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president of Gambia has said all public workers will have three-day weekends starting from February 1st. President Yayha Jammeh has added Friday to 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 extra 10 hours 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.

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 land and grow what we eat and eat what we grow for healthy and wealthy nation”. Gambia’s ‘Freedom Newspaper’ criticised president’s idea. It said three-day weekend, “is going to [have bad] effect on economy and country. Many workers…are worried that 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 smallest nation on African continent, with population of just 1.8 million.