The Gambia leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, has announced a reduction in the price of meat at the Kanilai Farms and the Abuko Abattoir, disclosing that these establishments would sell steak at D70, and meat and bone at D50 only, throughout this Holy Month of Ramadan. This move is meant to make the much-needed commodity affordable to Gambians.

The prices disclosed by the president are lower than those pegged by the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency (GLMA) which are D80 and D60 for steak; and meat and bone respectively. President Jammeh announced the price reductions Wednesday during a meeting with the officials of the GLMA at State House in Banjul. The intervention came amidst the current meat scarcity in the market, which has made this commodity that is much demanded in the Holy Month of Ramadan hard to come by. The move is also geared towards stamping out excessive greed on the part of some dealers who take advantage of the holy months to exploit people by creating artificial shortage of essential commodities like meat in the market.

"I am not imposing the price on anybody. This is my price for the month of Ramadan and I want that to be clear," the president stated, while stressing that no price would be fixed beyond the ones fixed (D80 and D60) by the GLMA. He warned that anyone who sells above the stipulated prices would be dealt with. "The D70 and D50 is the Abattoir and the Kanilai Farms price for the month of Ramadan. Any area council that can take responsibility, we would supply them and sell it with that price," the president stated, while expressing their resolve to identity people who would be employed and paid salaries to sell the meat at the price announced by him.

"This is just for the month of Ramadan. If they prove to be honest then they would be employed permanently by the Kanilai Farms Abattoir," the president promised. The president was emphatic in saying that he would not entertain any act of  "wickedness" by a few individuals to the detriment of the people. He stressed that the country wants people who would be reasonable, and that they would now allow those who would want to hold the country to "ransom."

"Sheer wickedness," according to him, would not be entertained. The Gambian leader then declared that "enough is enough", adding that there must be moral values in this country. "The butchers have taught us a lesson that they are more interested in what they earn than the welfare of the Gambian people. At the end of the day, these butchers don't go and buy and sell. They just take it from the dealers. But also the reason why the price gets escalated is the fact that you have too many foreigners and too many middlemen.

At the Abuko Abattoir I don't want to see any middleman there. If GLMA is going to continue to sell I don't want to see anyone of those there. We would buy the cattle from you and we would sell directly to the people," the president stated. He pointed out that holy months like Ramadan is the time that people should show compassion, and urged traders to do so this period by reducing prices.

Fish
The Gambian leader said the same stance on meat would also apply to the fish market. He noted that the facilities the fishmongers, especially foreigners are using are multi-million dollar investments by the Gambia government. "The facilities they are using we spent 12 million dollars, the other one we spent eight million dollars. And if they don't want to be reasonable let them go. This country would no longer be held to ransom by foreigners," he stated, emphasising that there is no way they can allow people to create artificial shortages in the country. He added that the interest of the Gambian people would be protected at all times.

Challenge to Gambians
The Gambian leader challenged the citizens to take their destiny into their hands. According to him, the government is doing everything possible, but yet the citizens are sitting down complaining that the country is poor. He said: "You don't need a university degree, senior school and junior school certificate to buy and sell livestock, and to fish. I see no reason why Gambian youths are still sitting down. For us to take this country to where we want, it requires the hard work of every Gambian. These are high income generating sectors."

The president reiterated that for the past 16 years he has been telling Gambians that, "if we leave our destiny to foreigners, they would determine how we would live." He maintained that since day one he has called on the citizens to be interested in their daily livelihoods, expressing with dismay that all his calls fell on "deaf ears".

He continued: "For how many weeks now there is no meat in the market. I could have provided it but I would not because I want Gambians to understand when I tell them to do something. We have left ourselves to be controlled how we live, what we eat to be determined by foreigners, which is very unfortunate." He then urged Gambians to always heed his advice, as he always wants what is good for the citizens.

Bread
President Jammeh also disclosed that the Kanilai Farm Bakery would be selling a loaf of bread for D3.50 bututs during the Holy month of Ramadan, with a view to making it available to as many people as possible.

Firm on negative social vices
The president once again voiced his zero tolerance for negative social menaces such as illicit drug trafficking and other criminal acts like corruption, rape, and murder. He warned that such negative tendencies under his watchful eyes as the president would not be tolerated in the country. "There are four things that I would not condone in this country and I am ready to pay any price for that - corruption, drugs, rape and murder. Can you believe that at this stage as we speak; we have 60 murder cases in the courts? And guess what, most of it are by stabbing," he said,

Speaking earlier, the vice president and minister of Women's Affairs, Her Excellency Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy thanked the president for his previous donation of sugar and other items to the people during Ramadan. She lauded the Gambian leader's latest intervention geared towards making meat affordable to the citizens, something she said shows the president's concern for the welfare of the people. She pointed out that it is meant to serve the citizens at no profit to him, while calling on Gambians to take this challenge.

Fatou Lamin Faye; Lamin Kaba Bajo; Edward Gomez and Khalifa Kambi; ministers for Basic and Secondary Education; Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters; Justice, and deputy minister of Agriculture respectively all hailed the president for the move. The director general of the GLMA, Demba Jallow, and the chairman of the GLMA board, Dennis Carayol also commended the president for complimenting the efforts of the agency.

Sponsorship deal for GRTS
In a separate development, President Jammeh also handed over cash amounting to D200 000 to the director general of The Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) Alhaji Momodou Sanyang, earmarked to sponsor the airing of the "Koma Sillo" (Back Way) a Mandinka drama series done by the Bolongdala Drama Group. The president also announced his intention to sponsor another GRTS drama series called "Ndey Yassin". He further pledged to sponsor any educative drama produced by the national broadcaster, as well as provide it with a camera that will be used to shot only educative drama series.

DG Alhaji Momodou Sanyang received the money on behalf of GRTS and expressed gratitude to the president for the numerous logistics support and resources his institution continues to benefit from him. He acknowledged that such gestures have boosted the morale of those in the industry.