By Momodou Justice Darboe
The Gambia government has expressed shock over the increasing leakage of government documents before they are due for public consumption.
According to the Gambia government spokesperson, there exist men and women in the civil service who are bent on leaking every document before they are due for public view.
“It’s quite unfortunate that we have men and women among us in the civil service who are now bent on actually leaking every document before the document is due for public view. It is just unfortunate and what comes with this is that people who have nothing, absolutely zero to do with these leakages are maligned, insulted and all kind of garbage thrown at them. But then this is a serious matter,’’ Ebrima G. Sankareh, Gambia government spokesperson lamented during a news conference to unveil the Janneh Commission report on Friday at the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice.
“It’s quite shocking to say the least that the document; the report that we are about to unveil has actually been significantly leaked to the press corps. The online press corps and last night, I had a sleepless night as I saw allegations and counter allegations from different parties, insinuations as to who may have actually leaked this precious document that everybody was waiting for,’’ he lamented.
The Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Momodou S. Jallow, said the Gambia government has no interest in muzzling the press but was quick to add that there needs to be an understanding that there are certain things which may have some security implications as far as the State is concerned.
“That is why in all developed democracies, every piece of information has different level of security. Certain things can be available to public immediately, others have to be made available after certain considerations are made,’’ he explained.
Meanwhile, the Gambia government is battling with the problem of secrecy as leaks of confidential documents continue unabated. The latest leak has to do with the minister of justice, who was for the past few days embroiled in a storm of controversy, as a letter seeking for granting of diplomatic passports to his family, surfaced on the social media.
