By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Vehicle Control Unit of the Gambia government has impounded multitudes of vehicles four days before President Adama Barrow embarks on his countrywide tour.
The Gambian leader and delegation are expected to cross over to the North Bank Region on Monday to begin a whole-country tour dubbed Meet The People Tour.
The 16-day mandatory tour is expected to take the President tomany nooks and crannies of the country to discuss with the masses his government’s development plan, meet and associate with the people as well as hear from them their hopes and aspirations for national development.
The vehicle control unit has started taking legal custody of government vehicles days before the Gambian leader leaves Banjul for the hinterland.
Scores of government vehicles have been impounded and parked at the Denton Bridge.
When contacted, the Commissioner of the Mobile Traffic Unit, Alhaji Lamin King Colley, explained to The Voice that the taking into custody of State-owned vehicles is in line with the constitutional arrangement that empowers the State to deploy its vehicles for the mandatory tour.
“It’s constitutional for government vehicles to be used for the Meet The People Tour. It’s not the Mobile Traffic Unit that took in the vehicles but the Vehicle Control Unit,” he clarified when asked whether the impounding of the vehicles was being carried out by the Mobile Traffic Unit.
Meanwhile, the practice of deploying government vehicles on the President’s tour was unpopular in some quarters. Some people have bitterly complained against the practice, saying it handicaps many government institutions as it used to cause them acute logistical challenges.
