By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
The National Assembly Member (NAM) of Kiang West, Honourable Lamin Ceesay, has requested an investigation into the large number of young Gambians who leave the country through the ‘backway’ route across the Mediterranean Sea, warning that if the government does not take action, it may be accused of aiding and abetting the situation, as different security officers are stationed on the coast to monitor illegal activities.
During the National Assembly session discussing the budget allocated to the Ministry of Youths and Sports for empowering young people, Honourable Ceesay proposed that the government should investigate how migrants would be able to escape the various security forces stationed around the coast to monitor activities.
“I think an investigation needs to be launched on this, or else, we will accuse them [security officers] as accomplices to this because you cannot post people there, and they are giving resources to monitor our waters — and there is no way better to monitor our waters than stopping our youths from traveling illegally,” he said.
He pointed out that the issue needs to be looked at and blamed the security forces for not effectively monitoring the coast.
“What is happening to security sectors that are guarding our coast? They need to be thoroughly looked at. We have the Immigration and the Navy, how come these people escaped in our waters and traveled this far, and we can only be informed that a boat sunk through others rather than our authorities because they are not monitoring?
“In my view, if the coast of our waters is well monitored, these people should not escape our waters either night or day,” Ceesay said.
Last week, the nation went into mourning after news revealed that a boat that carried over sixty Gambian youths, mostly people from Kartong and Jambur, capsized in the sea, without any survivors.
During his Meet-the-people tour, President Adama Barrow announced that his government would legislate a law that would criminalize the smuggling of migrants through the ‘backway’ journey.
