NESSIM fish meal company in Sanyang, Kombo South has been banned from operations for another 6 months. According to a source close to the Sanyang youth group which staged a peaceful protest against the fish meal processing plant, the directive to extend the temporal closure came from the office of the President of The Gambia. The move follows an earlier order to the company to halt operations following a parliamentary select committee visit to the plant.
NESSIM fish meal processing plant at Sanyang Beach closed for a further six months
The National Assembly Select Committee on Environment visited NESIM fish meal processing plant as part of a region wide visit to access areas of concern with regards to reported environmental pollution and degradation issues. The visit included Faraba sand mining, Golden Lead Fish meal processing plant in Gunjur respectively.
The parliamentarians concluded their tour by ordering the immediate halting of operations of NESSIM plant due to lack of an adequate waste disposal facility to properly dispose factory waste. The company was found to be dumping solid and liquid waste on the roads as well as in the farm lands of the community thereby posing serious environmental and health risks to the local community.
Gambian lawmakers ordered the halting of operations of Nessim fish meal plant in Sanyang
Nissim Fish meal factory in Sanyang is believed to be the fourth of such fish meal processing plants on the south coast of The Gambia that are accused of polluting the environment through pungent smells from their factories and the discharge of untreated liquid and solid waste into the environment.
The visits by the National Assembly Select Committee on Environment follows a round table meeting with the representatives of concerned youth groups led by Sulayman Bojang and some environmental activists in Kombo to hear first hand account of the concerns of the environmental activists regarding the activities of these companies accused of flagrant disregard to the environments in which they are operating. Following the visits of the select committee last week, National Assembly Member for Bundung, Hon. Bakary Njie offered an insight into what the lawmakers discovered on their travels. His words: “We were in Tanji and Sanyang yesterday, 9th June, 2018. In Sanyang there is a new fish milling factory call Nessim fish factory, but if you think Gunjur is terrible hmm! Wait for our report on Sanyang. How can a fish milling factory operate without a treatment plant and Discharges both its liquid and solid waste which is stinky on our main road to fill potholes and many more??? Surely that is not environmental friendly. This report will be interesting!” Honourable MP Njie continued to assure the general public that it will not be business as usual when it comes to matters concerning environmental health of the nation. He declared: “National Assembly's oversight function is the single most important role to the progress of a country. This is the role of checks and balances. It makes sure that the executive do what they are suppose to do. This is why we want to make sure that business is not as usual in our beloved country the Gambia! We must wake some people up to make them understand business cannot be as usual any more. Those responsible will be invited to come and answer questions at the National Assembly!” Confirming the initial closure of the Sanyang plant to GunjurNewsOnline, Hon. Bakary Njie had this to say when this medium asked him if he could confirm the closure and the reasons behind the action of the select committee.
His words:
“We asked them to close because they don't have any treatment plant for their waste product”
Sanyang youths protesting against environmental pollution by Nessim fish meal processing plant in June
Environmental activists and youth groups that are campaigning against the operations of fish meal processing plants across the south coat of the Gambia are encouraged by the latest move to extend the closure to a further six months.
Reacting to the news of the banning, Ahmed Manjang declared: “ News reaching us has it that banning order slapped on Nessim Fishmeal Factory in Sanyang had been extended for another six months. While we celebrate this gains, we are calling on the Gambia government to ban all Fishmeal production entirely in the Gambia to safeguard our environment and food security.”
When contacted to confirm whether or not the directive actually came from the Office of the President before going to press, Director of Press and Public Relations at the office of the president, Amie Bojang-Sissoho responded as follows: " I will find out and get back when I have a briefing.”