By: Binta Jaiteh
The National Assembly Member for Foni Jarrol, Kebba Tumanding Sanneh, has said The Gambia was more secure under the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh than the current regime.
He maintained that former President Jammeh had put in place strategies to ensure the security of persons and properties in the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Voice, Hon. Sanneh contended that Jammeh was desirous of steering the country to the right path, which earned him foes.
“Jammeh was trying to direct the country to the right path which is why he had enemies. Jammeh sacked government officials, who violated the law and even jailed murderers,’’ he emphasized.
He claimed that violent crimes were not rife during theJammeh era.
“But we are now experiencing a lot of attacks both day and night. This is the main reason Jammeh’s leadership and that ofPresident Barrow’s differ. People say Jammeh is a dictator but among those people, no one will stand to say he witnessed Jammeh killing,’’ said the Foni Jarrol parliamentarian.
On food commodity price variations, Hon. Sanneh lamented that there is no price control in the country.
“If you happen to visit shops within the same area, you will find different prices of the same commodity that is because there is no price control on food commodities,” he lamented.
According to him, it’s the responsibility of the central government to find out the variables for the frequent price hikes in the country with a view to finding immediate solutions to the issue.
‘’As we speak, prices of food commodities like rice, onion, sugar and oil have drastically increased,” he stated. He bemoaned that it’s worrying that fish, which is sourced locally, is expensive as many citizens can’t afford to buy fishnow.
“Gambians continue to express their frustration over the price hikes but government ignore their complaints. When shall this end?” he stated.
Hon. Sanneh said that the vessels, fishing in the River Gambia are uncountable, adding that this is the main factor for fish scarcity and the continuous fish price increase.
‘’Our river is not secured and this is sad to say,’’ he decried.
The lawmaker urged President Barrow to tackle the hike in food commodity prices “as the new President of Senegal was able to beat down the cost of living because the citizens will not have peace if the cost of living continues to skyrocket”.
