Information reaching The Fatu Radio news desk has confirmed that The Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh has ordered the Ministry of Interior, Ousman Sonko and Landing Jarju, the new Acting Director of Immigration to not issue travel documents to the recently pardoned prisoners. According to sources, the ex-prisoners, most of whose nationality documents have expired, have been crisscrossing between the various departments within the Immigration Headquarters, only to be told that they have to wait until further instructions are received from the President’s Office.
For now, most, if not all of them, essentially have no ID card or passport, rendering them stateless and restricting their freedom of movement.
This bad news came on the heels of yet another terrible news for Gambian’s without valid Identity Cards – for months now, ID cards have not been printed because the government owes GAMBIS, the company responsible for printing them, more than a hundred million dalasi ($2,564,102). This lack of payment, according to our sources resulted to the company running out of the materials needed for these documents. “Immigration officers promised that it will take three months to print ID cards again, but it’s been well over that and there is still no word” the source added with a frustrating tone.
According to the sources, people go to the immigration department to take their photos, fill out application forms and submit their forms and wait until GAMBIS can afford to buy materials to start printing again. As for the pardoned prisoners, they haven’t been allowed to even go through that process.
Observers have noted that the main reason for this delay and denial of documents to the pardoned prisoners is the trepidation that the Jammeh regime has with regards to the leaking of information on human rights violations and torture which many of the prisoners went through. The observers went on to say that the government does not want information out about the deplorable prison conditions and the false charges brought against many of those pardoned.
This new development is said to be causing a lot of concern among family members about the fate of their loved ones. Knowing how unpredictable dictator Jammeh is, he could throw them back in prison within the blink of an eye. Security sources have also hinted that the movements of the pardoned prisoners are being monitored and that they should be advised to avoid night outings. Meanwhile, many are questioning why someone will be pardoned and not allowed travel documents, implying that they still haven’t secured their freedom.
In another development, Dictator Jammeh is also said to have ordered that any piece of land in Kanilai that is not developed should be seized. Notorious for land grabbing, this new move my Yahya is making the villagers very nervous. They will all potentially lose all their farm lands to him very soon. Very sad state of affairs.
