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New immigration PRO promises to live up to expectations

Aug 23, 2016, 8:50 AM | Article By: Abdoulie Nyockeh

(Issue, Monday, August 22, 2016)
The new public relations officer of the Gambia Immigration Department (GID) has promised to live up to expectations in the execution of his duties.

Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Immigration Pa Ousman Manneh was speaking at the immigration headquarters in Banjul on Thursday during a press briefing to get himself acclimatised to the new working conditions with the media, as part of his duties.

Although the PRO post at the immigration is challenging, he noted, he would continue to work hard to live up to expectations with the support of other officers and the collaboration of the media and all other stakeholders.

He lamented the fact that the increase in technology has presented the immigration department with “a lot of new crimes” such as counterfeiting and document theft.

He said part of the solution to that is the reason the Department of Immigration is working hard to introduce the new biometric card system.

“So we want to assure the public that the GID is working very hard to ensure that there is no malpractice in the national documents and those found wanting are dealt with according to the law,” Cadet ASI Manneh said.

“For the media, when you need any information regarding immigration activities, our doors are open. My doors are always open to the media.”

Regarding aliens, the immigration PRO said every Gambian should know that harbouring an illegal alien is a crime under the Immigration Act, noting that aliens should come forward to regularise their status.

The PRO informed the general public of the existence of the Professional Standard Unit under the Office of the Public Relations Officer of the GID.

He said the unit can serve as a public complaint office were the general public can come and lodge their complaint on misconduct of any immigration officer.

He said people should make use of the unit to making their report or complaint.

Speaking of the bilateral relationship between the GID and the Italian government, Cadet ASI Manneh said there is a “strong relationship in terms of irregular migration” and the GID is benefiting a lot from Italy.

He said that last month, 20 officers left for studies on document verification and document security.  Before that, another team also left for another mission and the GID is expecting more computers from Italy.