Kebba Ansu & Aminata Hydara
Assan Martins, a renowned Gambian human rights lawyer has taken swap against the government of President Adama Barrow, arguing that the failure of the government to address key national issues is becoming a concern to every Gambian.
Human Rights Activist and former magistrate who is also social commentator was exclusively speaking to The Voice Newspaper on current state of affairs raging from security, governance, voter registration and economy.
“We are very much worried about the issue of security because a lot of events are going on dealing with law and order in terms of criminality within the country. We have also seen that governance is becoming an issue interim of government addressing issues of public concerns,” Lawyer Martin observed.
He added: “The economic situation is going down, price hikes and inflation are hitting up. The most concerning issue is that of voter registration and the failure of the government to address the issues is a serious concern to all Gambians.”
Expounding on his argument on national security the renowned human rights lawyer said the failure of the government to allay fears of the citizenry is not helping the situation. He added that erecting multiple checkpoints without focusing on internal security and gathering intelligence will not also be helpful in combating crimes and criminality in the country.
“What we have seen for now is President Barrow is not up to the job, is not coming out to talk to the Gambians most of whom are living in fears. Today all around town and in the social media people are complaining about security and criminality,” Lawyer Martin revealed.
According to him, the continuous rise in the prices of basic commodities is affecting the livelihood of average Gambian that government failed to addressed, observing that it is high time for government to consider reviewing the trade policies in terms of trading between businesses and the communities.
He argued that the prices of basic commodities and building materials are increasing daily without control, adding that arbitrary increases in basic commodity and building materials prices necessitate the need for price control to be applied by the government in a bid to safe the citizenry.
Lawyer Martin also blasted Gambia government for the poor management of Covid-19 funds, arguing that Gambia government did not make any backup plan to giving further assistance to the service sectors.
According to him, currently, most of the businesses and employees in the fisheries, tourism and other service industry are finding it very difficult to reopen, stressing that supposed there was a backup plan by the government more funding would have been available to give further support to these sectors.
Dilating on the upcoming voter registration, Lawyer Martins said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has not done much and is behind schedule, arguing that four years has passed IEC is yet to embark on voter education or sensitisation.
“There has not been much done in terms of voter sensitisation, voter education and registration. Our fear is whether some Gambians will not be disenfranchised because of the failure of the IEC,” Lawyer disclosed.
According to him, voter sensitisation and registration is key aspect of the electioneering process, noting that if there is no adequate sensitization there is a likelihood of low voter turnout in the election.
He therefore called on all Gambians youths who attained ages of 18 years to go out and acquire voter’s card in other to participate in the forthcoming general elections, stating that the requirement for voter registration is birth certificate, attestation letter from village Alkalos and any other national documents.
But warned that the voter registration is only meant for Gambian citizens, noting that is only Gambian citizens who should acquire the national documents and partake in the forthcoming election.