QUESTION OF THE DAY
The question of citizenship is a burning issue. People are being denied ID cards and are being reduced into stateless persons and do not know their fate. No reform agenda is pronounced on what is to happen to such people who are rendered stateless.
The government should issue a press release asking all those with Gambian birth certificates or identity documents who are not issued with ID cards to go to a special office created by government to have their names registered which should be followed by the establishment of a task force to look into the claims of all those who are registered by the office and find a solution.
In the same vein landed estates are competing with settlements and government is yet to establish a policy on such settlements. Promises are good, concrete policies are better; otherwise the encroachment will continue and court actions will continue at the expense of all litigants. Court appearances are cumbersome and expensive.
Furthermore the government has removed Chiefs like the Chief of Sabach Sanjal on no grounds. The government is petitioned and the press has raised issues but the government is still silent. The issue of Haruna Jatta is constantly raised by the media and through the media but the government is still silent. The issue of gender representation in the National Assembly has been raised, but instead of the number increasing it is decreasing. This is posing the question whether the government is really gender sensitive. People are contemplating taking matters to court that a listening government could easily address.
When a government listens and acts citizens, will have no justification to be agitated. A government that listens is a genuine democratic government. A government that does not listen will ultimately sink to impunity.
