By Adama Makasuba
The Barrow administration has vowed it will get to the bottom of a Sun newspaper story that claims Gambian children are being sold to British paedophiles.
UK newspaper The Sun last month reported that tragic Gambian children are being sold to British paedophiles for as little as £2-a-time (about 150 dalasis) by their desperate parents. The story was titled, ‘Inside ‘paedo paradise’ The Gambia where sex beasts are buying African children and toddlers to rape’ – where a Child Protection Alliance official was interviewed.
On Monday, the government convened a joint news conference where officials revealed the article would be the last publication intended to tarnish the country’s image.
Reading from a two-page document on behalf of government, Fatou Kinteh Sanyang, minister of women, children and social welfarem said: “The general public is hereby informed that the article is malicious and based on misinformation and [mis]characterisation of the fact[s].
“The government of The Gambia as a State party to various international treaties, most notably the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child, has invested heavily in the promotion and protection of the rights of children in The Gambia.”
Tourism minister Hamat Bah, who also spoke, said: “Since the article was published in the Sun newspaper, every effort was made to prove that the article was malicious (and) was done in bad faith in an intend to destroy the country.”
According to him, investigations are ongoing to get to the bottom of the issue, saying “we will follow the due process of (the) law to do what is right in protecting this country.”
