The Gambia government will consider the three-year child policy proposed by some parliamentarians of the regional economic grouping ECOWAS. Backed by some parliamentarians from Mauritania and Chad, the one woman three-children policy is meant to control rapid population growth as well as spark economic prosperity in the West Africa region.
“ECOWAS has made a suggestion for such a policy. I can assure you that the government is going to consider it,” Information Minister Demba Ali Jawo told a recent news conference at GRTS building in Kanifing.
Over the years, West Africa has witnessed an exponential population growth that experts believe is capable of hampering efforts to bring prosperity in the region. Burkina Faso National Assembly Speaker Salifou Diallo is playing a lead role in the three children campaign. If all goes as planned, every woman in West Africa will be restricted to have only three children by 2030.
As an ECOWAS member state, the Gambia will most likely adopt any policy that the regional economic grouping has endorsed.
Minister Jawo said “the government has to take a decision which it has not done yet.”
However, there are fears that the regional bloc’s three-children policy will spark concerns among Muslim and Christian communities.
The National Assembly Member for Serekunda on Thursday told reporters that ECOWAS parliamentarians have the right to initiate any policy they feel necessary. But Hon. Halifa Sallah was quick to warn against turning social legislation into criminal legislation.
“Whatever you cannot transform into criminal legislation is really a very bad law,” he stated.
Sallah thought the right approach is to conduct sensitization campaign in order to make sure populations adhere to the project.
“Campaigning to solve population problems is much better than a social legislation,” Hon Sallah said.
Abdoulie John
Ends
A very bad idea of controlling the population through three children policy . The Gambia do not need three children policy which can cause serious consequences on Human Resources and national development process. Human Resources is key to the development of country. Therefore, the government should do everything possible to improve the conditions of citizenry rather than bring in policy to discourage reproduction. The Gambia’s backwardness has to do with the failure of our governments to invest on Human Resources. President Barrow’s government must not support such a backward policy.
Very bad Idea pushed by idiots who have no clues about economic development process. China, India USA etc are called big markets due to their large populations. Market comes from demand which also depends on population sizes, income levels etc etc..
One of the reasons The Gambia is considered a weak market/economy is its relatively small population; still under 2million inhabitants. We still lack the demand power to sustain any growth momentum. But wait, our smart government thinks our population is too large and needs curtailing.
Aren’t they following developments around the globe? Japan, Korea….and a hosts of major economies are into serious slumps mainly due to population decreases.
And, what about the woman’s right to have a child when she wants to?
The bottom line is that we have more pressing issues we should be focusing on instead. Let these fools leave office if they still can’t figure out what our priorities are..