(JollofNews) – A severe national security threat is unfolding in Gunjur, the hometown of the Majority Leader Kebba K Barrow. There is a Chinese company engaged in fishmeal production, which dumps its waste and dead fish along the coastline and neighboring communities.
The factory releases intense bad odour making people sick as well as destroying our fish reserves and polluting the waters. This is a direct threat to the lives and livelihoods of the people of Gunjur, Kombo and the Gambia as a whole. Yet this company called Golden Leaf Factory continues to operate unchecked by the Government since last year until today, four months into the administration of Adama Barrow. Why?
Two Chinese, Robin and Jojo run the factory without any Gambian partners and under no check by any authority. They produce fishmeal or fish oil, which is made out of fish and used to feed poultry, pigs and other farmed fish. According to FAO fishmeal production is a major contributor to over-fishing and prevents fish from replenishing themselves thereby causing the collapse of local fisheries. This is because the fish used for fishmeal are small fishes like the ones our fishermen catch in Gunjur, Kartong, Tanji, Bakau or Banjul. After almost depleting their fish resources in China, now Chinese fishmeal companies have turned to West Africa and South America causing havoc in countries like Senegal, Chile and Peru. Experts have noted that fishmeal is a source of terrible environmental damage and human suffering.
So far Golden Leaf Factory is engaged in overfishing in Gunjur and Kartong and destroying the coastline as well as the Bolongfehyoto wildlife reserve. The bad and dangerous odour the factory releases into the community is unbearable. Experts have noted that the factory right now threatens the productivity of sea grass, which marine turtles feed on. They also threaten the mangrove ecosystem because of the chemical waste they dump. This factory is therefore a threat to tourism and the economy of the Gambia. What is even more disheartening is that the fish they catch is not used for human consumption. Rather they use it to make fishmeal for animals all the way in China! But they are ready to destroy our lives all the way in the Gambia.
Who gave this company license to operate in the Gambia in the first place? Was there any social and environmental impact assessments done before they were awarded the license? Why would the responsible and relevant agencies of the government sit down to allow such abuse of the lives and future of the Gambia to take place with impunity?
Were is the National Assembly, the Ministries of Fisheries and Water Resources, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Tourism, the NEA, NDMA, GIEPA and GTB and indeed the Police? All these agencies have a direct responsibility and stake in any activity that negatively impacts on the lives, livelihoods and future of the Gambia. Yet they all sit there watching a foreign company plunder our lives and livelihoods for free! What about GCCI? Are they not aware of this practice by this company and what actions have they taken to ensure decent and responsible practices by businesses in the country?
I therefore call on the Speaker of the National Assembly Mariam Denton and her deputy Momodou Sanneh and the Majority Leader Kebba K Barrow and the Monitory Leader Samba Jallow and indeed all National Assembly Members to institute a parliamentary enquiry into this matter. Failure to do so, the National Assembly would be failing in their sacred duty to the Gambia. This matter is 100% within the powers and authority of the National Assembly to address and they must address it now. Golden Leaf Factory is destroying our lives and livelihoods with impunity!
I call on Chief Servant Adama Barrow to demand his relevant ministries and state agencies to act on this matter with urgency. The ocean is a major source of life and livelihood for the communities of Kombo and the Gambia as a whole. Tourism alone account for 21.9% of our GDP and providing 18.8% of jobs in the country hence the ocean is a precious product of this industry that must be protected. Thus any threat to the ocean affects thousands of Gambians for employment and for food. Why therefore would this company be given license to damage our future and lives with impunity?
The Gambia Government and indeed all African governments must be wary of Chinese companies. This is because the Chinese have proven to the world and Africa in particular that they do not care about human rights, human life and human health in their quest to greedily consume resources around the world. Chinese companies have engaged in unscrupulous and dangerous business practices even in China, how about in faraway tiny Gambia? China has a population of 1.3 billion people and a land size of 9.5 million square kilometers. The Gambia has a population of only 2 million and a land size of 11 thousand square kilometers. Hence what China can afford and waste the Gambia cannot afford that. Therefore we must not allow any foreign company especially from China to come to the Gambia to damage the lives and future of our people. If this is what GIEPA considers to be foreign investment then they are dangerously mistaken!
