By Adama Makasuba
John Charles Njie, chairman of Tango has urged The Gambian soldiers and civilians to treat and respect each other in a bid to mend two-decade mistrust between the civilian population and the security forces.
Speaking in an organised forum, he said the forum is evidence to the fact that there is some changes that is happening in our country between the civilian population and security forces noting that in the past it gotten to a point where there was mistrust between civilian and the security forces. “But good enough we are coming back to be able to regain this and what is happening is to be able to propel this is by the military also taken the initiative and the step to know that well, they have missteps in the past,” he said.
He noted that the society has been at fault may be not, but wants the security forces to accept responsibility as some amongst them have destroyed their reputations. And because of that, “you have to be in the position to take the extra mile and the Gambian people need to move away from this stereotype of looking at our men and women in uniform and always having a negative comment about them,” he advised.
“These people have their families, they have their children, and they have their wives at home. They are citizens. We must see each other and treat each other with mutual respect. Begin to appreciate what you do. For us the civilians, we need to move away from stereotyping of thinking that every military man or every military woman is a Jungular,” he appealed.
