The Rule of Law demands that the rights of every citizen be respected and protected. Both the governors and the governed have a role to play in this case of establishing the Rule of Law. When something happens in the country, justice must be seen to be done.
The government in any country must work hard to ensure that justice prevails all over the country. When people perceive that they have been wronged in one way or the other, it behooves government to investigate it thoroughly and bring the perpetrators to book.
During the past year or so, many incidents have occurred which – if not thoroughly investigated – can lead to the complete breakdown of law and order. We have seen the incidents in Kanilai, Farato, Busumbala, Mankamang Kunda and recently in Talinding. None of these was thoroughly investigated and perpetrators were not brought to book.
These incidents and the fact that they were not investigated so that the problem will be put to rest were bound to cause some sort of boldness in the people, be they security officials or the ordinary citizens. It is unfortunate that these things are happening in The Gambia which is supposedly a democratic country.
The incident in Faraba yesterday which resulted in the death of at least two people is indeed very concerning. The fact that security forces who are supposed to protect citizens used live ammunition against them is totally unacceptable in a democracy. No matter what the situation is, the killing of innocent civilians is unacceptable anywhere in the world.
This also exposes the fact that some of our security agents do not have the right training to handle certain sensitive security situations. They do not have the necessary training or the tools and equipment with which to address such problems and that is what caused the use of life bullets in Faraba yesterday.
This is a wakeup call for government to not only train the security agents but also provide them the necessary tools and equipment to ensure that these types of unfortunate incidents do not happen again.
It is however interesting to note that the Inspector General of Police has issued a statement saying that no authorisation was given to use firearms. Thus, a swift and thorough investigation should be mounted to determine exactly what transpired to warrant the killing of innocent civilians.
