Ecowas financial support to Gambia and other West African Countries
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) through the Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment, Friday gave US$150, 000 (D3, 201, 455) to the government of The Gambia at a brief presentation ceremony held at State House.
The money, which is earmarked to augment the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in its move to step up mechanism and for equipment support for 2011 Disaster Preparedness and Response, came hard on the heels of a similar donation last year, amounting to the sum of US$281,957.
The vice president and minister of Women's Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy who also doubles as the chairperson of the National Disaster Governing Council received the money on behalf of the NDMA. Presenting the amount, Naffie Barry, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment, who also doubles as the Focal Point of Ecowas in the country, recalled that a similar amount was provided to The Gambia last year, and that during the meeting of Council Ministers in 2010, an additional supplementary amount was approved to help the disaster victims in The Gambia. “This amount is meant to purchase among other things, equipment and much needed materials for disaster victims,” she added.
Receiving the money, Dr Njie-Saidy on behalf of the Gambian leader, affected individuals and the Disaster Governing Council thanked the Ecowas Commission and the Council of Ministers for all the assistance given to the victims of disasters in the country.
She said: “We can't thank you enough and I think this is the kind of assistance we expect from our own regional and sub-regional bodies; that they are there to complement the efforts of our governments. And definitely recently, we have seen Ecowas really intervening in critical areas of development. Not that they didn't want to do that in the past, but there was so much civil strife in our sub-region, and instead of concentrating on development, they were busy fire fighting trying to bring peace and stability by sponsoring peacekeeping missions in the sub-region. But thank God these days it looks like there is peace, stability and normalcy in our sub-region to the extent that the sub-regional body is now concentrating on development.”
The VP emphasised that the sub-regional body is now not only Ecowas of governments but Ecowas of peoples. “We have seen the gas pipeline with road infrastructures you want to build in the sub-region. Ecowas has a lot of good programmes, but still many have this belief that Ecowas is all about meetings,” she added. She then called on them to educate the nationals of their respective countries on the programmes the sub-regional body has in the pipeline.
VP Njie-Saidy used the opportunity to thank the president and Authority of Heads of State of Ecowas and governments and the general secretariat while challenging them to keep up the good work. While assuring that the money will be put to good use, Dr Njie-Saidy also promised the Gambia government’s continuous working relationship with the sub-regional body.
Speaking earlier, Essa Khan, the executive director of the NDMA described the event as a symbolic one, noting that they have a very close cooperation with Ecowas. “We have been working closely with the Ecowas Commission especially on humanitarian issues and DRR. If you could all remember, the Gambia established a National Platform for DRR and Ecowas really appreciated that move,” he said.
The NDMA boss also acknowledged that the donation will greatly enhance their strength in mitigating devastating floods in the country. He finally disclosed that the Africa Union has also provided a significant amount of support to the government of The Gambia to the tune of US$299, 993 (D8, 549, 800) to help in disaster preparedness and response efforts.