As the country wallows in erratic power cuts and water supply, young people are taking it upon themselves to express the grief and dissatisfaction of Gambians with the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC).
In an unpretending proposed protest, the young people led by social Activist Alieu Bah have agreed to converge in what they refer to as ‘Occupy Westfield”
The protest scheduled for the 5th November -if all falls into plan -it will be the first ever against NAWEC and is expected to draw a wide crowd.
Many people have used social media and other platforms to lament on the inconvenience NAWEC is causing the masses. Some people are left with 20 hours without water and electricity and businesses disrupted without a standby power supply.
Alieu Bah, who once worked as an editorial writer for the Standard Newspaper, even though claims the movement is leaderless, is the most vocal person in the preparation for the peaceful protest.
In a brief chat with What’s On-Gambia, he disclosed that they hope to gather thousands of Gambians for the protest, which has already received criticism from supporters of the Coalition government.
In a Facebook post, Alieu wrote “#occupywestfield is a leaderless, amoebic spontaneous rising of young new Gambian millennials. It is preposition not a position, a stance not an ideology. It is a critique and shared desire. Even though I started the campaign, I just want us to realize this is not my movement or organization. It’s a LEADERLESS movement.”
Since taking over the mantle of leadership of the country, the coalition government for the past five months couldn't provide Gambians with a steady supply of water and electricity which are daily necessities for living.
According to Alieu, the frequent “on and off” is nothing but lack of political will, corruption and lack of funding. “Ask these politicians what they doing and they keep giving you endless promises. Don’t wait on politicians to deliver, make them do it. It’s your birth given right.”
What’s On-Gambiacouldn’t confirm whether Alieu and his group have secured a permit from the police to occupy Westfield.
However, in a recent post on Facebook, he stated: “We promise to abide by the legal and moral code of The Gambia in the execution of this hefty task laid on us by history. The entire team has agreed to be law abiding and conscious of the need to maintain decorum. Whatever statement an individual make that contravenes the spirit of the declaration and this statement will be rejected and isolated”.