Lawyer Martin was reacting to series of murder cases incident times in an exclusive interview with The Point saying “The current administration of President Adama Barrow has no confidence in Gambian soldiers to do their work or Gambian security to do their work.”
He added that government is not taking care of the country’s security apparatus as expected, justifying that the police are not given enough equipment such as vehicles to execute their functions well.
Lawyer Martin said Gambian security personnel particularly the police are underpaid and said under normal circumstances, the police should be receiving good salary as part of motivation to ensure proper national security.
“These are all combination of factors that are affecting the current state of security,” he said.
According to reports, recently The Gambia has registered murder cases at Sanyang, Brikama and Bakau.
The human rights lawyer further said failure of leadership at government level has also contributed a lot in the country’s poor security and alarming murder cases which triggered public concern across the state.
“We need a leadership that will build a security apparatus that is fit for the twenty-four (24) century. And we are not having that,” he argued.
He said government is not looking into the constraints that security institutions are battling daily but the government is busy in political activities ahead of the presidential elections.
He recommended to President Barrow to establish good security policies to ensure lives and properties are saved in the country, while adding that there is a great need for government to look at the root cause of the series of murder cases and address them with urgency.
Recommending further, he said government should endeavour to get competent people to lead the security institutions in order to combat crimes across the country.
On Murder Cases
He described the various murders cases in the country in recent times as worrying, saying government should take actions to ensure lives of Gambians and non-Gambians in the country are protected.
Martin further tasked government to investigate all murder cases with urgency and reinforce the security apparatus to avoid reoccurrence of such ugly crimes.
“The government for the past year or more has not been very much focus in dealing with crimes,” he accused.
Martin believes that lack of employment is another factor leading to crimes in The Gambia.
He added that establishment of fish meal factories in the coastal communities without benefiting the residents also factored in crimes in the area as many are unhappy with government as well as company owners on the move.
