By Omar Bah
A Gambian imam and businessman, Sheikh Omar Jaiteh, has advised the National Assembly Members to reject the European Union-Gambia Good Practice Document.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Dr Mamadou Tangara, will on Tuesday seek the National Assembly’s approval to consider and ratify the good practice agreement between the government and the European Union for the “efficient operation of the identification and return procedures of persons without authority to stay” in Europe.
But speaking in a Standard exclusive, Imam Jaiteh, based in the United States, said the National Assembly should desist from any action that will legitimise the deportation of Gambian youths.
“Every country in the world has the authority to deport citizens of any country they deem unqualified to be there without the need to get permission from their country of origin, and Gambians have been deported from everywhere in the world without such deals,” he said.
He said a good practice document is nothing but a “bribery, treason, and sellout document, and any action to validate its implementation tantamount to corruption.”
“NAMS should remember that they were not involved when hundreds of Gambians are being deported from European countries since this administration came to power. Were you (NAMs) consulted when this corrupt document was first signed between this administration and the EU?” he asked.
He said the National Assembly should ask the government what job opportunities they have created for Gambians to stay and work in the country before thinking of validating their deportation agreement.
“I urge you, and for the interest of living behind a good legacy, I appeal that you don’t validate this deportation agreement,” Imam Ceesay said.
