By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly Member for Foñi Bintang has tackled police chief to address the “unimaginable shortage” of vehicles for police officers in his constituency.
Honourable Bakary K Badjie described it as unacceptable.
He said both Sibanor and Kalagi police stations have been badly affected by vehicle shortages, with officers being forced to use motorbikes for police work.
Addressing a meeting with IGP Abdoulie Sanyang, who continues his countrywide tour of security installations across the country, the Bintang NAM said this vehicle constraint facing officers in the area comes at a very bad time when domestic and border conflicts and crimes are on the surge.
“Mr. IGP, this is something I cannot imagine. There is no vehicle at the Sibanor police station. It is out of imagination and I will not only raise this matter here but I will take it up with you to your office. We all know there is a conflict in the border areas and how do you expect your officers to patrol the border line if they are not provided vehicles? How do you expect them to respond to emergencies and protect people’s lives if they are not having vehicles? And here you are travelling with a high convoy and all these cars and you are telling me you cannot provide this police station with a vehicle. That is out of imagination and it is unacceptable,” Badjie charged.
He further informed the IGP and his team, that in spite of the nobility of the profession, police officers and force will be rendered meaningless if they fail in their duties to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.
The Bintang lawmaker also accused the police management of being insensitive to the security concerns of the people of the area.
“There is a lot of conflict in Foñi recently, so, I think more attention should have been given to those areas,” Badjie said.
He also noted that with the country being ranked amongst the highest road traffic fatalities in the world, the police must beef up operations to ensure safety of the people.
“We should protect our roads because no one knows who will be the next victim. It can be him, IGP, it can be me and any other. Please, I urge all of you to consider the lives of the people. You [police] are here because of the people and it is the interest of the people that should be remembered at all times. Gambia is ranked the 4th highest road fatalities in the world. Play your part for national development. Your primary mandate is to protect the lives and properties of the people but if you cannot deliver that mandate, then they have no use. I felt very bad this year, the number of accidents that occurred here is beyond imagination,” Honourable Badjie told the touring police delegation.
