Every other day, one reads stories of armed robbery attacks in different parts of the country, especially in the Greater Banjul Area. A few days ago, there was another report of a break-in at a house occupied by an American and his wife and child.
The man got up and tried to restrain the robber who was holding an empty bottle as a weapon. Even though the robber stabbed him multiple times he was still able to restrain him Neighbours came to help take the victim to hospital and the robber to the police station.
The point to note is that this is not an isolated case as these reports keep coming frequently. Concerns have been raised time and again from different parts of society, but still now there seems to be no solution to the recurring incidents.
It’s high time that the government came up with plans to address this issue. Otherwise, a time will come when people will even be afraid of going out of their houses for their normal day-to-day activities. As it is said, prevention is better than cure and as such, this must be nipped in the bud.
The truth is that there needs to be a thorough research to understand the root of these incidents. Thus there is a need to set up a committee to conduct a research into all the relevant facts so that, base on credible findings, solutions can be formulated. A solution can only be found if there is a deeper understanding of the causes.
The Government should constitute the committee from the relevant stakeholders, the police, the national assembly, civil society, experts and others to find out why there is an increase in cases of armed robbery, theft, murders and other forms of criminal activities.
This is necessary and should be given the urgency it requires.
