Traveling by sea to the Northern part of The Gambia is not only risky, but frustrating, Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Almost all the ferries at the Banjul/Barra ferry crossing have been grounded due to safety related issues. There is only one ferry currently working; the rest are in bad condition. That ferry’s sea safety standards are questionable. It spends three hours on seas from Banjul to Barra. It would take that ferry six hours before it could transport passengers from both end in every given day. Passengers and vehicles have been stranded for weeks.
Those mostly affected by the ferry crisis are daily travelers, students, interstate truckers, visiting tourists, and others. Some had to use small boats to cross to Barra and Banjul. Others would use the Banjul and Soma road to use travel via the Senegambia bridge.
Meanwhile, Adama Barrow, the country’s “dysfunctional leader”, is busy using Religious Leaders to help him perpetuate himself in power. He had given over one million dalasi to the Religious Leader to meet with Gambian villagers to convince them to support his five years mandate.
Barrow is under pressure from a group, which calls itself three years “Jotna.” The group plans to organize nationwide protest marches come December to compel him to step down from power. The group says Barrow doesn’t want to respect his promise to Gambians that he was going to stay in office for three years and step down.
The Gambia Ports Authority insiders have expressed concern over the safety of the only working ferry. They said their biggest fear is what they called a potential sea disaster in The Gambia if the ferry is not repaired.
GPA Ferry Services Manager Hali Gai and his management team are said to be busy working on a white elephant ferries repairing project. It has been gathered that D19 million dalasis has been earmarked for the ferries repairing project.
The Barrow regime has no plans of purchasing new ferries. The corrupt and inept regime would only respond to the ferry crisis, if only there is a disaster. For now, Gambian travelers are hopeless, and panic stricken.
The post MAJOR FERRY DISASTER AWAITS TRAVELERS AT THE BANJUL/BARRA FERRY CROSSING POINTS; ALL FERRIES GROUNDED; ONLY ONE FERRY IS WORKING AND IS NOT IN GOOD CONDITION appeared first on Freedom Newspaper.