Whichever government agency gave license to this company must be exposed and held to account. It is clear that they have failed to do an impact assessment or merely ignored the results of such assessment if they did. Secondly this agency has failed to monitor this Chinese company in order to protect the vital interests of the Gambia. This company must not have been allowed to operate in the country at all. They must be closed down! Now.
I therefore call on all Gambians to rise up against this Chinese company and put pressure on the government to expose the truth about the license, the kind of business, the operations and management of this company. What has the Gambia benefited from them? How much money are they making in the Gambia? What damages have done so far? We need to know these issues and make sure they repair all the damages they caused and then close them down. Golden Leaf Factory poses a clear and direct threat to national security.
Gambian journalists should rush down to Gunjur and Kartong and report to us on matters that directly affect our lives. News is not only in Banjul and Serre Kunda. How come such a dangerous environmental, social and economic disaster is taking place in Gunjur since last year yet our journalists could not give it the publicity it deserves! Wake up Gambian Journalists!
Rise up Gambians and do not let our country to continue as usual since Independence. We deserve a better Gambia. We deserve better leadership and good government that is open, efficient and responsive to our needs, in the present and in the future.
God Bless The Gambia.
Distressing :
Where are the sons and daughters of Gunjur? Dr Amadou-Scattred Janneh, Dame Fatou Jaw Manneh?
Well done Madi for highlighting this. Democracy means people can fight such looming disasters.
Hard to believe certain things are really happening to the Gambia.
What a dump site the country has become lately. What about all the reported minings activities of the Jammeh regime. Thank God, there are no uranium reserves.
It sounds really bad, and urgent action needs to be taken to establish the truth about the operations of this company. The danger of opening up to foreign investment is that you may not always attract the right type of investors, and even where you attract the type, with the right credentials and what not, they may not want to operate in the right way, if they can cut costs, maximise profits and get away with it.
Let’s face it, whether it’s the Westerners, Easterners, Southerners or Northerners, most investors are not in Africa for altruistic reasons. They are in Africa to make money and will do whatever it takes to maximise profits.
It is our responsibility and duty to regulate, supervise and control investor economic behaviour, through legislation and strong, well resourced and efficient systems to protect our people, environment and interest.
The anti-China bashing undertone I sense here, would seem to suggest that this is a Chinese problem, but it isn’t. Reckless exploitation of natural resources of so called “developing countries” is a serious problem, with culprits coming from various affluent regions of the world, and in varied forms and shapes.
The serious environmental degradation in the delta region of Nigeria, due to massive oil spillage and pollution, and excessive mining of minerals in DR Congo, are two cased of numerous examples in the continent.
Africa has to take ownership of itself and look towards itself, to find the solutions to its development needs.
We have the resources and the knowledge, but we lack the political will because of the leadership crisis across the continent: a leadership that lacks the knowhow to map out a sustainable development path for the continent and the courage to embrace true democracy, a prerequisite for a progressive society, without which development is inconceivable.
“Whichever government agency gave license to this company must be exposed and held to account. It is clear that they have failed to do an impact assessment or merely ignored the results of such assessment if they did. Secondly this agency has failed to monitor this Chinese company in order to protect the vital interests of the Gambia. This company must not have been allowed to operate in the country at all. They must be closed down! Now”.
Madi the comments above send a clear message on the reasons that investors cannot be given a Carte Blanche to do as they wish ostensibly in the interest of promoting local investment and generating rural employment.
There is no reason that UNTREATED effluent can be sent into our waters and waterways by unscrupulous investors that only care about their bottom line/profits. Effluent emanating from waste treatment and processing plants must NEVER be allowed into Gambian waters and waterways, or any waters for that matter, before being adequately treated to meet internationally acceptable standards!
Aside from the depletion of our fishery resources due to excessive fishing and non-compliant fishing practices that are implied, a fishing operation of this nature will very likely lead to contamination of coastal waters and creeks that could further lead to the decimation of spawning grounds for fish and other marine life. The competent authorities that oversee seafood processing operations in The Gambia must also ensure that agents used for sanitizing the factory environment, refrigerants and other chemical agents do not find their way into our waters. I do not wish to issue a blanket statement on Oriental funded operations but they do generally like to cut corners and also work diligently to get regulatory officials to look the other way through favors of all sorts.
