The Government of the Gambia should come up with a cabinet paper on how it intends to address the question of citizenship. The media is being informed on a daily basis that people who are known to be born in The Gambia are being denied ID cards on the basis of law on citizenship which is out of date.
The change occurred with the promised that everything that is out of date will be subjected to reform. If the government fails to reform its citizenship laws hundreds of thousands of Gambian youths would be transformed into stateless persons and are likely to seek refuge outside the country for being ostracised and excluded. This would be a national catastrophe of monumental proportion not only for The Gambia but the rest of the region and the world at large.
The tens of thousands of Gambians who are migrating are already facing many challenges to be addressed. Adding hundreds of thousands more defies common sense. To defy reason and common sense is to invite uncertainty and national discord.
