The National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul Central has suggested before the deputies at the National Assembly that the Library services be decentralized instead of relocating the Gambia National Library Services Authority (GNLSA) outside the Banjul.
Hon. Muhammed Ndow made this comment during the continuation debate on President Adama Barrow’s State of the Nation address in the 2018 Legislative Year by the deputies at the National Assembly Chambers in Banjul.
He said: “if GNLSA was relocated outside Banjul, where can the students from Gambia Senior Secondary, GarbaJahumpa Upper Basic, St. Augustine Senior Secondary, St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary and Muslim Senior Secondary Schools get access to Library services? Hon. Ndow quizzed.
According to Hon. Ndow, Banjulians don’t need mobile library thus it is the rural students who need mobile libraries but not the students attending the above named schools within the City.
He said it will be a big disgrace to the entire country when GNLSA is relocated outside Banjul adding that it is now high time they (the concerned authorities) decentralize the Library services.
Banjul NAM Ndow informed deputies that already this library services in West Coast Region thus stressing the need for Kanifing Municipality, Upper, Central and Lower River Regions also to get Library services.
“What we need to talk about is decentralization of Library services instead of how to relocate the Gambia National Library Services Authority from Banjul to Kanifing Municipality,” Hon. Ndow suggested before fellow NAMs.
The Banjul Central representative said the communities of Banjul benefitted a lot from the GNLSA while it also played a vital role in building the capacity of the National Assembly Members.
He then named some institutions such as Presentation, GarbaJahumpa Upper Basic, Senegalese and Gambia Senior Secondary Schools all of which are situated in the same location with the GNLSA and they are operating as usual.