By Buba Gagigo
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Minister of Information, has defended the government’s decision to assume control of McCarthy Square, citing what he calls the Banjul City Council’s (BCC) neglect of the iconic national site.
“McCarthy Square is dilapidated. McCarthy Square is a National asset, a symbolic infrastructure that has been left abandoned by the council not taking care of and the government spent millions of dalasis every independence to renovate it. Now the government realizes that it is in the best interest of the country to take charge of this very important national structure, to take care of it, and that’s what we are doing,” Dr. Ceesay said during an interview with West Coast Radio.
He emphasized that the decision to take over McCarthy Square was not politically motivated, but a necessary step to protect and preserve the site. “It was abandoned, it was neglected by the council, and it wasn’t taken care of. It was just falling apart and this is a very significant national structure, a very symbolic infrastructure, and the government deemed it wise to take over it and take care of it. There is no politics in this,” Dr. Ceesay said via West Coast Radio.
The Standard Newspaper recently reported that the Office of the President had decided to take over the management of McCarthy Square, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the BCC. The decision was communicated to the council through a letter signed by the secretary to the cabinet.