By: Kemo Kanyi
The Gambia Immigration Department (GID) said on Friday that it has cleared the backlog of documents applications made by Gambians and non-Gambians since March of this year.
The GID said it has printed 38,904 Gambian national identity cards [ECOWAS ID], 14,545 residence permits, 22,840 non-Gambian identity cards, and 4,648 alien identity cards.
Foday Gassama, commissioner of processing at the GID, last week stated in a press conference that it has taken his unit an intense three weeks of 24-hour service to register this massive success.
Commissioner Gassama clarified that government is solely responsible for the processing with operations in 15 centres across the country.
‘’Our problem was centred on software and hardware. This was why the operations of printing cards was not possible but the application procedure continued. Now, with the help of ‘Margin Company’, we were able to fix the problem, and we have been able to print all the cards that we have in our system from March to date. Our ID system is functioning and all prospective ID applicants can go ahead,’’ Commissioner Gassama told reporters in a press conference held at the GID HQ in Banjul on Friday.
He urged Gambians living abroad, especially those on holidays here, to work on renewal of passports or apply for Machine Readable Passports (MRPs), adding that the problem faced in the issuance of this document for the diaspora will be sorted out in the coming weeks.
