By Yunus S Saliu
Gambian Denmark-based philanthropist, Sulayman Sawanneh has urged the Gambia government to decongest prisons across the country this New Year so that The Gambia will stop being part of the countries the alleged accused will be detained without trial or conclusive trial within a short period.
Speaking in an interview with this medium, Mr. Sawanneh recalled that in October 2022, Honourable Madi Ceesay, National Assembly Member for Serrekunda West Constituency who is also a member of the human rights committee of the National Assembly has disclosed that during a thorough tour of Gambian prison cells they “found out that the situation of the prisoners in The Gambia was not fit for human beings to be kept in such circumstances – which is against human rights standards.”
Reflecting on the aforementioned, Sawanneh said the people expect that the government would announce how the prison can be decongested to make it fit for those that are remanded there to live.
He said, though, remand or imprisonment is not for accused or convicts to enjoy but at the same time it is “not for them to die, ill or suffer of any ailment rather it is a correction center of their misdeed on the consequences taking them there.”
“If you want to know the truth about the Gambia prison cells, visit them you will see that the way they are living there is nothing to talk about. Not all of them are criminals and even there are no laws that say criminals should live in a cell with limited ventilation, without or with limited lights, and not a well-kept room or environment,” Sawanneh elaborated with dissatisfaction.
The Gambian Denmark-based philanthropist argued that the authorities will always be blamed for this until they take the right steps to make sure that cells across the country are properly monitored, and follow the recommendations of the National Assembly member select committee for human rights while the Judiciary also should try as much as possible to speed up court process when it comes to taking remand prisoners to court.
Sawwaneh argued that some of the remand prisoners’ life can be destroyed, and useless after a too-long stay in a cell awaiting trial or attending the unending trial, “they can even become useless for life after they are released.”
He touched on the activists, saying this is part of what activists or freedom fighters should put across to the government rather than making politics a daily issue “prison issue is one, price escalating, tax, daily challenges facing market women among others issues are there to fight. Let the government make things easy for everyone living in The Gambia, people are complaining and suffering but smiling for the sake of happiness.”
