The leadership of the Gambia Democratic Congress has said that government of the Gambia made an ill-advised decision to grant a guns importation license to GACH Security Company.
The GDC also the decision came at a time when our national security is still very porous with the so-called national security reforms being implemented at a snail’s pace.
According to a statement made available to The Voice, the GDC said: “while the party is cognizant of the fact that the government is empowered by the Arms and Ammunition Act to grant licenses for the importation of hunting guns, the timing of the license issued to GACH security company leaves much to be desired.”
The statement also noted it is no secret that the continuous presence of peace keeping soldiers in our country is a clear testimony to the fact that the state of our national security is still far from what the majority of Gambians would desire.
The GDC urged that government should have exercised more caution in dealing with the application of GACH Security Company for guns importation license.
The statement further said is not time for issuing of gun importation licenses but time for issuing food production packaging, processing and importation licenses for food security, stressing that Gambian people need affordable food items and commodities for survival and not guns.
“Now is not the time to make it easy for anybody to be able to secure a fire arm but to make it easy for the number of unemployed youths to find descent jobs that would enable them contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of The Gambia”, GDC noted.
The party also extend appreciation to the gallant security officers for intercepting the container carrying the guns at the sea port, noting that had the government acted more responsible, this situation with its attendant controversy would not have arisen in the first place.