Mr
President, during the past few weeks, some Gambians were greeted with fear of
the presence of armed robbers in the country, which is a very new phenomenon in
our midst.
Reports
have revealed that seven armed people attacked Hoja Jarra Pharmacy and
seriously hurt the old watchman who was securing the place. Thanks to the
ECOMOG for their quick response that they were chased away.
Other
reports are being heard of armed attackers in other places of the country and
most especially in the border post areas. Some believe that these are people
who will be spying business areas during the day impersonating Nawec staff
reading meters or looking for other commodities and will at night come to
attack.
This
act is new in The Gambia and can’t be encouraged. The security of the citizens
and even non-citizens living in The Gambia should not be compromised. As we are approaching the tourist season,
tourists need to be guaranteed of a safe environment for them to spend their
holidays peacefully in the country.
Mr
President, the security officers need to be equipped and enforced. There should
be patrol teams constantly at work at night. They should have vehicles at their
disposal to be able to respond to any emergency when called upon and enough
petrol/diesel be supplied too.
The
police need enough traffic reflectors, torches, mobile phones, walkie talkies,
handcuffs, tracking devices, bullet proof jackets, credits for their phones,
motor bicycles, helmets, life Jackets, riot gears, laptops, etc. to name a few
and also give them lucrative incentives to motivate them.
The
Ministry of Interior should encourage community policing and organise trainings
on quick response strategies to such attacks.
The
community needs to be part of the police and The Gambia belongs to all of us therefore
citizens should be advised to remain ALERT and signal or report anything
unusual within their area.
Mr
President, we want to commend the Italian government for donating 40 pickup
trucks to the Gambia Immigration Department to boost the department’s border
security and migration management efforts and the establishment of a Migration
Training Academy in the sub-region is very welcoming and we hope this will go a
long way in helping to tackle illegal migration to which the Gambia is not an
exception.
We
are appealing to other governments, friends of The Gambia, philanthropists,
non-governmental organisations and individuals to help to boost the security
officers to aid them in performing their duties well.
