.

“I have had a lot of complaints from Hotel workers who have been working for a period of 10-25 years, only to be dismissed without genuine reasons,” he said, adding that the enactment of the labour bill by the National Assembly would hopefully protect the interest of workers.

On the high attrition rates, the Bakau parliamentarian appealed to the Departments of State for Education and Health to work on ways of improving the lot of teachers and nurses.

According to him, in order to keep them in the field, teachers and nurses need to be well catered for because all progressive people need prosperity.

For his part, Hon. Suku Singhateh, Member for Lower Baddibu, called for the formation of Public Enterprises Committee which will be given the mandate to regulate commodity prices. “People are saying the foreign currency is down, prices are escalating. But in private sector business, when you order goods it takes time before it comes. So the drop of the foreign currency at this juncture will not be an impact on the market prices, but possibly in a month or two time,” Hon. Singhateh explained.