Gambia
Immigration Department (GID) have recently inaugurated two posts in Kotu and
Bundung, in the Kanifing municipality. The structures are part of the ongoing
security sector reform in The Gambia.
Director
General Seedy M. Touray, said the inaugurations are historic and a very
important milestone for them to meet the increasing demand of expanding
services and the need to establish immigration post across the country.
“These
structures would provide the enabling environment and further assist in the
improvement of service delivery in the country,” he said.
Touray
lamented that infrastructural development is one key component of security
sector reform, and one aspect of it is security reform, infrastructural
development and it has also to do with the equipping of those infrastructural
projects.
“Gambia
Immigration Department has a track record of effective service delivery which
has positioned The Gambia as a leading example in the execution of laws in
accordance with international best practices,” he revealed.
He
further noted that it is obliged to construct comfortable offices across the
length and breadth of The Gambia, saying they have already come up with a
strategic plan to build stations in Kotu, Bundung, Umarto and Dimbaya.
“We
are all cognizant of the fact that the government could not do it alone hence
there is a need to continue soliciting assistance from stakeholders and donors
and already we are having an array of donors that have contributed immensely to
the construction of these buildings,” he said.
He
said the efforts and resources put in to provide the structures would not go in
vain as it will be well utilized and maintained not only for its purpose but to
serve as a symbol of friendship and collaboration between GID and its partners.
He also acknowledged the support from their sister institution, including The
Gambia Police Force.
Farimang
Manneh, CEO of Sand Beach Hotel and Pap Jabel Faal, president of the Bundung
Car Park Drivers Association who also doubles as a donor to the project
lamented that having an immigration post is a necessity and as a citizen, the
little they could do is to lend a helping hand to public institutions in other
for them to be effective, since their job would be of best interest of the public.
The
duo further encouraged all other Gambians to render support especially when it
comes to nation building because the government might not be able to do it all.
