By: Nyima Sillah
The lawmaker for Serekunda constituency Musa Cham has said the shutting down of the London Corner police station without community engagement has been causing frustration among the residents of the Serekunda suburb.
“The London Corner police station has been closed without notice to the community, which causes a great frustration to the community about the security of the lives and properties of the residents,” the SK NAM told The Voice in an interview yesterday.
Narrating the genesis of the unilateral decision to put the station behind key and padlock, NAM Cham said part of the police station was earmarked among otherproperties in the area for demolition to give way to the construction of the Rev. JC Faye Road, which stretchesfrom Safideen in London Corner to Bundung Borehole. He explained that the earmarking of the properties for demolition was done early last year, adding that the community held discussions with the IGP, who referred them to Commissioner Omar Darboe of the KMC Division of the Gambia Police Force (GPF).
“I, in my capacity as the National Assembly Member for Serekunda together with elders of the community,went to the office of Commissioner Darboe to expressour frustration and he advised us to liaise with the landlady [where the station is located] to appeal to her if there is an available space so that we can take up the responsibility as a community to extend the police station though the Gambia Police Force will continue to pay the rent, which we successfully did and the landlady granted us the permission to extend the station,” NAM Cham explained.
According to him, after their discussion with the landlady, the community raised money and molded cement bricks, saying he contacted CommissionerFofana of the Police Engineering Department to assist them with the building plan. NAM Cham said he was later told by Commissioner Pateh Jallow that they had to inform the Bundung police station commander,regarding the construction.
“While we were already on the verge of doing that, we woke up on Wednesday 21st February and found outthat the police station was closed without our notice. Our frustration at the moment is whether we should stop the construction of the police post or continue since we were told by Commissioner Pateh Bah that the IGP, during his tour, said that they will be downsizing the number of police stations because the rents are too expensive and consume most of their budgetary allocations,” he stated.
The SK NAM pointed out that police stations are established to protect and secure the lives and properties of the people of The Gambia, saying the lack of a police station in a community is a concern that needs to be addressed with urgency.
