By Nelson Manneh
The National Assembly Member for Serrekunda Constituency Honourable Musa Cham, has raised concern over the closure of London Corner Police Station.
Hon. Cham said the police station was closed without any notice to the community, and this has raised concerns to the community about the security of the lives and properties of residents.
“Part of the police station falls under the identified properties to be demolished for the construction of Rev. JC Faye road from Safideen junction in London Corner to Bundung borehole,” he said.
He said the identification of properties to be demolished along the mapped area was done early in 2023 and the community converged to discuss with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), but he referred them to one Commissioner Darboe of the Kanifing Municipal Council Division whose office is housed along Kairaba Avenue.
“In my capacity as the National Assembly Member for Serrekunda together with elders of the community, we went to his office and advanced our frustration to Commissioner Darboe and he advised us to liaise with the landlord to whom we appeal for available space for the extension of the police station, and for The Gambia police force to continue the payment of the rent, which we successfully did and the landlord granted us the authority to do so,” he said.
Hon. Cham continued: “As a community we contributed and moulded cement blocks. I contacted one Commissioner Fofana who worked under the police engineering department to assist us set out the building which he did, only to be told by Commissioner Pateh Jallow that we have to inform the Bundung Police station Commander. While we were on the verge of doing so, we only woke up one morning and found that the police station was closed again without notice.”
Hon. Cham said their concern is whether they should stop the construction of the police post because they were told by Commissioner Pateh Bah that the IGP during his tour that they will be downsizing the number of police stations because the cost of renting them is too expensive and consumes most of their allocations.
“This also reminds us that the police force is established to protect and secure the lives and properties of the people of The Gambia,” he noted.
