CTV Africa

By Pa Modou Cham The executive director of National Environment Agency (NEA) Momodou Suwareh and the geology department (GD) director Abdoulie M. Cham have been suspended for six months without salary, as a result of the Faraba Banta’s report. These were revealed by the secretary general and head of civil service, at a press conference held in justice ministry, Banjul. The Faraba report indicated that there was no proper environmental impact assessment conducted in the area to be mined as required by the law before the granting of the mining license to Julakay Ltd nor were there sufficient safeguards to ensure restoration of the mining area by Julakay ltd after completion of mining activities as required by the law. It is said that both the NEA GD disregarded the concern of the Village Development Committee (VDC) and the villagers regarding the potential adverse effects of commercial mechanical sand mining might have on the environment and livihood, especially rice c...

By Pa Modou Cham Network against gender base violence, on Monday launched 16 days nationwide campaign to raise the awareness of the people towards violence against women. The launching was held at Westfield monument and was graced by difference organisations. The national coordinator, Network Against Gender Base Violence (NGBV) Haddy Mboge Barrow explained that gender base violence otherwise called violence against women and girls because it disproportionately affects women and girls, and it is a grave human right violation. She added that it comes in many forms such as physical, sexual, psychological and emotional violence which all have serious consequences ranging from immediate to long-term. “The consequences negatively affect not only women’s generally well-being and realization of their potentials, but also deplete a nation’s human capital and undermine development.” She pointed that far too long, immunity; silence has allowed violence ...

By Pa Modou Cham Sheriff Badjie, assistant program manager and viral hepatitis focal point at national AIDS control program has explained that 21,002 estimated Gambians are living with HIV and AIDS; only 37% know their HIV status and 7,288 on treatment as end of September 2018, while others continue to receive psychosocial support. These were revealed at a press conference held at National AIDS Secretarial (NAS) in preparation of the world AIDS day. He said that the national response on HIV continues to make tremendous strides to curb the HIV and AIDS epidemic. “HIV prevalence remains relatively low at 1.9% and 1.8% according to the Demographic Health Survey 2013 and National Sentinel Studies, 2017 respectively,” he said. He pointed that the national HIV response is faced with numerous challenges such as high demand for HIV services and reduced funding which is mainly donor driven. He calls on the government to take ownership of the national HIV response t...

By Pa Modou Cham The Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council Talib Ahmed Bensouda has on Thursday signs up for the new National ID card and toured the Immigration Facility supported by SEMLEX. According to KMC page, the mayor was seen the rigorous background checks conducted by the immigration officers and the various security features including finger printing that applicants have to go through. He said the durability of the card was impressive and world standard, adding that the price of D450 for validity of 5 years was surprisingly more affordable than the previous ID cards. He expressed happiness to hear that SEMLEX will hand over the entire operation to Gambian immigration in the next 5 years, and that all the data was stored locally and in the custody of immigration. He was also impressed with the rigorous multi step verification process including interviews, server backup system, high tech used and the efficiency of the process, the entire process is control...

By Pa Modou Cham The governor of central bank Bakary Jammeh has explained that The Gambia’s total expenditure and net lending declined to D10.7 billion or by 19.1 percent reflecting mainly the market drop in interest payments by 20.4 percent. These were revealed at the review of the recent economic developments by the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the central bank of The Gambia.   He said the budget balance, including grants has narrowed to a deficit of D4.0 billion in the nine months to end-September 2018 compared to a deficit of D7.5 billion in the corresponding period of a year ago. On domestic debt, governor highlighted that the stock of domestic debt increased slightly to D29.66 billion (42.7 percent of GDP) as at end-October 2018 from D29.14 billion (42.0 percent of GDP) in the corresponding period of year ago. He pointed that the stock of treasury and Sukuk-Al Salam bills increased by 0.96% to D17.14 billion during the period under review.” ...