While the incident has left some bitter taste and bad experience in the mouths, hearts and minds of Gambians, as search for the culprits and investigations into the matter continue, we would like to call on or appeal to the Gambia Government and the relevant authorities in charge of security to always provide maximum protection and safeguard mechanisms for security personnel and officers.
After the Traffic Lights shocking incident that took two lives and left one in critical condition, the lives of security officers in The Gambia are at stake, and if the security officers are not safe, who then is really safe in the country, whose cardinal feature is peace and safety for all in the land?
It is therefore vital that maximum protection is given to security officers across the country within and along the borders of The Gambia. Aside from the guns and other weapons they may carry or have on them, security officers should also be given standard protective gears from head to toe to ensure that they are not too exposed to the dangers or harm of criminals, who also carry weapons to cause harm as well as to protect themselves.
If thorough mechanisms are not put in place urgently, there is no guarantee that the security of the country would not be compromised, and that The Gambia would not degenerate into a state of insecurity, where even both the security officers and the people are not safe.
Lives and properties in the country must be protected, as no amount of material gift or financial support is enough for especially a life lost in such a way and manner as the lives of the two officers in the Traffic Lights killing or tragedy.
Since giving financial or material support to the bereaved and the injured is the key assistance in the possession of the giver, we would like to advise that something really substantial is given to the families of those fine officers who have lost their lives on state duty.
We thank the President and the Inspector General of Police for their financial support of D100,000 and D25,000 respectively to the injured PIU officers in the incident. However we want to say the officers deserve more than that, as they could have lost their lives also. Giving them something more substantial would serve as good encouragement for others to withstand the battle of death in order to protect lives and properties in the country.
We really should watch our back as individuals and as a nation.