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All of the photos above were taken yesterday
While the Gambian delegation to the United Nations 72nd General Assembly led by President Adama Barrow is busy attending official business on behalf of the Gambian people, the enemies of democracy and the rule of law are busy exploiting the situation by unleashing the paramilitary, yet again, on the defenseless population of Kololi. It must be noted that the Interior Minister who is in charge of internal security is also part of the Gambian delegation.
Yesterday, a contingent of paramilitary officers descended on the Kololi football field where children were playing football, started using force to clear the field. Cranes and bulldozers were employed, presumably to restart a project that will deprive the community of what was once state land. The land in question is still being disputed and many questions still linger. How was the land transferred from government to KMC. How did the land end up being leased to an Indian company and a what price? What happened to the proceeds? Did any of it end up in government coffers?
It appears that whenever the president is away on a foreign trip, the paramilitary jumps into action. Last May, when Barrow made his first official trip to Saudi Arabia to attend the Islamic - America Summit in Riyadh, the paramilitary was unleashed on the same Kololi residents over the same disputed land that the communities of Kololi and surrounding satellite town rightfully claim to belong to them. Who is pulling the strings?
The manner in which the paramilitary is being manipulated is dangerous and a threat to the State. Private citizens and business interests should never be allowed to be in a position, much less come close, to issuing command to any section of our national security apparatus.
The military and the rest of the national security agencies must remain under the control of the Commander-in-Chief and no one else. A dangerous pattern is developing which must be stopped, dead on its tracks.
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