Officers of The Gambia Police Force with stakeholders from various institutions across the country yesterday began a two-day traffic management workshop at the President Yahya Jammeh Joint Officers Mess in Kotu.

The workshop sponsored by the Gambia Insurance Association and Gambia National Transport Control Association (GNTCA) is aimed at creating a forum to provide a better understanding of various rules in Traffic Management Control.

Declaring the workshop opened, Ousman Sonko, Secretary of State for Interior, commended the Gambia Insurance Association and The Gambia National Transport Control Association for what he described as an attempt to ensure road safety.

He informed participants that the safety of roads cannot be the duty of government and the police alone but instead it should be the collective responsibility of all and sundry.

SoS Sonko then maintained that the government can only provide the necessary means in terms of road construction, but the effective management and usage of the roads should be every citizen’s concern. 

According to him, there is a high increase in the number of vehicles on our roads presently.

“This is as a result of unprecedented level of growth in our national development pattern particularly on road construction”, he said.

He described the theme of the workshop as significant as traffic management and road safety issues are among the government’s main priorities and urged the participants to make good use of the deliberations and endeavour to disseminate the information.

For his part, Benedict Jammeh, Inspector General of The Gambia Police Force described the theme of the workshop as very significant, adding that, The Gambia Police Force has always and will continue to place traffic management and road safety very high on its agenda.

According to him, the organisation of such a workshop involving all stakeholders could not have come at a better time than now especially with the mass increase in the number of vehicles plying the roads.

“However, this worthy venture cannot be handled by the police alone, but needs the participation and contribution of all stakeholders including the private sector”, he said.

He then told the gathering that the police can only play a leading role to ensure the effective realisation of these objectives.

FRI Jammeh, adviser to the GPF described the workshop as yet another milestone in the history of the GPF as it relates directly to the area of capacity building and human resource development.

He told participants that the objectives of good policies can be realised through a healthy community relationship that will enable the police to build a safe and more secure environment for the entire citizenry based on the principles of law.

Other speakers at the occasion included Dawda Sarge, 1st Vice-President of the Gambia Insurance Association and Mumen Sey, President of The Gambia National Transport Control Association. The ceremony was moderated by Jatta Baldeh.