In its bid to ensure accelerating progress in its dealing with its customers, The Gambia Revenue Authority has announced some changes in its operational mode.

In a press release sent to the Daily Observer, the Authority informs the general public that its offices would continue working for Customer services on Sundays, starting from 19th October 2008, at its head office, Revenue House, in Banjul. According to the release, work would also continue as usual on Saturdays. 

This initiative, the release went on, had been taking in consultation with The Gambia Ports Authority, Shipping agencies and Clearing and Forwarding agencies.

GRA said that it had taken this initiative as part of its effort "to fast track the clearing of goods, decongest the ports and facilitate overall business transactions in the most convenient and expeditious manner possible."

They called on the general public, especially their clients and the business community, to take advantage of the extra day of work on Sunday, which they said was envisaged to remove unnecessary delays and hassle in their business transactions.

The release further stated that GRA wishes to assure the business community and Gambians in general that it would continue to offer its services in the most efficient and effective manner in order to facilitate trade and raise revenue for the development of our  Motherland.

The Women’s Bureau recently held a day’s regional consultative workshop for the formulation of a gender policy in Janjangbureh, CRR, sponsored by the European Commission in collaboration with CSIP.

In his welcoming remarks, the deputy governor of the region, Lamin Darboe, said the National Policy on Gender was formulated by the government of The Gambia in 1999 for the advancement of Gambian women.  He pointed out that 65% of Gambian  household food security is produced by women. He thanked the European Commission and CSIP for sponsoring such an important workshop.

In her opening statement, the executive director of the Women’s Bureau, Ida Fye-Hydara, said the objective of the consultation was for stakeholders to participate in the formulation of the Gender Policy 2009 to 2019.  She called for active participation in the formulation of the gender policy, noting that the 1999 policy mainly focuses on the advancement of women but according to her, the 2009-2019 policy will focus on both the needs of women and men.

The Seyfo of Janjangbureh Bakary Jam Jawo thanked the organizers and those who sponsored the consultation workshop.  He further spoke at length on the important role women play in society.

A two-day ECOWAS Regional Consultation on conflict prevention in the Sene-Gambia Zone ended last Friday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

Speaking at the occasion, Ambassador Babou Ousman Jobe of The ECOWAS Council of the Wise stated that one of the objectives of the programme is to build the capacity of West African Civil Society coalitions in monitoring governance and human rights with the goal of complementing ongoing activities aimed at promoting regional Security and contributing to security sector transformation processes in West Africa.

The ambassador has called on civil society organisations to work closely with government to prevent conflicts within West Africa.

For his part, the director of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Jibrin Ibrahima, said the reason for organising the meeting in Banjul is meant to reduce and manage the long standing conflicts in the Sene- Gambian Zone citing the Cassamance as one example.

He has assured participants that the recommendation of the meeting will be fully implemented at the level of ECOWAS

Over 30 female contestants and leaders across all political parties recently participated in a consultation meeting to review the gender concerns in the last local government area council election, at Pakalinding Lodge, Lower River Region. The meeting validated the reports on the pre-election activities with potential female contestants and reviewed the participation of women in the 2008 Local Government elections.

In her remarks, the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP Dr. Isatou Touray, emphasised that the project on women’s political participation is supported by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa – OSIWA. She said it is not about partisan politics but rather to create political awareness amongst women to empower them within their own parties. Dr. Touray called for unity of purpose, solidarity and trustworthiness in women’s struggles; and pointed out that, as women there are commonalities, specificities and difference but they should all work for the interests of all women no matter what their partisan inclination is.

Speaking to the participants, the first Gambian female elected Parliamentarian and also Consultant for women and political participation, Honourable Nyimasata Sanneh, informed the participants that GAMCOTRAP is interested in creating awareness on women’s rights and empowerment and they choose the rights target for their activities. She emphasised that it is critical to engage women in decision-making positions in promoting women’s rights in politics. GAMCOTRAP was commended for the initiative to engage women leaders from different parties across the country to revisit the interest of women in the political processes.

 However, the participants highlighted some of the challenges female contestants were faced with amongst which were the concern that women leaders are used for election of political representatives and not for the strategic interest of women; challenges in their parties select committees attitudes towards some of the female candidates, sexual harassment during the campaign period, lack of funding for female candidates to campaign and reluctance of elite women to contest for elections, among other things.

The participants recommended a sensitisation on the Local Government Act and the role of area councilors, to train women on leadership and other skills to enhance their knowledge on policies and laws affecting them, to sensitise young girls on reproductive health and rights.

 They finally called for a national forum across parties to discuss the gender concerns in vying for elections for the interests of all women and promote solidarity and positive campaign strategies within and across parties, whilst emphasising the need for women to be recognised in their own right as citizens and to work in solidarity.