By Binta Jaiteh
Amadou Camara, the parliamentarian for Nianija Constituency has emphasized the need for the prioritizing of the security sector saying, ‘’if we want our country to be peaceful and developed, we must prioritize the security.’’
MP Camara made the call in the national assembly during the debate on the report of the standing committee on defense and security after their visit to security institutions across the country.
“We are responsible for appropriating funds and we should prioritize security during budget sessions,” he noted
According to the member, despite the country having other issues such as in thesocial sectors but the security cannot be compromised at all level.
He buttressed that the responsible authorities should be contacted regarding the security sector reform program because it was needed by the Gambians.
‘’During the fifth legislature similar recommendations were laid and it seemed to be a repetition.”
“I compel the committee to follow up on the recommendations and also the members to join the committee and advocate
towards addressing the challenges as we know without security there is no peace,’’ MP Camara stated.
For his part, Alfu Sainey Ceesay, Sami Constituency lawmaker also added his voice saying a lot of challenges regarding security have been mentioned and since colonial time to date the same problem keeps on occurring.
“You will be surprised to see the living conditions of our people and the authorities are watching.’’
Madi Ceesay, the member for SerreKunda West Constituency said a similar issue faces the Committee on Human Rights and Constitutional Matters and the Defense Committee’s work overlap because the committees visited the same police stations and the challenges are similar. “These challenges remained unaddressed and year in year out” Ceesay noted.
