By Haddy Touray
Hon Seedy Njie, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, has strongly denied accusations from some members of the Diaspora Club, who claim he leveraged his influence to have the government’s approval for the construction of a maternity ward at ChamenHealth Center revoked.
The Diaspora Club is a nonpartisan organization founded by Gambians living abroad to support marginalized groups in various sectors, including health and education.
Members of the above-named group, the Diaspora Club have hinted that an approval which was sometimes back given to them by the Health Ministry has been revoked soon after the inauguration of the project.
They claimed that the Ministry of Health enunciated that the decision to annul the given approval was due to a secured grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the National Social Protection Secretariat to build new structures and renovate the existing ones at the entire health center.
However, members of the Diaspora Club blamed the Deputy Speaker Honourable Seedy Njie who is a native of Chamen for masterminding the revocation of the approval for political reasons.
According to Joro Mbye, a member of the Diaspora Club, “Though the group’s intention was well received by the community of Chamen, there has been strong resistance from a certain government official (believed to be Hon Seedy Njie) from the beginning.’’
Honourable Seedy Njie reacting to these allegations said any suggestion that he influenced the cancellation of the project is nothing but false
Reacting to these allegations Mr Njie said any suggestion that he influenced the cancellation of the project is false.
“On the contrary, I am, and will always be at the forefront of development in Chamen as evidenced by numerous project interventions I single-handedly implemented in various areas and I am still open to starting or joining any initiative that will develop Chamen,’’ he said loudly.
He continued his response that he got to know about the project when Mr. Modou Cham, the Chairman of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) in Chamen called to invite him to the inauguration of a project at the health centre.
“I was initially told that Cham had told people that I was on board and was aware of the inauguration. When I confronted him about this, he turned to ask for my help to get the project off the ground, and accused the NAM of the Chief of the area of working against it,’’ Hon Njie explained what he knew about the issue.
He went on to say that he informed Mr Cham about a government project earmarked for ChamenHealth Center and several others that will build a complete facility of accommodation, Laboratory, delivery, and admission wards among other units at the health center.
“I told him that the project is bigger and will provide a more holistic facility, and to avoid duplicity, he and his partners can direct their assistance to anywhere in the village or district,’’ he disclosed.
Meanwhile, he denied blocking the project saying ‘’They accused me of playing politics which is not true. I supported the government initiative, of course, led by President Barrow and the Minister of Health. But in any case, they, too, sidelined the alkalo, the VDC, and the Chief and instead chose to select a UDP chairman as project coordinator. So, who is playing politics?’’ he asked rhetorically.
Notwithstanding, Honourable Njie noted that the efforts of the Diaspora Club are much appreciated and respected and the people of Chamen have already started talking to harmonize the common intention of both the government and the Diaspora Club towards developing the Chamen Health Center.
