The extension of state of public emergency declared by the president of The Gambia, H.E. Adama Barrow on Tuesday 19  May 2020, through the dictates of the constitution has shattered hopes of many Gambians who expected the ending of the economic dilemma the country has faced during the past few weeks.

The state of public emergency declared previously had caused so much damages to the economic activities of the country, due to restriction on socio-economic activities leaving many Gambians vulnerable.

Speaking to this medium, Ousman Jaiteh, a teacher by profession expressed frustration over the extension. Saying he was expecting that the president was going to declare discontinuation of the degree to allow schools to resume session as they have already lost greater percentage of instructional and contact hours. He querried that the virus lockdown will continue to hit students hard as others will capitalise on this chance to abandon their books.

A market vendor Aja Sarr, lamented the poor sales they have been experiencing as a result of state of public emergency. She added that, their expectation was high with feelings of resuming business activities upon expiration of the previous 45 days of lockdown, she explained how the president’s extention to another 21 days has left them hopeless. She lamented on how their families depend extirely on the proceeds of their daily sales as the pre-covid 19 sales savings are almost exhausted, due to poor market sales in this trying times.

By: Mr Alkali Cham

For Kairaba News Network