By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Gambia’s police chief Seedy Muktarr Tourayhas been tasked to put the Gambia Immigration Department (GID) back to order after the contract that he spearheaded between the GID and Semlexcontinues to cause Gambians seeming never-endinghardship.
The GID and Semlex have entered an agreement for the provision of biometric national documents such as ID card, passport and driver’s license.
However, the acquisition of these vital national documents remains a painful experience for Gambians as they continue to be issued intermittently for the past several months.
It has become nightmarish for Gambians to access their national documents despite the GID still receiving money from applicants and there appears to be no end in sight to the nightmare.
“When IGP was the director of Immigration, he oversaw that contract [Semlex contract]. He needs to start solving that problem because you cannot use those two vital documents to get money from citizens and not give them the cards that they need,” former international civil servant and top UDP official Mr. Larry Ceesay said in an interview with Coffee Time With Peter Gomez on Thursday.
“This Semlex issue is bad because people are not getting the service that they are paying for. So, for me it’s just a ploy to collect revenue,” he added.
