By Ousman A. Marong
The Gambia National Tailors and Dressmakers Association (GNTDA) is calling on the Government of President Adama Barrow to expedite action on the promise to assist its members with flexible taxation.
The Association Chairman Badou Faal wants government to reduce the taxes levied on members so as to enable them creates more job opportunities for the youth.
The call was made on Saturday, 18 January 2020 at a press conference held in Latrikunda Sabiji, in Serekunda East constituency while graduating its first cohort of tailors.
He said they are also calling on the authorities to strictly adhere to the call in order to reduce the number of their members embarking on the perilous journey locally dubbed, “back-way”.
Faal claimed that majority of GNTA members are leaving the profession and embarking on the perilous back-way journey, attributing all this to the heavy taxation imposed on them by the government.
The Association boss likened a human being without a proper required skills to “a runaway horse”.
The association was formed on 15 April 2016 with the aim and objective of boosting the tailoring and dressmaking in the country.
Faal further challenged parents to send in their kids to acquire skills. “We are not requesting anything from you (the government) other than to reduce the heavy taxation on us,” he appealed.
The Chairman decried that since they came up with the initiative and presented it to the government to assist his association, “nothing practically good had been achieved”.
Mr. Mamadou Salieu Jallow, President of GNTDA said their region has, within the last two years, trained over 400 youths on various vocational skills different from tailoring and dressmaking, acknowledging that some of those trainees are doing quite well.
In his part, Hon.Saikou Marong, National Assembly for Latrikunda Sabiji said government had instituted measures that would create a congenial atmosphere for the private sector to flourish.
The Legislator also told his people that apart from granting loans and micro facilities for groups and individual business enterprises, the Gambia government was also training most of the unemployed youth in various vocations to become useful citizens in the future.
