Barrow Accused Parents Who Support Children to Embark on ‘Backway’ of Commiting Suicide

By:Kemo Kanyi

President Adama Barrow has accused the parents who aid their children embark on the perilous irregular migration journey through the sea of adherence to committing suicide.

The President’s address was made in response to the current trend of irregular migration boat tragedies in The Gambia. He said there used to be starvation in the country that people used to go into the bush to fetch fruit and feed on them, blaming those who left their jobs to embark on such a journey, stating that there are people in Europe who sleep in the streets without jobs while some are still live inside the migration camps without getting good livelihood.

“I am telling the parents who give financial support to their children to take this perilous journey (Backway) that they are committing a suicide. You are not helping your children and not helping the country, ” he stressed in a political rally at Mamuda Village, Kombo South.

Barrow recounted his time in Europe, stressing that he had to rush back home because he knew he could make a better life in The Gambia, dismissing belief that the European continent improves ones living standards effortlessly.

He advised the youth of the country to work hard, emphasizing that whoever works hard must get a much improved living standard, claiming that people working in Mamuda and Mankamang Kunda are utilising their skills and earning their living. He pointed out, “Whenever you are, if you work hard, you will get a better life.”

The President maintains that the issue of ‘Backway’ is wasting people’s income, losing lives, bringing difficulties to the country, and attaching an ugly image to the name of the country. He added that there are Gambians living in the diaspora who are in the deportation list, but his government refused their deportation, revealing that this makes it difficult for The Gambia to access visas.