*The President, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh has
pledged to sustain his efforts to calm the price turbulence in the market by
setting up retail outlets for members of the Green Youths in all parts of
the country. Professor Jammeh who was speaking Thursday at State House
during a solidarity meeting with a delegation from the Central River Region,
said he will stock the shops with basic commodities such as sugar, oil,
flour and cement.*

*The President has also offered a full mechanization programme to any
administrative region with the highest votes in the upcoming elections.*

* *

*Story by Abdou Njie:*

Efforts to indigenize the market are gaining prominence amidst another
Presidential pledge set to bring prices to their lowest. The plan as
announced by the President involves the creation of one stop shop in all
parts of the country, stock with most needed items for the consumers. The
word here is not only about quantity but quality and reasonability, as
manifested in the oil and meat currently on distribution in the various
sales outlets of the Kanilai Family Farms.

The take made on the President's intervention is quite positive and may have
encouraged Professor Jammeh to still push on efforts to achieve equilibrium
in the market. The National Youth Mobilizer is entrusted the task of getting
the project to be manned by members of the Green Youths off the ground. The
President in the meantime offers to stock them up with sugar, oil, tomato
paste, flour and cement. He framed the reason for his actions in simple
words, noting he believes in sharing and wishes Gambians all that he wished
for himself.  Nonetheless, he warned there is no going back in efforts to
end the exploitation in the market but stressed the need for more youth
involvement in order to register the desired results.

The pronouncement was made at the end of the first leg of solidarity
meetings, which began on Monday with visits from people of the Upper River
and West Coast Regions, and the Kanifing Municipality. With the remaining
meetings shifted after the end of Ramadan. The President used the final face
to face talks with a delegation from the Central River Region to announce
various incentives for the electorates. He offered full mechanization
programme for any region with the highest vote counts, within the range of
90% and above, describing the policy as a final goodbye to labour intensive
agriculture. Prof. Jammeh also pledged to produce many more "Alhagies" and
"Ajaratous" from that region within a set period of time and noted the plan
also seeks to ease the lives of women in the rural communities in respect of
their daily chores and related activities.

The pronouncement formed key part of his response to comments by members of
the delegation from CRR, who were at State House to renew their political
support and backing for the Gambian leader ahead of the polls. The group led
by Governor Ganyi Touray, comprised party representatives and mobilizers
entrusted the flag of the ruling party during the campaign leading to
elections. But for them the issue is no longer about winning, but getting
the job done in an explicitly different fashion, where the President will
stay put  and leave the policking in the hands of the electorates. Like in
all the previous visits, their request revolves around logistics which they
have been promised in due course. Officials have also described the politics
of tribalism being adopted by the opposing camps as nothing more than a
scheme and a sign of desperation to save themselves from humiliation in the
polls.

Talks between party officials in the executive and their local
representatives in the Central River Region ended on a positive note, with
Her Excellency the Vice President, Aja Dr. Isatou Njie- Saidy, premising
support for the President on what she called 17 years of unrivaled period of
socio-economic development. While the Minister of Information and
Communication Infrastructure, Alhaji Cham, who is also the Liaison Officer
for the Central River Region, assuring the group of every possible support
to ensure the election is hitch free.

**

--
*
*****************************************************************************
GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA.
LET US JOIN HANDS AND SUPPORT SHEIKH PROFESSOR DR. ALH YAHYA JAMMEH (NASIRU
DEEN) TO BUILD OUR COUNTRY. *

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