By Mustapha Jallow
The country’s chief of State Intelligence, Ousman Sowe has said that the alleged torture of Lance Corporal Sambujang Bojang is under investigation.
‘‘This is a matter under investigation so I would rather not comment but again the sameSambujang has said he was not tortured. I think it is a matter under investigation and the torture issue I wouldn’t go back further,’’ he told journalists at a press briefing, yesterday, 24 August 2017, at the NIA (now called SIS) headquarters in Banjul.
NIA DG Sowe said that they are working on sustainable security in this country with their sister force and regional security forces. He assured Gambians that there is no more excess in the new state intelligence.
“No more excess in this Intelligence Service again, and that is how we have been doing business at the service since our appointment in the last six months. We have been very busy without handcuffs as we are repositioning, refocusing, recasting, reshaping our security assessment,” he said.
He said after their assessment, the Gambia is calm and quiet as the security outlook is positive and there is no cause for alarm.
“We are in the right direction as far as security is concerned,” he said.
“We cut on public abuses completely, no more abuses, no more excess no arrest without good causes, and no charges without justice before a court of law as we are striving hard to repositioning the SIS [NIA] to gain the public confidence,” the intelligence chief said.
He further said sustainable security will be guaranteed by the current security sector reforms that are ongoing so that there is a stable, reliable security sector that can be relied on through the help of ECOWAS, EU and UN.
‘‘The Gambia is safe and secure due to the joint efforts by our national security institutions and ECOMIG forces,’’ he said.
He explained that his intelligence agents have done a countrywide assessment tour of the political, security and infrastructure situation which gave them firsthand knowledge of existing situation which helps the SIS (NIA) to understand the country situation.
“We are widely accepted and consulted by the private and public institutions and persons alike as we are committed to safeguard the interest of the nation by focusing on our national security mandate which is the peace and security of this country, to enable our domestic and foreign policies to be pursued in the interest of the country,” he noted.
He said: “We have a roadmap, we are very clear about what it needs to professionally carry out its mandates, we are going through a challenging time but we are focused on the mission committed to deliver on the trust that has been bestowed on the leadership.’’
