By Abdoulie John
Mayoral Hopeful Assan Martin oulined major details of his plan to bring change in the Kanifing Municipality (KMC), saying the said municipality ‘must be fixed’. The human rights lawyer has launched a bid for leadership in the Gambia’s biggest and richest municipality, promising to make change a reality.
“Over these past years, KMC has gone through maladministration and mismanagement. There is an urgent need to fix this situation,” lawyer Assan Martin told this reporter.
As one of the rare lawyers who stood up against Yahya Jammeh’s 22-years of dictatorship, Martin is contesting as an independent ticket. He has vowed to create a political earthquake that would put a complete halt to the era of mismanagement at the KMC.
Lawyer Martin expressed his resolve to cut ‘endemic corruption’ with a rigorous plan geared toward restoring financial sanity in the way the municipality is being managed.
“I am looking at fighting corruption that has become a serious impediment to the the Council’s development. We will make sure KMC becomes very efficient in ensuring that the collected revenues will be invested back to the people,” he added.
Martin further stated that he will spare no efforts to maximise the revenue potential of the municipality by shutting down loopholes that allowed malpractices to thrive.
“We have to change the culture of collecting taxes and other fees enacted by the National Assembly,” he said, promising to put up a proper procurement system that would help to address major inadequacies as well as promote good governance.
Taking a realistic stance, the London Corner-based independent candidate said his primary focus will be to set up a D200 million budget designed to boost service delivery in the KMC.
As the Bakoteh dumpsite continues to draw mixed reactions, Lawyer Martin said its relocation constitutes an issue of utmost importance. “We have to look for an alternative site,” he said. “Our aim is to work on sustainable ways of addressing the issue of refuse management,” he assured.
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