The president of Gambia has said all public workers will have three-day weekends starting from February 1st. President Yayha Jammeh has added Friday to the regular weekend of Saturday and Sunday. He wants people to farm, rest more and pray. However, he also announced that government employees would work from 8am to 6pm Mondays to Thursdays. In addition: "Schools, banks and all other affected places are free to work on Saturdays." This means that people may have split weekends, and work an extra 10 hours a week. Government workers currently work from 8am to 4pm. Working until 6pm means eight hours extra, which could become ten if they have to work on Saturdays too.

The president said the new working hours would, "allow Gambians to devote more time to prayers, social activities and agriculture". He said people could, "go back to the land and grow what we eat and eat what we grow for a healthy and wealthy nation". Gambia's 'Freedom Newspaper' criticised the president's idea. It said the three-day weekend, "is going to [have a bad] effect on the economy and the country. Many workers…are worried that the changes are going to create problems for them." The paper added: "Gambia's economy and infrastructure have collapsed thanks to Jammeh's poor leadership." Gambia is the smallest nation on the African continent, with a population of just 1.8 million.