By Binta Jaiteh
Fish smokers within Greater Banjul Area have rejected a circulated rumour of using sniper insecticide to preserve smoked fish, an allegation they have described totally fake and unfounded a rumour.
Kebba Touray, one of the fish smokers at Tanji, exclusively told The Voice newspaper saying “I totally deny this rumour because it’s a fake rumour on media. We don’t have anything or business with sniper when it comes to smoking and preservation of fish.”
Asking “What has sniper [insecticide] got to do with fish smokers?” adding that sniper is very dangerous and I am sure if we use it then by now the news will be different.”
He said he has being in the business of fish smoking since his childhood till today, “but when I received the audio yesterday (Sunday), I was very disappointed about the accusation, because we know sniper is a dangerous insecticide to humanity.”
According to him, he was baffled at the gravity of the rumour directed at their business, adding “we store the fish for three months and nothing will happen to them.”
Aja Oumie Trawally, also a smoked fisher, said she has never witnessed such act of using sniper insecticide on smoked fish, she urged people to stop spreading fake news to the public domain.
Meanwhile, Sulayman Kebbeh, another fish smoker said: “we came across the rumour also about the issue of using sniper on smoke fish but I can tell you that I have been in this business for twenty years and some are here for many years but this kind of rumour has never emerged in this country.”
“To my own knowledge I have never seen anyone using it on smoking fish. We don’t practice such anybody who is engaged in that I can tell you the person is dangerous and he doesn’t want the progress of this country. But I want you to know that there are bad people outside there that can come up with rumour just to ruin others life and business. The number of people eating smoked fish is too much. And if fish smokers are using sniper there will be mass death before now. So let the government responsible for this sector make sure that this issue immediately addressed,” he appealed.
“It can happen but I tell you that we are not involve in the act. We depend on this business. So, I am calling on people to stop spreading fake news it can have an impact on our business. People will not trust us again and that can cause trouble for the fish smokers because we feed our families on this business,” Salifu Touray cried out.