A day's sensitisation workshop organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), for the KMC Youths Fans Club on the anti-littering regulations was, last Thursday, convened at the President International Awards in Bakau.

Speaking at the ceremony, Momodou B Sarr, executive director of NEA, said the purpose of the workshop was to sensitise one of their important youth partners - the KMC Youth Fans Club - on the negative effects of littering.

"The image of any country is always negatively affected by widespread littering. Numerous social studies have confirmed that areas with high incidence of litter invariably have a high level of lawlessness and are therefore very unsafe.  Such an image for The Gambia could adversely affect our very vital tourism industry and keep tourists away," he said.

Mr Sarr added that the NEA in partnership with municipal councils, public health authorities and the Department of Physical Planning have decided to embark on a massive enforcement campaign after the rainy season, particularly in the Greater Banjul Area and other major growth centres.

"Litter is more expensive to manage because each piece of litter is generally hand-picked, which is time consuming and unnecessarily expensive for tax -payer," he went on.
Pierre Minteh, president of the KMC Youths Fans Club, thanked the NEA for their support.

He observed that the sensitisation workshop will tremendously contribute to the strengthening of relations between the KMC Youth Fans Club and NEA.  
Momodou Kanteh, director of the Technical Service Network at  NEA, chaired the ceremony.