The Gambia’s development progress, thanks to an unassailable enthusiasm by its leadership, has been taking giant strides, mostly focusing on changing the living standard of its people.

The Millennium Development Goals have been given quite a substantial attention. There is every indication that the country is making headway in all the key sectors.  Accessibility to clean water by Gambians for instance, is one area in which this government can boast of Hon. Yankuba Touray, the secretary of state responsible for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, substantiated this fact in an interview with the Daily Observer.

The Gambia, he said, has made tremendous achievements in the Millennium Development Goals target for the water sector, with an encouraging 80 percent-plus access to clean drinking water by its population in the rural areas. Secretary of State Touray, who is also the National Mobiliser of the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party, was speaking on Wednesday  at his office in Banjul  as part of celebrations marking World Water Day. While many countries around the world are fighting tooth and nail to meet the MDGs targets in this sector, SOS Touray was proud to point out that this percentage means that The Gambia have met the MDGs targets of access to clean drinking water.

However, the Fisheries and Water resources secretary of state noted that his department of state’s biggest challenge now is how to meet the sanitation component. "This is an area which occupies greatly the attention of The Gambia government, and it is trying to ensure that we meet the target before 2015," he said. And although meeting the MDG target for water could be a source of triumph for any nation, this is by no means the ultimate goal of The Gambia government. In the words of SoS Touray, the Department of State responsible for Water will by no means entertain complacency. The Gambia’s own Vision 2020 target for the water sector is the benchmark as it envisages 99 to 100 percent of access to clean drinking water by Gambians.

"In terms of our rating in Sub-Saharan Africa, The Gambia is one of the leading countries in terms of attaining the Millennium Development Goals, both in terms of accessibility to water and sanitation,’’ SoS Touray said. And he was fervently optimistic about meeting the Vision 2020 target for water, saying: “those targets are there to be met.” Outlining ongoing development geared towards this mammoth task, SoS Touray, revealed programmes that aimed at supporting deprived communities in semi urban settlements, making reference to a recent development when Ebo Town community was provided with an extension of pipe borne water.

"In fact, we are supporting the National Water and Electricity Company to provide new water tanks and pipe running for communities,’’ he said. The target is not restricted to merely ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water supply, the SoS said, but it also aims at making sure that we bridge the gap, particularly regarding the erratic nature of rainfall, and try to tap underground water for agricultural purposes. This, he said, will be crucial making sure that President Jammeh’s great vision for agriculture is achieved. To ensure this, he revealed that they have put in place lots of programmes, for example, the recently launched Reform of the Water Sector. This is scheduled to be conducted this year. Honourable Touray expressed hope that they will have all stakeholders on board to ensure that "our water is properly utilised for both human and agricultural use."  

However, in as much as the country wants to meet all its targets in the water sector for both human and agricultural use, there is a great need to protect the country’s water resources by ensuring that there is no room for over exploitation. This, SoS Touray said, has been the experience of some countries that are now facing the consequences. And as a department, he said, they are trying to build internal capacities to ensure prevention of exploitation.

Commenting on the unfortunate cases of some individuals who undermine government’s efforts in the water sector by stealing installed solar panels in rural villages, he pointed out that soon government will be approving the maintenance of sustainable policy on rural water supply. "This, he said, will ensure that communities are the security agents themselves in ensuring that their solar panels are protected, as government will not be responsible for replacing them.’’  The Fisheries and Water resources secretary of state warned that any one caught stealing would be brought to court to follow the due process of the law.