(JollofNews) – First Lady Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow on Wednesday, presided over the launching of Nsaa Keno: Nutrition and Protection for Children on the Move project at Jarra Soma, Lower River Region.
The project seeks to strengthen regional and local government structures, provide an opportunity for all people to understand the rights of children, and the need for their protection. Additionally, it is designed to provide adequate nutrition to maximize the potential of children in the country.
In her statement, the First lady described the launching as opportunity for government and stakeholders to fulfill their commitment to upholding Children’s rights. She said in her new role as a champion of the Children on the Move initiative, she would continue advocating for the implementation of enacted legislation and policies that protects the rights of children.
‘’I will continue working with Civil Society Organizations and the UN system in The Gambia to reach out to communities and families in a bid to increase awareness on how to ensure and maintain the best interest of the child at all times’’, she stressed.
First lady Barrow commended the Italian government, through its Ambassador, and the UN system in The Gambia, particularly UNICEF and UNDP, for supporting such a project.For her part, the Governor of Lower River Region, Fatou Jammeh Touray said the Nsa Kenno project will provide better social services to the taxpayers and make decentralization a smooth process.
The UN Resident Coordinator, Seraphine Wakana highlighted the leading role UN plays in pushing the agenda of the government, particularly the National Development Plan, while stating that the project is aimed at reducing malnutrition among children and discouraging migration through creating opportunities. The Italian Ambassador to Senegal, Francesco Paalo Vanier said children issues are as important to Italy as it is to Gambia. He said the fight against child malnutrition is breaking away from poverty.
The event was punctuated by cultural performances by women group in the Soma.
The rights of women and children is sacrosanct in the development and advancement of our nation. Children have a right to expect and receive, and we as a nation have a duty to provide:
1. Safe environment
2. Quality free education
3. Clean water and food
4. Security, free of abuse and labor to ALL children
This is a great first step and The First Lady deserve our appreciation and thanks for her sense of duty to bring this issue to the forefront.
Well done.
God Bless The Gambia.
The launching of any initiative that seeks to address challenging National Issues, especially where women and children are concerned, is worth praising and commending, but the weakness of any such project, as is always been the case, is its reliance on foreign/outside sources of funding, whether that’s from the UN or its agencies, foreign governments or foreign funded NGO’s.
The reason being that continued access to funds from these entities is often dependent on meeting certain conditions, which may not always be in the long term interest of our country.
The best way to ensure that the food and nutrition requirements of our children are guaranteed and sustainably so, is to empower our farmers with the tools, support structures and markets outlets/facilities they need to be more efficient and productive. To achieve this, we must use our own resources to invest heavily in the agriculture and other productive and income generation sectors of our economy. Anything else is just pure waste of time and resources.
We have had over 5 decades of “cooperation” with, and tutelage under, the West and Western Institutions and the result, not only in The Gambia but across the whole continent, is there for all to see. I do not think another 5 decades or even beyond would make much difference to the masses, in real terms.
A paradigm shift is needed, and the greater the number of people that understand this, the better for our countries and people.
It’s time to say to the rest of the world: “Thank you very much for all you’ve done for us, but we now want to begin to crawl, in order to learn to stand up, walk and eventually run on our own.”
The money she has still not accounted for, which runs into the millions, could serve as starting capital for an agricultural project, which if properly implemented and administered, could free thousands of families from hunger and poverty.
But as Bax rightly pointed out, this is a PR stunt for those slave hustling institutions like the UN and their ilk, and of course Hadama and his clueless and ineffectual government to keep tabs on the gullible amongst us.
Bax you have spoken for me.
Anything I add will be a waste of valuable energy that I need to recover from my Fula Kajay.
Bax, what is to be blamed more?
