GACH boss Abubakary Jawara has called on Gambians to have each other’s back, lifting the lid on why he returned to the country.
“I want all Gambians to know I am not someone who will destroy Gambia. I want The Gambia to develop. No matter how much you dislike someone, acknowledge his good work. That’s what being Muslim is about,” Jawara speaking Saturday in Sanyang said. Some people in Sanyang had claimed the businessman’s mining activities destroyed farms; the town’s VDC and officials of the geology department later rubbished those claims as untrue.
The businessman was in Sanyang to hand over 1,000 bags of cement he promised the people of the seaside town after they asked he helps them in the construction of the town’s new car park. The people of the town – men and women – led by their Imam Saikou Bojang and the alkalo’s special representative Nfansu Jabang attended the mid-day event.
Jawara told the people of Sanyang: “I will not destroy someone from Sanyang, I will not destroy Gambia. Because I am a Gambian. Whatever I get, I want us to enjoy it together, especially the women.
“So I never want to make the women cry. Because there has been a lot of talk around this mining but this is because they are not happy. What they couldn’t see wanted to see so they say things that are not true. This mining has been here since 1926 but it’s now that all the talk is happening.
“When the change came, we all decided to return home to contribute to national development. Let me say it for all Gambians to hear it. I’m not the person they think I am. I have opened a lot of companies in The Gambia here. There is a tomato factory. The tomato is good, a lot of women know about it and it’s reasonable. We have to take charge of our own responsibility. We should manufacture what we eat locally for our own good health. FASDEP (director) is also here and he’s my witness. They have given me a project of up to one million dollars.
“My company implemented that project successfully and now it’s just left with the handing over. I believe that is what good citizen is about. They have also given also project which has gone up to 85 percent and I want to make sure I finish that by the start of the new year.
“So my line of business is not just black sand. I began mining sand here not even up to two years. The period mining was actually conducted is not up to 12 months and within that period what I paid to government has gone up to one million dollars. Since 1926, the geology officials are here… Let them produce their records in terms of which other company paid that sum to government. I have actually told the people of Sanyang that I’m into whatever they’re into. That I want them to be happy even if I will not get even a dalasi.”
Earlier on, the town’s Imam Saikou Bojang detailed how Mr Jawara’s arrival change the game in terms of Sanyang benefitting from what comes from Sanyang.
“This sand has long been mined here but Gambia and Sanyang never benefitted anything from it. When Jawara came, he has started constructing our mosque and he will start some work on this car park too. I ask that whatever you get from the sand, plough some of it to the town which we can show to our children,” the imam said.
In addressing the gathering, Nfansu Jabang representing the alkalo simply corroborated what the imam said.
“What the imam said is true. For all the years the sand was being mined, the town got nothing. But Allah is in control of everything. Have you not seen he has effected change and brought a Gambian who has a heart for the country and the village,” the town official said.
Lamin Kanteh of the Geology Department said Mr Jawara was simply fulfilling his corporate social responsibility duty.
“It’s us who gave him a license. We have been working with him not just in Sanyang. What he’s doing here today is simply about his corporate social responsibility because who we give a license to, that is one of the things we agree to,” he said.
Yusupha Jassey, VDC secretary said when they informed Mr Jawara that they wanted to construct their car park, the businessman quickly responded he is a native of Sanyang and will chip in.
“He decided to give us 1,000 bags of cement,” Jassey said as he highlighted other various support the businessman has carried out in the town.
The businessman at the end of the event handed the cement to the people of the town but only after promising to give D100,000 the women of the town.
