Editor,

Please allow me space to express my views on the new banking times, as recently announced by the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG). The CBG, in its wisdom, has decided to change the banking hours in The Gambia. As most of us will know by now, Mondays to Thursdays, the banks open at 8:00am and close at 4:00pm.

So please, Central Bank, how will I and many others like me get to the bank during our working days?

For instance, I start work at 8:30am and cannot get to my bank before this time, lest I be late for work. My lunch time is 30 minutes, and this is not enough time to get to the bank, join the never-ending queue, and return to work.  I close work, 5 days per week, at 5:00pm, when the bank has already closed. On Saturdays, I work till 1:00pm and do not have enough time to go to the bank before it closes at 1:30pm.

If I am to ask my boss for an hour or more off from work every time I want to go to the bank, do you think my boss will agree to this?  I think not. How many more employed people will suffer because of these new hours?  Are you thinking of us at all, Central Bank?

What am I supposed to do then, how do I draw my salary, pay my bills and pay for food, if I cannot get to the bank? Can you please compromise and let the banks stay open up to 6.00pm, at least one day during the week, for the sake of workers like me? Please, re-think your decision for the sake of the working community.