By MUHAMMED S. BAH
The Deputy Speaker Momodou LK Sanneh during his contribution on the adjournment debate Tuesday 25 April
2017 noted that government should prioritise Prison reform.
Deputy Speaker Sanneh underscored the state of the poor conditions of the prisons, which he said is not conducive for Prisoners particularly in the Main central Prison at Mile II.
“Experience is the best teacher, I have seen the state of the Prison condition during my time of being there, and there is an urgent need for a total reform of the prisons,” he asserted.
Deputy Speaker Sanneh further noted that a small cell at the remand wing of Mile II Central Prison accommodates about 15 prisoners which is not healthy.
The deputy speaker also lamented the poor services rendered to Prisoners such as poor medical services, water, food and poor sanitations among other things.
Deputy speaker Sanneh laid emphasis on the importance of the reforms to be done by government for the interest of respecting human rights.
The deputy speaker pointed out that most of the government buildings all over the country are going down because of lack of maintenance particularly regional headquarters.
“These are properties that have been built by government from Tax payer’s money, but is very unfortunate to see all these buildings dilapidating, which I believe personally is a loss to the country,” underscored Deputy Speaker Hon. Sanneh.
Deputy suggested that, now that the Assembly has select committees on Monitoring and implementation of government properties.
He appealed for an inventory of all government buildings throughout the country so that after concluding the report, the National Assembly would be able to look at the report critically.
The deputy speaker during his deliberation also called for the government to empower the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE), to be able to execute their duty by educating the citizenry on their civil rights.
Sanneh noted that this should be a continuous process across the country pointing out the exercise should not only be carried out when election is coming.
He said the NCCE “is a constitutional provision”, therefore there is a need for government to empower them.
