By Binta Jaiteh
Honourable Kebba K Barrow, National Assembly member for Kombo South has said the Gambia is at a crossroads and wonders will never end if the citizens fail to take up responsibility.
“We need to take responsibility for our kids and also the roles we play in our institutions until that is done the truth will never come out,” he added.
During the debate of the extraordinary session on Wednesday over the death of 70 children due to acute kidney injury (AKI) a lot of denials are going on which is about time for the citizens to be frank with each other.
Honourable KK who said he doesn’t want to speak too much emphasised that they have come to a stage where their powers have been taken from them while he said he is going to have a dialogue on that.
Meanwhile, he noted that with the chair of the standing order committee, to review this standing order that we cannot have our powers and leave it to a sub-committee to decide for them. “This is a very important third extraordinary session of the sixth legislature from April to now,” he noted.
According to him, things are coming and there is a need to go to meetings and gage the importance and issues of the meetings which is not limiting them to 2 minutes of talk
He said the assembly is a Bantaba where “we need to represent our people, this need to be moved forward henceforth to make sure that members are allowed to express themselves to enable them to perform their duties effectively. It is high time we look at what to do, the constitution is very clear that section (109) states that the assembly can set up committees. We set up a committee FPAC when we had COVID it was not limited to FPAC. A special committee was set up to look at the issues which is why seven hundred and thirty-four million was released for COVID programs in this country.”
However, he suggested that they set up a special committee including the health committee, children, women, and social welfare with another defence committee since it has to do with security.
Honourable Yaya Sanyang, lawmaker representing Latrikunda Sabiji, said he is grieved to the level that he can’t even express himself regarding the poisonous drugs that were sent to the country and is disappointed with the members who are praising the Ministry as they intend to investigate.
Honourable Omar Jammeh, NA member for Janjanbureh also said the death of these 70 children is related to AKI and “I think that is where arrest should start with those that are responsible with this bad supply of drugs. It is important to have a joint or special committee to look into this sensitive issue for the simple reason as much as it is health-related it involves children and we have a whole select committee that is established to look into the welfare of the children in this country.