By: Hadram Hydara
Hon. Modou Lamin Bah, United Democratic Party’s National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul North has said his house was the target of an arson attack by an unknown individual in the early hours of Monday, June 20th 2022.
Speaking exclusively to The Fatu Network, the UDP NAM said someone had attempted to set ablaze his Tobacco Road residence in Banjul when his wife and children were fast asleep while he was “making the best use of his time reading.”
“Someone wanted to set my house on fire. This actually happened around the hours of 2 am to 3 am in the early hours of Monday the 20th of June at my residence in Tobacco, Banjul North Constituency. What happened was I was in the other room making good use of my time in terms of reading some of the things I was researching when my wife was in the master bedroom and then suddenly knock on my door and said they are trying to set the house on fire and that is how I rushed to see what was going on but before I could get there the individual had already left.”
Speaking on what happened after the individual fled the scene, Hon. Bah said he and his wife decided not to go back to sleep and waited for daybreak.
“Because the electricity was going on and off my wife decided to open the windows so that they get access to fresh air. In the morning we saw that the individual was trying to burn the wire gauze on the windows.”
Pressed on whether he or his wife had seen the face of the individual or whether he might have any clue of who it was, Hon. Bah answered in the negative.
“To be honest, neither me nor my wife saw the face of the person because it was very dark. What my wife saw was a figure in the dark holding fire and attempting to set the house on fire. The person succeeded in burning parts of the wire gauze.”
Asked if he has reported the incidents to the police and whether he or his family were hurt and if the incident caused any property damages, the NAM said:
“Yes, we immediately did report the matter to the police in the morning. My wife went to the police and the police also gave us all the support we needed by coming over to the house to do their investigations, where they took pictures of the burnt wire gauze. Nobody was hurt and there were no property damages.”
Quizzed on whether as a National Assembly Member he was not given any personal security, Honourable Bah seized the opportunity to call on both the Standing Committee on Defense and Security and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Ethics at the National Assembly to work on providing NAMs with personal securities.
“We are not given personal security and I want to seize the important opportunity to urge the select Committee on Defense and Security and also the Standing Committee on Privileges and Ethics to work on providing security for all National Assembly Members because this is very important. As Honourable members of this country, it is high time for us to be very secure. After all, our security is the security of the people because we are here to represent and to add as oversight officials for the nation and this is fundamental as NAMs to be provided with security so that we can be able to do our work comfortably.”