In The Gambia that we all know, Nyo Long Kunda, I wouldn’t be surprised if select residents of Gunjur and a few Fisheries Department officials aren’t getting back hand inducements to let things stay as they are or have been. That’s, in their shallow minds, a good reason(s) to wake up to Alhamdu Lillahi albeit on the backs of coastal Gambian communities. For the most part, regulatory officials and lazy local politicians in The Gambia do believe that their five daily prayers entitle them to holding a basket that cash simply piles into. They will tell their constituents a different story from what they would offer the investors. All with more Insah Allahs and Alhamdu Lillahis! Don’t we need Offices of Inspectors General to oversee some of the chronic graft?
Let’s consider the regulatory processes that cover foreign fishing trawlers operating in Gambian waters. What the Fisheries Department has on their books may appear to have a lot of teeth but a visit on board one of these trawlers yields a sad story of callousness and corruption on the part of officials at all levels of the chain of command. That is our Gambia!! Where a Minister of State call the Director of Fisheries with the order, “Suma Rakka, Bii Suma Bos La OK” one can clearly tell a harmful trend is being established. That may not change in The Gambia for quite a while. Again it is a generational phenomenon!
Can the situation be remedied? Certainly!
Is the will there to enforce guiding regulation? No because the same regulations do not serve their personal purposes!
Collusion between stakeholders at play here? Certainly! Again, Nyo Long Kunda as obtains in Kunjuru Berending!!
Unless, we start looking out for ourselves as Gambians that blow the whistle on corrupt public officials and unscrupulous investors, we will continue to grapple with a status quo that stinks to the core like this very Chinese/Oriental operation in Gunjur!!
Yes, a handful of our sons, daughters, nieces and nephews may be showing some progress, FIRINGO it is called but Gambians overall do not benefit from malfeasance and corrupt practices at any level.
Didn’t I overhear our Kombo elders say, time and time again, that BARAKO and FIRINGO aren’t one and the same thing?
But what does it matter anyway, they’ll all say!! That’s the MINDSET where religious beliefs are mostly lip service.
I only hope that Ousainou Darbo, THE KINGMAKER, is listening and learning!
Andrew, I think the establishing of this awaful sounding project was simply a Jammeh Dictat after a bribe. Officials would have risked imprisonment if they said anything contrary to Jammeh’s wishes. BUT THE NEW GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO ACT FAST ON SUCH PROBLEMS.
Dida, you’ve got a valid point in that the current government must act fast as they do not have the luxury of time on their hands! Too many problems at hand and this is just one out of umpteen!
The toxic Bakoteh dumpsite must not be forgotten!!
Surprised to see Bax join this lynch mob. Last week anything Chinese was wonderful.
I am informed the company employ’s local people and its waste is harmless.
No Mike, I’m not for any “lynching mob”. That’s why I “frowned” at the harsh (anti-Chinese) undertones, but we do have to recognise the challenges that foreign investment comes with. The Chinese are not angels and they’ve got their fair share of dodgy, unscrupulous investors and businessmen/women. It is our duty to make sure that we protect our environment, our workers and our interest.
I don’t doubt your sources, but I’m not sure of the safety and harmlessness of foul smelling commercial/animal waste. I think calls for proper investigations are fair and reasonable here.
Bax ‘Thanks for the reassurances. I have been to Tanji and the Ghanaian Village, where processing is a smelly job. Even my second home The Atlantic Hotel had an unsavoury flavour when the wind was in the wrong direction. {alleged by one commentator on here to be from effluent discharge from the city.}
One point of caution; there is a significant legal difference between allegations and accusations. I would hate to see any backlash from the community against something yet to be proven and on the surface only appears to be of benefit to my adopted home of Gunjur.
AS My learned friend Mr Halake rightly pointed out>> Jollof News are responsible for what they print. Editors take note of Mr Halake’s advice.
These Chinese Gentlemen should be contacted for comment. Message ends.
Hi Mike,
1,I casusal observation on the photo. One can tell thats a 20 inch discharge pipe outlet. No dougt.
2. Haphazard works around the site. No intake pipe shoud be visible, safety etc.
3. Most importantly its considered as a beach and where other activities a taking place. Any astute bussiness man knows this too well for starters,
Mike you did bussiness gambia,Right? The first call reasonably is the removal of the pipe.Period.
These Chinese Gentlemen shall be contacted for auditing not comments as you propose.
4. Heavy fines,