Is it what Mwalimu may refer to as the International Murder Fund or the unscrupulous attitudes and practices of Gambians entrusted with such funds? Your darn right however, that a serious investment in agriculture is a major step if not a solution in child protection and nutrition. IMF needs to give loans, or whatever the appropriate economics terms are, in kind and not in banking system digits. It is most ideal in my view that the IMF gives loans to African countries in solid packages rather than in digital. Borehole perforation hardware, a designing and invention projects at in agro technologies that suits Gambia’s agriculture needs: harvesters, sowers, weeders and advanced agricultural research, should be a main focus of investment of international donors like the IMF. Anyway, I’m not even sure what the IMF’s loaning policies/agendas are but, even if they got the suitable ones for African countries, it will still be very hard for the continent’s nation to set off with any meaningful or necessary development in any sector of the government, if administrators of those funds are obsessed with becoming diva-rse with public funds at the expense of the taxpayer who, largely in their numbers, have no job opportunities or guarantees, other than so-called self employments that can hardly bring hand to the mouth.
It could be true that the IMF is consciously or unconsciously helping make presidents, first ladies, cabinet ministers, MDs, GMs, directors and etc., ‘diva-rse’, but we should be able to point fingers at our own cultural/traditional obsession with diva-rsity at the expense of poor people.
Mwalimu, are you really sure she, FL, was not accounted for what some had referred to as FABBulous scandal? I wonder if citizens’ brandish of urge to scrutinize is teaching any lessons to those concerned at all ..
@Jack; “Bax, what is to be blamed more?
Is it what Mwalimu may refer to as the International Murder Fund or the unscrupulous attitudes and practices of Gambians entrusted with such funds?”
Response: That is a very good question and the answer, as in any problem solving solution, lies in understanding the genesis of the problem.
Africa has a very rich history and historical artefacts suggest that we had civilisations that were probably the envy of any people that arrived on the continent. Proof of this is abundant in museums around the world.
So, where did it go wrong? The simple, straightforward answer is our dependence for guidance and partnership on those who are the architects of our predicament and would want us to remain so till eternity. Why? Because that’s good for them.
So, Mwalimu is right: the IMF,WB, global financial institutions and the huge, beastly, Western based multi-national corporations and their subsidiaries in the continent are all part of the problem.
Corruption (“unscrupulous attitudes and practices”) is no doubt, a contributing factor but it is a tiny one in the grand scheme of things.
The Economic Development in Africa Report 2016 (A publication that looks at debt and policy related issues) reported that between 1970 and 2008, Africa lost $850Billion in illicit financial flow out of the continent and ONLY 5% was apportioned to corruption. About 60% was through trade mis-invoicing and the use of tax havens and the rest, about 35%, through proceeds of crime.
The report identified Concessionary policies associated with Foreign Direct investment as the single largest drain on revenue for African countries.
So corruption claims pedalled as the cause of our problem is a myth. As a matter of fact, corruption is everywhere, and more serious in the developed world than Africa.
According to a study commissioned by the European Parliament, released in 2016, the EU has a corruption problem which could cost it up to €990billion annually. In the US, there is not a single state where officials are not prosecuted for acts of corruption yearly, with some states, like Illinois, losing as much as $500million annually. (According to a study by state University of Illinois in 2012).
Corruption is not unique to Africa, and if it hasn’t stopped others, why should it stop us? After all, we have about 30% of the world’s known mineral deposits, including gold, cobalt, iron, uranium, etc, about 8% of its natural gas deposits, abundant and fertile agricultural land and huge, huge solar and hydro-electric potentials.
Our problem, Jack, lies elsewhere; not on corruption.
@Bax “Our problem, Jack, lies elsewhere; not corruption.”! I think this is the most controversial comment I’ve read from you. But then, are some badly bred politicians in the Gambia not of the belief that dictatorship is not our problem but in fact we need dictatorship for good governance? Such politicians would argue that ‘even’ in Western countries there is corruption. Such reasoning drops my jaws to the floor. Now, it is reveal by studies that corruption is not Africa’s problem! By the way you trusted findings by those Western universities and elements at least to elaborate your points in this occassion. This post of yours Bax, is toxically bad for the children’s health. Just in one word, I’m calling it- appalling!
Institutionalized Poverty is the main driver of corruption. To progress in our fight against corruption in The Gambia we need to address issues of:
1. Lifetime unemployment.
2. Poor minimum wage and
3. Lack of social safety net.
Point is, it’s a complex and interrelated social malady that requires a Leader with clear mind, keen intellect and significant social maturity.
