By Fatou Sillah
The National Assembly member for Janjanbureh Constituency, Omar Jammeh, has expressed disappointment with what he described as his community’s exclusion from the bicentenary celebrations.
Jammeh criticized the lack of promised development projects and the marginalization of Janjanbureh in the event’s planning. He specifically mentioned unfulfilled pledges by the Ministry of Tourism regarding infrastructure improvements.
“As much as this event is concerned it seems the community is left out in the whole process, and the whole problem emerges from the promises that were made as to some of the development initiatives that were supposed to be undertaken by the government as part of the preparation.
“These were strong promises by the Ministry of Tourism but again as we progress what we notice was the government communicated back to say that they do not have the resources to embark on some of the developments that were promised, and as such they shifted from doing what was required to a different promised to say in midterm they will embark on those developments, for me I think thats were the community lost trust in the whole process,” He said.
Furthermore, Jammeh pointed out the event’s focus on the greater Banjul area, neglecting Janjanbureh’s role as the host community. He believes Janjanbureh should have played a leading role in organizing and participating in the celebrations.
“We realized that it was all centered on the greater Banjul area even looking at those that were given the podium to speak, the natives of this Island were left out and as such we think that was not the right thing to do. Being the host community we think or believe we should have been at the forefront of the whole process and also ensuring that we work with the National organizing team to stage a very successful event as anticipated.
“Looking at the opening you will realize that the community was not even out to participate and even those that were out to participate were not happy because everything was hijacked from us and for me this is the most unfortunate thing that can happen to a community. If you are commemorating 200 years of a community we think that particular community should be At the forefront in leading the entire process,” He said.
Adding to the frustrations, Jammeh said that a Senegalese company hired to provide electricity refused to extend their service beyond the opening ceremony, forcing the cancellation of planned side events. He lamented that he had previously advised postponing the celebrations to allow for better preparation and community involvement.
“this evening we were supposed to have some side events we couldn’t hold them simply because the company that was hired from Senegal denied us electricity with the excuse that the contract between them and the Ministry of Tourism was only to cover for the opening. Until about 8 pm the cultural groups were gathered at the side only to realize that there was no electricity to get them to perform. I made this recommendation that we are not ready to actually hold this 200 years at this particular period and our advice was for us to shift the date, where we can have more room to prepare ourselves and also get the community to participate as required,” he said.