Dear Editor,
This is an urgent message which I urge you to publish in the interest of national security.
The recent security lapse at the airport should not be taken lightly as the country’s stability is on a threshold. If you can recall, there are some weapons Jammeh or his henchmen stashed away just before he left for exile.
Some of those weapons are being used in recent sprees of armed robbery occurring around the country’s border towns like Farefenni and Basse.
With all the manpower on the ground (ECOMIG and the national security personnel), there remains a major shortcoming on the side of our intelligence.
Both SIS DG and Operations Director should be replaced henceforth. This department needs to undergo serious reforms for one reason only-: The situation compared to Jammeh era is different as then the NIA was used mainly as a political weapon.
In todays Gambia we may be free but our stability is still at risk given the nature of our transition last year from a military dictatorship.
At this point in time, intelligence must be a top priority to deter threats to national security and this requires a sophisticated intelligence branch not liable to get caught in amateurish situations like the recent Airport incident.
How can the SIS have such amateur agents on the ground who don’t bother to read flight manifests or are busy socializing with fugitives instead of detaining them amid a pending clearance from the Agency or the ministry of Interior.
People with high sense of security and foresight are needed in such strategic places not agents stationed there through nepotism.
I recall the days of the Special Branch were intelligence was never compromised. The likes of the late Kebba Ceesay and Daba Marenah and one Tijan Bah who is currently the DG of NDEA really understand the way intelligence work. It is people of that calibre that The Gambia needs at the moment not some clueless unit…
A concerned Gambian
Photo Credit: Standard Newspaper
