The occurrences of murders, attempted murders, and suicides in the past few weeks are truly worrying. One wonders if anyone is safe anymore in the country. It is much too common to hear or read in the media that someone has been murdered or stabbed or attacked in some other way.
It all seemed to have come to a head in the past week when at least three different people in three different locations were reported to have taken their own lives. This is truly scary and the people of the country are becoming much too frightened.
One may wonder what exactly is going on in this small country. The small population of The Gambia is such that the average of suicide is way too high. What could be the cause of this unfortunate situation? Could it be linked to poverty, too much crime or the high cost of living? Are the people depressed?
It is clear that the authorities, that are the security apparatus, need to work with the psychiatric unit of the Ministry of health to find out why there is a proliferation of suicides in the country? It is obvious that about six people dying in a week or two due to either murder or suicide needs to be investigated.
In fact, this matter is worthy of scrutiny from the National Security Council. They should sit down and invite experts to dig deep to try to find the reason for these occurrences and then seek a solution. This matter is serious and should be treated with the urgency it requires.
The people of The Gambia are demanding to know what is actually going on. The government must come out and speak to the citizens and reassure them. They must do everything in their power to get to the bottom of this and map out ways of avoiding a continuation of this unfortunate sequence of events.
