Yankuba Colley, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) and 17 wards councillors within the Kanifing Municipality, were on Friday sworn-in to office by Ismaila Sambou, Secretary of State for Local Government, Lands and Religious Affairs, during a ceremony held at KMC grounds in Kanifing.

After the swearing-in of the Mayor and councillors, five other nominated councillors were also sworn-in. The nominated councillors include: Fatou Nyang Ballow Ceesay, as women’s representative, Momodou Turo Darboe, APRC campaign manager for Kanifing Municipality, Pa Daniel Mendy, Bakary Badjie, youth representative and Abdoulie Joof, Alkalo of Kololi .

In his inaugural statement, Ismaila Sambou, secretary of state for Local Government, Lands and Religious Affairs, said: “as it is always expressed by President Jammeh, we should endeavour to ensure that the electoral and political systems in The Gambia are always transparent and capable of encouraging popular participation and citizen engagement in the political and economic development process of the country.”

“It is for this reason that the constitution of The Gambia provides that local government administration in The Gambia shall be based on a system of democratically elected councils with a high degree of local autonomy,” he observed.

SoS Sambou also highlighted the issues of decentralisation and the strengthening of local government as increasingly gaining importance around the world, adding that decentralisation, as one of the pillars of democratic governance, gives citizens the right opportunities of participating in the economic and social development of their country through the creation of sub-national layers of governance at the regional and local levels.

He expressed hope that greater commitment and support to local development in the municipality will be engendered by the new council, noting that as the most densely populated municipality in the country, KMC should always be in the forefront of our quest to put the Gambia in its rightful place in a free and fair democratic world.He therefore urged the new council to maintain a strong spirit of collaboration, in order to achieve the higher goal of public service.

For his part, Yankuba Colley, Mayor of KMC, called on the people to join forces and unite, despite their political differences, to push forward the development agenda of KMC and The Gambia in general.

Mayor Colley described KMC as a service delivering institution, with the aim to ensuring that the tax payers monies in the form of rates and taxes are ploughed back to them, by providing excellent social services either directly or indirectly.

He commended the interim committee and staff of KMC for their efforts. Mayor Colley also expressed profound gratitude and appreciation to President Jammeh, Momodou Turo Darboe APRC campaign chairman for the municipality and all those who supported him.

Gibou Jagne, chairman of the interim management committee, outlined some of the major achievements that the council has registered during his short tenure as interim chairman. He said KMC registered numerous developments in the areas of revenue collection, cleansing services unit, drainage systems, contracts and projects etc, among others.

He congratulated the new mayor, Yankuba Colley and his councillors and urged them to work hard on the recommendations made by his committee.Mr Jagne finally thanked President Jammeh for appointing him as the chairman of the interim committee. The vote of thanks was delivered by Aji Ndey Conteh Jallow.