Environment Minister Calls Sanitation at Major GBA Markets ‘Horrible and Heartbreaking’

By Makutu Manneh

Rohey John Manjang, the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, has sharply criticized waste collection and sanitation conditions at several major markets in the Greater Banjul Area, describing the situation as “horrible” and “heartbreaking.”

Ms. Manjang made the remarks after a joint inspection of markets in Serrekunda, Latrikunda, Coastal Road, and Brikama with the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare. The visit followed growing public concern over sanitation at the markets, including a video circulating on social media showing conditions at Latrikunda Market.

“The markets are in a horrible state,” Ms. Manjang said. “The waste management and sanitation are extremely poor. It is disheartening, heartbreaking, and it calls for general concern.”

She said the conditions were particularly troubling because many of the vendors working in the markets are women who depend on their businesses for their livelihoods and deserve a clean and safe environment in which to work.

Ms. Manjang said vendors who regularly pay market rates and other charges should, at a minimum, receive basic services such as routine waste collection.

“If they are paying their market rates, the least that should be done is regular waste collection to ensure a conducive environment for them to earn their daily living,” she said.

The minister said responsibility for waste collection rests primarily with local councils under Gambian law. She called on the Kanifing Municipal Council, Banjul City Council, and Brikama Area Council to make sanitation a priority and devote sufficient resources to keeping markets and surrounding communities clean.

Rather than spreading their resources across numerous activities, she said, councils should concentrate more heavily on essential services such as waste collection.

Ms. Manjang said the government planned to convene relevant stakeholders to seek a coordinated solution to the sanitation problem. But she stressed that such an intervention would not relieve local authorities of their responsibility to provide basic municipal services.

Keeping communities clean, she said, remains primarily the responsibility of the councils — not only within markets but throughout the areas under their jurisdiction.

The government, however, would be prepared to intervene if councils failed to fulfill what she described as their social contract with residents, she said.

Ms. Manjang also called on members of the National Assembly to scrutinize councils that cite financial constraints as a reason for inadequate waste collection. Lawmakers, she said, should demand evidence and explanations when councils say they lack the resources to provide such services.

“It is all about nation-building,” she said. “We all have to be in different areas to make sure that, in the end, we contribute our potential to the nation.”

Her comments come amid heightened public concern over waste management and sanitation in urban markets, where large volumes of refuse and heavy daily traffic have placed increasing pressure on local authorities to provide regular and effective collection services.