By Kemo Kanyi
National Bakers Union of the Gambia held its first elective congress at Qcity to elect a four-member executive of presidency, vice presidency, secretary general, and treasury positions.
All four positions were elected unopposed. AmadouTijan Jallow, Omar Demba, Lamin Dibba, and OusmanDemba were elected as president, vice president, secretary general, and treasurer, respectively.
Lamin Dibba, secretary general of National Baker Union, said the aim of the union is to regularize and standardize baking of bread in the country in line with the Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) guidelines. “This guideline is to protect our consumers against any unhealthy food production processes.”
He assured the Union’s support to all registered members of the union. One hundred and twenty-eight (128) registered delegates attended the congress.
Amadou Tijan Jallow promised to curb the challenges faced by members of the union in all aspects irrespective of the regions they live in. He advised the immigration officers to stop arresting their bakery workers forcefully.
“I want to assure you my sincere commitment to curbing or mitigating the challenges we are faced with as a union. We will surely standardize and regularize the baking using advised guidelines for safety consumption as it’s one of our mandates to provide clean and safe food for the Gambians,” he promised.
“We have witnessed situations where immigration officers will forcefully invade bakeries mostly at night hours around 11 pm and find out workers mixing the flour, and they will stop the production to take the workers away. Most of Gambia’s bakers are non-Gambians who are always facing harassment by the immigration officers,” Mr. Jallow denounced this act at the elective congress.
He assured his Union’s collaboration with the Gambia Immigration Department to discourage such behavior as it is disruptive to the production capacity of the industry.
The president recognized the importance of forming the union in order to shape the production capacity and contribute to strengthening Gambia’s economy.
The union brings together ‘Tapalapa’ and ‘Senfurr’ producers to regularize and conform to standard requirements of bread production.
Ousman Demba, treasurer of the union, called on all members to register with the union for recognition and any required support they may need from the governing body.
Regional delegates assured compliance to the targets set by the congress. They promised to desist from fixing bread price against the national set price.
