By Yusupha Jobe
Three communities in West Coast Region have renewed their calls for the closure of the Chinese fishmeal plants located in the region. They lamented on the dangers the factories are posing on their health and also the influx of people to the beaches which is dangerous to peoples’ health amid of the coronavirus pandemic. The three communities in Kombo South are Sanyang, Gunjur and Kartong villages.
Speaking to The Voice, Kebba Sanyang a resident of Sanyang said the fishmeal factories should be closed to protect the health of the people living within the coastal communities and avoid the influx of fishermen trooping to the region from the neighboring country, Senegal by using boat.
He argued that since government is able to prevent people from going into mosques and churches to pray to their God as one of the measures to stop public gathering to control the spread of the virus, then government should be able to disallow the fishmeal factories from operation. “This is because the operation of the factories allows mass gathering and influx of fishermen from Senegal to The Gambia,” he disclosed.
“We cannot afford to see the continuous operation of the fishmeal factory with people not observing social distancing to avoid the contraction of the pandemic. Our health is currently under a huge threat as fishermen from the neighboring Senegal enter the country illegally using the sea and this put more lives on risk,” he stressed.
Mustapha Manneh, an environmental activist in Kartong, said as these fishmeal continuing to operate without following government regulation to reduce number of workers amid of the pandemic, it is a violation of the State of Public Emergency, a proclamation made by the government.
“During the visit of the National Assembly Select Committee tasked to monitor the conditions of people on the State of Public Emergency at all the fishmeal factories along the coastal villages, the committee noticed that the factories disrespected the government regulations on business which meant to prevent the spread of the pandemic,” he said.
He said they are living at the entry point of the country which bordered the Southern part of Senegal and this made villagers to be at high risk as the factories encouraged mass gathering of people working for them.
However, he disclosed that the National Assembly Select committee tasked to monitor the conditions of people during the President’s declaration on the state of public emergency last month visited the fishmeal factories along the coasts to ascertain facts on their operations system amid COVID-19.