Corruption:
1. Is a recipe for the lifetime
unemployment
2. Is a recipe poor minimum wages
3. Is a recipe for social insecurity
It is an individual’s own responsibility to choose to be corrupt.
May I refer you to check out an essay by
Emanuel Okonkwo
I think if you google it, you will find it interesting
Jack, I’m surprised at your reaction, but I think I understand the reason. The mention of children (“This post of yours Bax, is toxically bad for the children’s health.”) does seem to suggest that you completely misunderstood my statement.
Of course, I’m not dismissing or trying to diminish the effect of corruption on our economies. I understand what corruption does and can do.
But, as I stated already, I was interested in the “genesis” of our economy and not the consequences of the REAL PROBLEM.
“Corruption”, to borrow Dr Sarr, is a consesequence of “Institutionalized poverty.” We institutionalize poverty by pursuing economic models that stifle wealth creation and condemn us to perpetual dependence and indebtedness. That’s why the majority are corrupt.
Thus, corruption is a consequence of “Institutionalized poverty.”
What’s wrong with trusting research done by Western Universities or Centres of learning. Are you suggesting that these institutions are not reliable
Understanding the genesis is key to solving the problem and here’s the view I subscribe to.
In 1884, Europeans met in Berlin to partition Africa and lay claim to most of the continent. That scramble for Africa was motivated by TWO factors, brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
1. To secure sources of cheap raw materials and labour for their emerging industries;
2. To secure markets for their manufactured goods.
Once they established domination over the people, they structured the economies of the colonies to fulfill the dual role of being sources of raw materials and markets for finished goods. And that’s the systems we inherited at independence.
Today, our economies are a bit more sophisticated and grown than they were 50/60 years ago, but we continue to play the same dual role: we extract and export our resources in their raw form (crude oil, iron ore, diamonds, fish,etc) and import them as finished products.
To compound the problem, we commit ourselves to unfair trade agreements and treaties that constrain and tie our hands behind our backs.
We need to restructure our economies, re-evaluate all agreements and treaties, and either withdraw from them, if they don’t suit us, or seek renegotiation.
We must, for example, aim to extract our minerals, process them to finished state and export, as manufactured products. That’s how we can generate wealth to develop our people and countries.
Some estimates put the total sum of the earths natural resources in Afrikka to be at least 40-45%. The mother of all resources which is energy, is in plentiful supply in its most natural and cheapest form, solar.
Afrikka’s status as the richest continent is in no doubt. Historically, the wealth, the tech (knowledge) and the know-how in the hands of the white devil is ALL thanks to the blakk man (man is here gender neutral).
We are the fathers and mothers of all disciplines, contrary to the lies they have been propagating through their media. They took our religions, bastardized them and came back to sell us a fictional white messiah and an “Arab” prophet, whom we today know to be of a blakk Afrikkan origin.
No prophet ever was born onto the filthy Europeans. Never! Their his-story is less than fifteen Millennia on earth. Our her-and-his story is traceable to the very beginning of the first humans to inhabit planet earth, which is close to two and a half million years.
But the cave monkey is really a con man, that’s how it’s always been. Kill, rape, plunder, suppress and the cycle continues.
The day Afrikka will attempt to be independent of their finished products and not to be their source of cheap raw materials, a Third World War will break out.
That’s why I Mwalimu, will keep advocating for one central government, one central bank and a big nasty atomic nitrogen bomb to deter the beast.
_______________________
Yes corruption and corrupt practices cost us a helluva money and wasted opportunities. Yet, to find a solution to that malady, we need to go to its roots. Yes corruption is a crime, but if it’s a form of crime, how did it get to us? Remember, prisons are fairly new introductions into our penal codes. Something to chew for an intelligent mind.
I believe those amongst us conniving with the enemy to defraud us of everything should be………you fill in the gap.
These traitors who claim to be educated, put on suits and ties, get fat pays and offices sell us back into slavery just to be in the good books of the hungry white scavengers and go to sleep.
Am just saying it as raw as it is. Dammit!
@Dr. Isatou Sarr, can you please provide a sharp link to the particular essay?