The following is culled from FRROYAA BURNING NO: 88/2002 30 December 2002- 1 January, 2003 ---------------- We Are Not Lazy Say Black Smiths And Welders Blacksmiths and welders yesterday expressed concern over high taxes levied against them and the wrong accusation that Gambian are lazy and are not ready to work. They made these remarks at the second general meeting of the Black Smith Technical Corportation in Serrekunda. The association was established and registered in 1995. The main agenda of the meeting was to discuss plans to meet the Secretary of State for Trade, Industry and Employment to express to him matters relating to their profession. They have seen the need to expose themselves to the public for identification, to counter the erroneous view that Gambians are lazy. The newly elected Secretary General, Mr. Momodou Janha Cham, said that there are so many skillful and well trained Gambians in all sectors. A lot of people, he said, have been trained by GTTI but most of them are still hanging around. He further indicated that the problem is that some public authorities tend to receive bribes. That is why some jobs here are done by foreigners. Contrary to this, The Gambians would be reluctant to bribe an official. When they meet the Secretary of State they intend to request for a plot of land where they can build an industry for hardwork and create a market where they can sell their products. He pointed out that they suffer from buying expensive raw materials at fluctuating prices. See the next issue for further details. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: FOROYAA (Freedom) NO: 88/2002 30 December 2002- 1 January, 2003 ISSN: 0796- 08573 Address: FOROYAA, P.O.Box 2306, Serrekunda, The Gambia, West Africa Telephone: (220) 393177 Fax: (220) 393177 Email address: [log in to unmask] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~