This question was put forward to Halifa Sallah and he gave the following answer:
When a government has no plans to engage its youthful population in their fullest numbers to engage in national service, many of them will tend to operate outside the ambit of the law for survival purposes or as coping strategies to avoid mental ill health. Consequently, their arrest, detention and imprisonment will continue to burden law enforcement services, courts, prisons and communities because of the absence of programmes to put such young people into productive life. There will be massive records of arrests and trials but few records of rehabilitation and integration into community life.
In a country where there is national service for the young and productive employment only a few young people may fall foul of the law. Since the objective is not to give them criminal personality, they are often sentenced to community service in order to enable them to live in harmony with the community. In that regard, the law enforcement agency, the courts and the communities are saved from using coercive means to prevent conduct that may be at variance with community welfare and social cohesion.
That is the way forward for The Gambia.
