By: Kebba Ansu Manneh
Momodou Lamin Gassama, Director of Parks and Wildlife, has vehemently denied claims that President Adama Barrow has personally ordered the killing of a hippopotamus at Wassu, Niani District, Central River Region (CRR) over the weekend.
Gassama emphasized that President Adama Barrow was not even aware of the killing of the hippopotamus (the endangered species), noting that the hippo was killed by a wildlife ranger on the orders of the Department of Parks and Wildlife after a series of complaints received from the women rice farmers in Wassu.
This development came amidst growing criticisms, mainly from conservationists, after Barrow Media Empowerment (BME) published a recorded video showing the President receiving a gift of a dead hippo in his residence at Mankamang Kunda, where he is currently on annual leave.
“We (Parks and Wildlife Department) ordered the killing of this hippo through one of our rangers called Bafilly Trawally after we received a series of complaints from women rice farmers at Wassu. The hippos are two in number that are often sighted and causing threats to these women rice farmers around Kuntaur toward Janjanbureh. Unfortunately, our ranger was able to eliminate one,” the Director of Parks and Wildlife clarified.
He continued: “The President is not even aware of the killing of this particular hippo, and he only became aware when certain individuals took it upon themself without our knowledge and donated it to the President. However, the suggestion that President Adama Barrow ordered the killing of this hippo is false and far from the reality; it was killed on our orders.”
He also dismissed the reports of the Barrow Media Empowerment that hunger killed the hippo. The BME published it on their accord and eventually became a gift to the President by specific individuals, arguing that the killing was made on the orders of the Department of Parks and Wildlife because of the threats the hippo posed to women rice farmers in CRR.
However, this medium gathered from multiple sources, including conservationists who all condemned the gift given to the President, asserting that the Department of Parks and Wildlife has failed in its duties to protect the endangered species, whose population, like other flora and fauna species, is rapidly getting extinct in the country.
