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A son Asking Adama, Abdoulie, Essa, Halifa, Mama and Ousainou on Mother’s Behalf!
By Lamin Fatty, Hamburg
Mariama Jaiteh would like to get your written response to the following. The choice of medium to respond is yours. I shall translate it to her in a manner she could well understand as I will translate the contents of this write-up to her.
- Her biggest concern as a woman at her age is her access to health care services, health products and how she could afford these. How do you plan to make these both easily accessible and affordable to her and her family?
- Apart from me, she has two daughters and two other sons who has graduated from high school and university respectively. She is interested in knowing how you intend to create secure and good paying jobs for these young people whom we fear could be potential candidates of death in the Mediterranean Sea, whilst trying to escape the grinding poverty Gambia is known for, from independence to date, trying to reach any European country?
- My mother is investing money, time, energy and love on a semi-indoor vegetable garden to produce an assortment of high-quality vegetables. She would like to know how you plan to concretely provide a marketing channel to avoid wastage of perishable goods and loss of investment on her farming engagements.
- She said she has observed those close to power and those in power get rich overnight during the last five years. She said those accused of perpetrating murder, embezzlement and negligence of duty from the Yaya Jammeh era are still not call to account for those violations for five solid years whilst the victims and their relatives continue to cry for justice and help. In her words, “how would you make sure Gambians get justice and the help needed to heal and reconcile”?
- Finally, my mother would like to ask you all how you intend to make Gambia self-sufficient in food production to make us independent of loans and credits which we continue to pay with colossal interest payments, increasing our indebtedness which correspondingly means close to half of our national budgets going to loan repayments?
These are the five questions a concern mother asked me to convey to you all.
She said to explain the how as that’s what is lacking.
In the service of my mother, The Gambia and Africa, I remain.