By: Nyima Sillah
Residents of Nemakunku Village over the weekend appealed to the government of The Gambia to come to their aid as the rain is becoming heavier to avoid similar flood disasters that happened in the village previous years.
Aji Jallow, resident of Nemakunku, told The Voice that Nemakunku has been struggling for the past 35 years and it is time for the government to consider the area and the people living there as part of the citizens, Taken to consideration that they voted and have equal rights like others, “so why is there no development for the area?” she querried.
According to her, every year families are affected with floods and lost valuable materials and belong such as clothes, food items while many houses got damaged which make living hard for them without no alternative solution.
The village is their settlement and “we need government to remedy this situation as soon as possible because we deserve a better living condition like other areas, too,” she expressed.
Buba Camara also appealed to the government, Brikama Area Council and National Disaster Management Agency to come to their aid as they don’t want history to repeat itself again.
He explained that all waterfalls from Latrikunda, Fajikunda, Tabokoto, Wellingara flows through Nema as a result of poor drainage system and bad settlement of people and infrastructures.
“We appeal stakeholders, philanthropists and private agencies to come forward and help the people of Nema because during this time we suffer a lot. And floods always make the condition worse as it makes it become impossible for people to move around or even go to the market to get food stuff to feed their kids,” he said.
He amplified on the need for the central Government and Brikama Area Council to consider their conditions to act urgently on the issue because “the rainy season was tragedy to the people of the area in August last year and we are afraid of something similar this year.”
Sarr Njie whose son nearly drown in the flood last year expressed that Nemakunku has never experience any development since people settled in that area many decades ago “everything here is done by the members of the community, which is not fair because we are also citizens of this country.”
he explained further that whenever it rains her house is always fill with water which leads to destruction of her properties. “Last year I lost all my valuable properties and I struggled for months before settling down. Nema residents definitely need urgent help from the government as the rain just began,” he begged.