By: Mustapha Jarju
Residents of Sare Bigi have expressed dismay over poor development and negligence meted on this community by both the government and the Alkalo of Jambur Village.
In an interview with The Voice at Sare Bigi community in Kombo South over the weekend, Imam Ratib of Sare BigiAbubacarr Demba Bah, said, there is nothing in Sare Bigi which can be identified as an effort from the central government or Jambur for which they are answerable. He said all the developmental work in the community is the effort of the villagers and private individuals.
Imam Ratib added that access to roads, and water is a problem, and most of their basic needs are from Jambur and other surrounding villages which are very far.
However, he said, “It is really difficult here, and there are people in this village who are born and brought up in this village but have never been to Jambur and for the Alkalo of Jambur to attest that person as a member of his village will be difficult. And since this Alkalo came into power he is the one that visited our community.”
He, therefore, suggested that the Local Government Authorities should give a title to the community head of Sare Bigi so that he can make an attestation for the people in his community.
The community, he said, only has an Early Centre for Child Development (ECD) which kids pass out at an early age for primary one which they find difficult to access in other villages. He said it is because they are far away and is causing many kids to drop out of school at a very early age.
“Anything we are paying to the government is paid in the name of Jambur, lands that are sold here are documented in the name of Jambur, and during Covid-19, we collected the Covid-19 relief packaged from Jambur also during the time of former president Jammeh we collected our groundnut seeds for farming in Jambur,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he said the youth of Sare Bigi were suppressed from the idea of forming their own VDC because the community continues to be neglected, they have no representative in the Jambur VDC and they are not involved in issues related to Jambur.
“When the youth of Sare Bigi came up with the idea of forming their own VDC they went to the Alkalo of Jambur to inform him about the idea which was dropped by the Alkalo that there cannot be two VDC in his village,” he narrated
He further said they are facing-a-huge-difficulties regarding health care, noting when it rains they used donkey carts, the community garden is also a challenge hence the land allocated to them by the former Alkalo of Jambur Kebba Juju was demarcated into plots for sale after his demise.
Momodou Bah, younger brother to the community head of SareBigi also said: “No one can explain the extent of challenges we are facing in this village, I cannot recall when we last benefited from the government and we have never benefited from any support from the Brikama Area Council to provide us with good roads to cover the pit holes on the highway.”
In brief, Sare Bigi village is about 40 years old, located in Kombo South between Rumba village, Jambur, and Jambanjellyin West Coast Region (WCR).