By: Nyima Sillah
Scores of street vendors and commuters within the Greater Banjul Area have urged the Kanifing Municipal Council to cover the open gutters within the Greater Banjul Area (GBA) to minimize risk during the rainy season.
The recent flood within the Greater Banjul Area like other communities in the country has been a nightmare where open gutters are considered a threat to many people.
Sampling opinions of individuals within the municipality, Mariam Jallow a vendor at Westfield said around the KMC premises is an absolute risk point for many, because when it rains, the flood covers all the uncovered gutters which makes it hard for people to identify the holes.
“We all know gutters are deep and risky for the children, visually impaired and the old during and after season. Some drivers are even victims because an accident once happened here due to a brake failure and the car dropped inside the gutter,” she pointed out. That place is an open center which everyone should be vigilant about and stay away from such places when it’s raining.
In the same development, Ya Binta Mbaye, also a vendor at Westfield said the gutters are not safe and not hygiene for all the street vendors and residents near the highway because when it rains, the place becomes terrible for people to breathe.
“When it rains the place smells and pollutes the entire place. For this area, it has been terrible before the rainy season, and now it is worse than ever. A cleanup exercise was done to clean up the gutters and it took two days before we got rid of the bad smell. Gutters need to be probably taken care of by the KMC and people in the vicinity,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, Lamin Saine also urged the KMC to remedy the problem as soon as possible, that a girl got seriously injured last year’s season due to the open gutters opened, adding that such an accident can happen to anyone, especially children.
