MAUDO AMADOU JALLOW REACTS TO SIDIA’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Foroyaa received a letter from Maudo Amadou Jallow, the Regional Disaster Management Coordinator for the Upper River Region which aimed to react to our publication of a Press Conference convened by the Member of the National Assembly for Wuli West. The letter started as follows:
“Please allow me space to react to an article published on the Monday edition of your news paper captioned “Sedia Jatta to lunch Disaster relief Fund, calls for national and international support”
This created some confusion at the level of the Foroyaa Editors. First and Foremost, Foroyaa published Sidia’s Press Release on Friday and not on Monday. Secondly, our caption was not as stated by Maudo Amadou Jallow.
Hence we had to give Maudo a call to indicate that we could not publish his letter because it dealt with issues which were not covered by Foroyaa but offered him an interview to clarify any contentions he had regarding the Foroyaa report.
He raised only two contentions. First and foremost, he said that Sidia claims that 27 houses were washed away whereas only six houses were destroyed and 15 compounds affected.
Secondly, he said that Sidia said that 8 horses were washed away by the flood in SutuKoba whereas only 5 horses were washed away. Foroyaa has raised his concerns with Sidia Jatta, Member for Wuli West. He indicated that as Member of the National Assembly for Wuli West he has gone to find out what happened in his constituency. He said the members of the Regional Disaster Management Committee should commend him for complementing their initiatives instead of raising contentions. He explained that he knows the Act which calls for the establishment of Village Disaster Relief Committees. He argued that what was written is that seeds were washed away but that 27 Compounds were affected. He calls on Maudo to do further investigation.
He added that as far as Sutukoba is concerned he said that 6 to 8 horses were washed away. He stated six because he had first hand information that Siraba Khan, Suntu Fatty and Alhaji Suwareh Jatta, each lost one horse while Numo Touray lost three horses, adding up to six. He said other losses were mentioned of a donkey and other horses but he was waiting for confirmation by the time he held the Press Conference. This is why he mentioned 6 to 8 horses so that he would be between the bounds of truth.
He said he has intention to get the authorities to establish the District and village disaster relief Committees so that he could work with them to give the support required to those affected by the disaster.
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