By Binta Jaiteh
Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) on Saturday spoke about the potency of Promise as he launched his manifesto and if it failed it becomes a lie.
Reading his 2023/2028 manifesto in a political gathering held at the Sea View Garden, Senegambia on Saturday, he outlined six strategic plans that he will work on for the next five years when he’s re-elected as the Mayor of the KMC.
Among the outlined strategic plan, he said Road Infrastructure is the first agenda because it is the topmost complaint in the municipal “therefore the council before we ended our first mandate. We have passed a project called the Kanifing Municipality Road Network Project (KMRNP). This project will cause more than D300 million over the next four to five years and will construct a 23km road and 6km worth of drain network connecting to every ward via bypass road.
Waste Management, according to him, is also a priority and by next week they said they would have completely fixed an arrested waste collection at residencies and commercial centers. However, he noted, the processing is in progress and the council plans to bring a project that will recycle more than 80% of the waste collected and support small entrepreneurs to build waste management and processing businesses.
However, affordable housing is also a priority because the population is growing faster and most people want good facilities, health, and education therefore housing has become under pressure. The government has not done its part to regulate rents to have a price ceiling to ensure that landlords don’t exploit poor residents.
Mayor Talib stated that due to the government’s lack of intervention, the council will embark on an affordable housing program and it will target vulnerable people including single mothers.
His number four plan is the high rate of unemployment high saying it is a concern as most youths depend on self-employment to feed their families but said they have set up a solution called Kanifing Municipal Market and seven markets will be built in the municipality. while saying that the council will also focus on an urban transport system that will be cheaper and accessible and will cater to persons with disabilities.
The sixth agenda is to empower the youth since they are the engine of any productive society and the future leaders of tomorrow and neglecting them will be endangering the future.
He said KMC from 2018 to date has been people-centered KMC where whatever they conduct, they think about the impact on the grassroots, and vulnerable and how to move the community forward.