As candidates for the upcoming Mayoral elections in Banjul City Council and Kanifing Municipality continue to outline their strategic development plans, Mr Momodou A. Danso, better known as Master Danso, UDP’s mayoral candidate for the Kanifing municipality, has spoken about his plans for what he called the betterment of the municipality.

In an exclusive interview with The Point yesterday, the outspoken and confident Mr Danso explained that when elected he has plans designed to improve the present state of both the council and the municipality. “After spending all my life in Serrekunda, I feel that I have sympathy for the area because though they have been paying rates and taxes, nothing is being ploughed back into the society,” he asserted.

On his plans for the area, Master Danso said that one of his main priorities is to ensure that the whole area is kept clean by the council. “We have been doing set settals every now and then in our homes and our streets but I believe it is the responsibility of the council to take care of public places,” he said. Dwelling on the importance of good sanitary conditions, he stressed his resolve to ensure a proper review of the sanitary measures in place, which, according to him, gets worse during the rains. “If you take a closer look at this issue it can bring diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and other related diseases and not everybody can pay medical bills nowadays because things are very expensive.”

Proffering his view on the provision of clean, potable water, the aspiring UDP mayoral candidate deplored what he called the lack of sufficient public taps in the streets of Serrekunda. “Only few people are fortunate to have taps in their homes and even that is because those benefiting have their settlements near the main pipes,” he observed.

Mr Danso also expressed the need for the provision of street lights which, he said, will be among his priorities if elected. “Serrekunda should have street lights now even though there used to be some which no longer exist. The only light you see at night are all security lights from compounds and shops.”

Commending on the recent amendment of the Local Government act by the National Assembly, making for President Jammeh’s assumption of the authority for local government authorities, Master Danso remonstrated with members of the National Assembly for what he described as a vacuous move. “I only think that the people who did that were dreaming in wonderland because I don’t even think that it carries sense for them to do that because they should bear in mind that I may be affected today but tomorrow it might be their turn,” he warned, noting that while absolute power is the attribute of the Almighty God alone, attempting to give excessive powers to one individual could have far-reaching consequences for the society. “We may all fall into the same pitch and I don’t think it is sensible at all. You cannot give the right to only one person. It is only God who has that right but we as human beings cannot and should bot even try that.” According to Mr Danso there is nothing like permanent power as people share different views.

Focusing on the participation of the electorate in politics, he commended what he termed their but condemned the harassment and intimidation they usually face. “They are all mature in politics and know what is happening within the municipality. People are threatened intimidated and harassed which is illegal.”

In conclusion Mr Danso called on all Gambians to support what he termed a genuine course. “As far as I am concerned, my party UDP/NRP, are the genuine parties in this country. By that I mean we have not come through the barrel of the gun. People decided for us to come up with a party to selvage the entire Gambian populace.”