By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Minister of Tourism, Hamat Bah, has advised the BrikamaArea Council (BAC) to concentrate on waste management rather than dedicating time to stoking discontentment among Brikamamarket women vendors against the central government.
The tourism minister added that Brikama is overly dirty, asserting that the Yankuba Darboe-led BAC administration risks squandering precious time and resources on cheap politics.
“The BAC is stirring you[women] vendors against the government, attempting to fool you. Tell them Brikama is extremely dirty. Let them clean the town. Let them concentrate on that. That’s their mandate,” Bah derided. “If you canvassed for votes till you are elected, you must work but you cannot be only talking, talking, talking and you cannot accomplish anything. You fooled people until they voted for you but that will cease in the next election,” Bah asserted as he addressed the joint meeting of Kombo East, Brikama North, and South on Saturday as President Barrow continued his Meet-The-People tour.
It could be recalled that the BAC has threatened to go down the legal lane with the central government if it did not halt the demolition of structures at the Brikama market.
However, according to the tourism minister, the government’s main responsibility is the protection of the people.
“There is something that happened in the West Coast Region, Brikama, and particularly BAC. The government has a program to widen the roads as dictated by the law. There are reasons why the government is doing it. If a patient dies in an ambulance before reaching the hospital because you choke the road with shops or stalls… That has happened. Lots of accidents have happened because of roadside vendors,” the tourism minister stated. He continued: “The government assumes the responsibility to protect people and that is its primary responsibility. We want to stop the obstruction of ambulances, road accidents, and deaths. President Barrow’s government will not sit idly by and watch such developments. It is the people that he is protecting. When the operation [road clearing] started, it began with Adama Barrow himself. They brought down his office. Which President in Africa can you do that to and you do not spend the night behind bars? They demolished his place [Majum] to widen the road. He told me Koto Hamat, the law is powerful… the government is powerful. I am the President yet they demolished my place and I cannot open my mouth to talk about it. He told me that it has to happen because it is necessary. He said to me If I restrain them from bringing down mine, they cannot demolish those of others. He told me his conscience could not permit that.”
According to Bah, the BAC and the central government are on different wavelengths when it comes to development.
“Our vision, views, and motivation for development is different from BAC. They went to the market [Brikama market] and confused the women vendors there. I say a lie is just like a lather. When you’re washing, it will balloon but when the wind comes, it will all evaporate,” the tourism minister stressed. He added: “Our roads are wide and people and ambulances can now move freely. But for them, they are doing cheap propaganda. Development politics is better than cheap propaganda. And Adama Barrow has embraced the politics of development. He doesn’t know cheap propaganda. He is genuine in whatever he does. We want to tell those women to organize themselves and consult with the [NPP] administrative secretary Seedy Ceesay. All the women, whether you belong to UDP, NRP, NPP, or APRC, write your names down and give them to Seedy Ceesay. President Barrow’s government budgeted over D10M for the women for 2024. It’s not only in Brikama but we can help all the women. They wanted to make it D5M but Barrow said D10M and that money would be distributed only to women. Men can wear earrings and apply lipstick but they will never benefit from that money.”