H.E President Adama Barrow speaking at the opening ceremony of the Bicentenary Festival of Janjanbureh
By Fatou Sillah
The president of the Republic of the Gambia, Adama Barrow, has said that The Gambia will use its diplomatic, intellectual, and cultural advantage to promote the reparations agenda.
President Barrow made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the Bicentenary Festival of Janjanbureh, which commemorates the 200th anniversary of the founding of the town of Janjanbureh on MacCarthy Island.
“The Gambia will seize the MacCarthy Island Bicentenary celebration to use its diplomatic, intellectual, and cultural advantage to promote the reparations agenda.”
“Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
Last October, I observed that it is rewarding for a nation to reflect on the past in order to chart the way forward for a better future. For this reason, my Cabinet worked closely with the National Organising Committee, stakeholders, and the communities of the area to hold this grand commemoration,” He said.
The president highlighted that the Janjanbureh Bicentenary festival has brought together Gambians from home and abroad, along with friends, historians, and tourists, fostering healing, reconnection, and reconciliation through shared history and heritage. He discouraged the unnecessary risk of seeking a life abroad, urging citizens to exploit opportunities at home.
“The Festival has brought together Gambians at home and those in the diaspora, in addition to friends of The Gambia, historians, and tourists to participate in the healing, re-connection, and reconciliation process through our shared history and heritage. The risk of boarding boats to cross the rough waters of the Atlantic for life abroad is most unnecessary. Like the Western settlers, 200 years ago, let us stay in our homeland and exploit numerous opportunities available to build better homes, uplift our lives, and support our families,” he said.
Governor Ousman Bah expressed gratitude, stating that hosting this historic event positions Janjangbureh and CRR as attractions in the West African subregion, presenting opportunities for new infrastructure, well-established contacts, and networks to transform the region into a tourism hub for job creation.
“Janjangbureh and CRR have been blessed to host this great and historic event when our island and region is the attraction of the entire West African subregion, It’s the duty to pick up the many opportunities that this celebration has created such as the new infrastructure, the good well contacts, and networks created to take this Island and region into a tourism hub for job creation,” he said.
Secretary General of the Commonwealth Nations, Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland, called for collective progress toward a future built on equality, dignity, and love, bound by connections echoing through the ages.