By: Karimatou Jallow
Almost every household in The Gambia uses wood for cooking, however, wood sellers at Latrikunda German have lamented some of the challenges they face during the rainy season.
“These woods are coming from different places and very far destinations and because of that, we face lots of challenges on our way, because we pay some amount of money at each checkpoint we arrived at or else we will not be allowed into the country. Moreover, the roads are also not good enough for our vehicles which is why we spend days before reaching our destination,” Mamajang Kurubally said.
Kurubally said they do not have a safe place or a store to keep their woods and that the place they currently keep their woods is not secure as anyone can have access to it without their knowledge. He went on to say whenever it rains, they gain less profit because most customers do not buy the woods.
“We call on the government to reduce the tax payment because the amount of money we spend at every checkpoint is huge and it is from this business we feed our families and pay our children’s school fees,” he added.
“Things have changed now; before we use to buy a pile of wood for two thousand dalasis (D2000) but now we are buying it for three thousand dalasis (D3000). Nobody knows what is happening in this country because everyday things are becoming expensive and more challenging and authorities are not taking any action. If the government does not take any action to control the price of goods in the country, then I see no development in this country,” Samba Ceesay said.
He said the roads are not safe for their vehicles which is why they spend days or weeks before arriving at their destinations. He said they also don’t have a secure place to keep their woods which is why they are always affected whenever it rained because customers will not buy their woods, which doesn’t favour them,” he said.
Ceesay calls on the authorities to reduce tax as they are also businessmen who are looking for profit and also have families to feed.
The rest also give the same statements by calling on the government to help reduce the tax levied against them so that they will buy it at a low price and have profit at the end of the day.
