President Adama Barrow has said he will consult with the minister of justice to consider a plea for the granting of presidential pardons to a number of car drifters currently serving jail terms.
The president was addressing the Gambia Motorsport Association during their visit to State House Friday night where the group endorsed his bid for reelection.
Car drifting is illegal in the country with reported incidents of people getting hurt by reckless driving and drifting often causing confusion and serious accidents. Police have outlawed the act and successfully prosecuted a good number of offenders.
But the association has been lobbying for it to be recognised as a sport.
At State House on Friday the group’s coordinator Musa Dahaba said car drifting has been happening in the country for a while but only in the streets, sometimes causing injuries to pedestrians and spectators.
He said the association’s mission to State House is to not only pledge support for the president but to also crave his government’s intervention to support and advance motorsport in the country.
He added that hundreds of young people are engaged in motorsport and that any government intervention to create the necessary infrastructure for the sport would create jobs and attract regional and sub-regional tourism.
Dahaba also asked the president for support to allow motorsport a place at the Trade Fair grounds in Brusubi under police supervision and with the provision of ambulances and other safety measures.
They also asked for government support to build a motorsport arena and to also recognise “Gam-Delcos” as the official body for motorsport in The Gambia. This, he said, will empower them to regulate, licence and train youths in safety to avoid reckless driving.
In response, President Barrow expressed delight at the visit and pledged to look into their demands, reiterating that his government is deeply interested in empowering youths across all sectors especially in sports.
He revealed that his government has invested millions of funds into activities like football and athletics with the country qualifying for the Afcon twice and also top Olympic competitions.
The president further promised to look into ways of establishing a motorsport arena and advised the members to be law abiding at all times. He urged them to desist from using terms like ‘outlaw’ saying “no one is exempted from law abiding in The Gambia,” including himself.
Barrow donated the association D500,000 as fuel refund and also invited them to attend his nominations at the IEC tomorrow Tuesday.
Push back
However, the meeting has been criticised as “insensitive, and purely out of politics to secure” votes.
Alagie Modou Gaye, a social commentator said it is “beyond belief” that the president would invite the ‘Outlaws’ to State House, seemingly to win over them and hand them D500,000 towards fuel expenses saying even more concerning is the promise to pardon some members of the group who have fallen foul of the law. Gaye argued, “Governing a country is not the same as campaigning for votes. The ‘Outlaw’s like every other group in society, deserve to be engaged, they deserve opportunities, employment, education, skills development and a genuine stake in the future of their country. But they do not need political handouts or special arrangements that risk undermining public confidence in the justice system. If competent courts have convicted individuals, any question of pardon must be handled transparently, constitutionally and on its merits, not as an apparent instrument of political engagement.”
