By: Mariama Njie
Honorable Ousman Sonko, the National Assembly member for Banjul North constituency, has vowed to help eradicate poverty in his constituency if he is elected into office for the next five years.
In his manifesto, he said “as a leader in the health legislation sector, I will launch a Campaign on Environmental Sanitation in Banjul North to address all the sewerage and drainage problems in the constituency, especially Campama Estate or Tobacco Road.”
He added that he will undertake initiatives such as the Crab Island TVET Centre to draw international partners to assist in helping them to maintain a ‘Stench-Free, Filth-Free Tobacco Road, environs and to help transform waste into wealth by involving the youth in waste recycling for health, environmental sanitation and income generation.
He said when re-elected he will encourage and support women groups to engage in processing and value addition to food products for consumption and export.
“I will conduct more Civic Education to ensure that the sons, daughters of Christians and Muslims and other ethno linguistic groups would work hand in hand as brothers and sisters to develop Banjul North to be an example of tolerance of diversity for Gambia,” he promised.
“These would be done through educational, social, cultural and sporting initiatives,” he said and promised to sponsor Annual awards for civic groups that will promote cultural diversity and national unity.
He went further that he will strengthen the Crab Island initiative and extend it to other constituencies and regions in The Gambia as well as make it serve as a model for other countries in the sub-region and beyond.
“I will also encourage the departments of wildlife and tourism to transform the crocodile inhabited area into an eco-tourism location for Banjul for educational, amusement, revenue earning purposes and to prevent the reptiles from posing any future threat for human beings or being endangered,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also promised to give the people of Banjul and the other relevant stakeholders more information regarding the threat of climate change emerging from the nearby Atlantic Ocean and on how to nurture and protect the environment.
