Mr. Yahya I want to regularly chat with you here to share some ideas about
life and its yield for Gambia. I hope your General Secretary will afford you
audience of my notes. I tried to reach you on several occasions but it seems
you are short-staffed and there is no one to receive calls for you. I will keep
trying as I communicate with you here and I will appreciate it if you share
with me and my colleagues an alternate telephone number through which we can
share ideas with you. I was not lucky through you email address either at
your website. I have sent a mutual friend to share with you some of my anxieties
that are reflective of the chagrin of a good number of our fellow citizens.
I hope you will grant her audience.
It has been raining here in Tennessee for the past several days and much
colder at this elevation in Nashville than normal. I am returning to Fort
Oglethorpe then to Atlanta where it is warmer. Georgia is currently dealing with
water shortage and I'm sure from your time here, you can identify with their
angst given the tri-state water wars compounded by a dirth of rainfall. The
Chattahoochee and its tributaries originates in the highlands of North Georgia
and South Tennessee and traverses Alabama to empty in the marshes of Florida.
Georgians and Alabamans, with their enormous population growths, depend on
the river and attendant lakes for their drinking water, hydro-electricity, and
industrial growth and agriculture. The oyster farmers in Florida depend on the
tributaries of the Chattahoochee in good quality and volume for their
oysters. It is much like The river Gambia originating from the foothills of the
Fouta Djallon, traversing Guinea and Senegal before emptying into Gambia. The
farmers and people of our three countries depend on the river and its confluent
rivers and tributaries for our drinking water, agriculture, transportation,
and industry, what little there is. The river also serves to regenerate the
ecologies of the marshes, the national Parks and forests, and the Niokolokoba
forest in Senegal. I am impressed with the Kanilai National park whose growth
and sustenance also depends on the tributaries and marshes created by the
river. I thank you for your efforts in nurturing the park. You must however
remain vigilant to insure its sustenance. I understand as much as you do that
River Gambia's health and capacity will depend in large measure on its quality
before gracing Gambia as it traverses the lands and peoples of Guinea and
Senegal. The FAO and International hydrologic entities have been assisting you
in policy recommendations and communion with the GUineans and Senegalese. I
urge you to re-visit the agreement with Senegal brokered by the UN agency to
build a barrage over the river or allow them to build a tunnel under the river
to access their land in Cassamance. This could have enormous value for Gambia
and river Gambia if considered carefully. Should you wish my suggestions and
ideas, please feel free to contact me. My doors are always open to you.
These days we are dealing with a national catastrophe in the affect of fires
in California much like we had in Hurricane Katrina and the bridge collapse
in Minneapolis. I am confident you join us in prayer for expeditious
mitigation. I must tell you I am so proud of Gambia and America that I think the two
countries can lead the world. I view America as God/Allah's experiment
station. Allah has placed various peoples, ethnicities, tribes, and classes on a
land with the requisite variety in flora and fauna and ecology, and he rests
while he watches his creations grow. He has provided challenges, plagues, and
bounty and he has provided the necessary information for them to harness value
to overcome the challenges. Why I even met a gentleman here from Kanilai. I
was flabberghasted needless to say. Even though he was new, he encountered no
problems in assimilating. He loves America and I intend to make his stay
valuable to him and his family back in Gambia. It is exhilarating is it not, to
be in the company of such hope and growth and ingenuity.
I know the flood of the river Gambia caught you by surprise and you were'nt
able to do much for the people. But I think you're wiser to have witnessed
that flood and its devastation especially for the people and their animals
beyond Janjangbureh to Koina. I am confident you have put in place both emergency
measures and nurturing measures to mitigate any such disaster in the future.
We were spared by Allah from the recent West Africa floods but as sure as my
name is Haruna, we will have another Gambia flood again. There are some basic
measures you can advise your meteorology and hydrology departments to enable
prior warning alarms to be triggered when the river's flow-rate and volume
reaches a certain level. They should cooperate with Guinea and Senegal in that
endeavour. Another effort in dredging coupled with proper use of dredged
material in regeneration of industry and ecosystems will also do wonders in
forestalling such devastation. Last but not least, an emergency evacuation plan
ought to put in place by your affected departments in order to lessen the
affect of such devastation. The flow regime of the Gambia river is also
precarious in areas. The islands and adjoining national parks are vulnerable to
inundation and reconfiguration of meander. Consider berms and sluice gates which
can enhance marsh agriculture and industry which can buffer the effect of flow
irregularities. According to my crude forecasts, another flood will inundate
the low-lying areas that guard the river, to include McCarthy Island, the
Kiang West national park, the neighbourhoods of Bintang and all areas
sandwiched by the river Gambia and the Cassamance River to include Kanilai and
environs. You have made tremendous incvestments in that area and I'm sure it will be
sad to leave them bare to mitigable inundation. The areas around Sandougou
bolong and the Essau area are also equally vulnerable. They must monitor
effluence into the river that diminishes riparian life.Any such devastation can
accrue either from irregular flow of the Gambia river, unprecedented flow rate,
or a few inches rise in the Atlantic OCean waters. Banjul and Saint Mary
have been naturally protected due to their Geography and rock formations before
now, but those are only episodic protections. Nature continues to live and
carve.
I will leave you here for now. WHen next I speak with you, I will share some
ideas on how we can better utilize our natural resources in our peoples to
enhance common life in Gambia. I thank you for your esteem audience as I advise
you to use the information Foroyaa gathers and shares with us to enhance our
collective worth. DO not disregard the info for the vehicle that carries it.
Even though FOroyaa may be a party paper, they must be encouraged in their
coverage of national issues. It will be to all our benefit. Just don't read
the propaganda material. Focus on the value of Foroyaa not its distressing
comentary.
Take care my friend and God bless. Haroun al Khairawan. MQDT. Darbo. AL
Mu'Umin. I must attend to other life matters now. My son is calling me.
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