Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, secretary of state for Communication and Information Technology yesterday received on behalf of President Dr. Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, his Child Friendly Hero Award 2007 from Young People in the Media (YPM) at her office.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the secretary of state, Macdouall-Gaye thanked YPM for awarding President Jammeh with such a prestigious award.  According to her, it was not a mistake to award President Jammeh with the Child Friendly hero Award.

“Since he became President of The Gambia, he has paid great attention to the young people of The Gambia.  This has manifested itself with many things, not only scholarships, free education for girls and the list goes on and on. 

I am happy that you are able to recognised what he has done for the young people of this country.  He has prepared the young people of this country to take the range of power as the future leaders.  With the foundation laid by the President, in few years to come we will have a lot of  well educated young people. The mere fact that education has been extended to the rural areas and none less than we have in the urban areas is a good achievement”.

SoS Macdouall Gaye told the young people in the media that they have seen the truth and they can change the face of the media in this country, she added that “the media can make and it can destroy. 

What we want young people to do is use the media to develop this country, we don’t need to use the media to wage wars against anybody or against yourselves”.   She added that The Gambia is one of the few countries that opens its airwaves to the young people for the entire transmission hour for Children’s Day of Broacasting and thus winning The Gambia with many awards. 

She assured YPM their sentiments will be extended to the Gambian leader.  She assured them of President Jammeh’s continuous support to the young people of The Gambia.  “I will hand over the award to the President on your behalf and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours”.

Also speaking at the ceremony Abdou Jatta, President of YPM recounted the benevolent gestures President Jammeh did for the young people of this country.  “A committee was put in place to assess the awardees and we discovered that the President has no but as far as children’s issue are concerned.  I must also on behalf of YPM thanked our dear mother SoS Neneh Macdouall-Gaye for her continuous support to the young people”.

Bintou Sonko, vice president of YPM speaking on the award ceremony said President Jammeh and other awardees have rendered selfless services to the young people of this country.  The award was meant to say thank you to individuals and institutions for the giant strides they have made in protecting and investing on the young people of this country. 

“President Jammeh is the most eligible child friendly ambassador in The Gambia”.  Other speakers at the ceremony include Satang Naban, Modou Nyang and Isatou Ndingbalan, who all commended the Gambian leader for supporting the course of the young people in the country.