Gambia News : President Jammeh commends Gambian Christians
Jan 01,2009 00:00
by
lamin
The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has said no Christian was convicted of any crime by the courts of law in the country in 2008 and urged Muslims to learn from the Christians.In a report monitored on Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS), Jammeh made the remarks at the State House Tuesday night, when Christian leaders called on him to renew their commitment to religious tolerance and tradition.
He said during the entire 2008, not one Christian was taken to court, adding that being a Gambian Christian or whatever, they are all ordinary citizens of the country.
He urged the Gambian Muslims to learn from their Christian brothers and sisters, saying that he read all the court proceedings from the newspapers and watched the GRTS news and listened to radio programmes but as far as he was concerned, no C hristian was convicted in 2008.
The Gambian Vice President Aja Isatou Njie Saidy, said government valued the role played by religious leaders towards government development efforts.
Saidy noted that religious leaders in the Gambia respected each others' religion, especially the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council and the Gambia Christian Council, saying that government alone could not move the society forward, which is why religious leaders were well listened to in the society.
Bishop Robert Patrick Ellison, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Banjul, said the Gambian Christians and Muslims lived in the country as people with one belief and on the day of Christmas all Gambians celebrated the birth of Christ together, which is not common in many other parts of the world.
Revd. Norman A. Grigg, Chairman and General Superintendent of the Methodist Church, said religious tolerance that existed in the Gambia did not take place in any part of the world.
Grigg commended the Gambian leader for the peace existing in the country.