By Lamin Njie
Interior Minister Yankuba Sonko has called on the Gambian public to support the Gambia Immigration Department in ensuring national documents do not land in the hands of non-citizens.
Gambian lawmakers on Wednesday quizzed the interior minister on the myriad of challenges they lawmakers say Gambians face while trying to obtain national documents such as ID card. Some of the lawmakers said immigration officials were subjecting Gambians to unnecessary hurdles before they could be issued an ID dard.
Interior Minister Yankuba Sonko reacting to the concerns said it was ‘very’ important for immigration officials to profile applicants.
“That’s where we have our nationality being confirmed. If we miss, we will be joined here by foreign nationals in this august assembly,” he said.
He added: “What I expect more from the public is that the citizenship measures that are being taken, the Immigration Department should have been supported to make sure nothing goes loose, so that at least people will be entitled to documents that they are entitled to.
“At a personal level, about four years ago, I was approached by somebody that I know to be a foreigner. I looked at him and I said to him, ‘you think I am a foolish guy, my son and you will compete in this country for elections?’ Let’s make sure that our documents are protected.”
