CONTROVERSIAL OVERSEAS ID CARD ISSUANCE SCHEME REACHES GABON
The controversial issuance of national ID cards to Gambians abroad by the Gambia Immigration Department is continuing, with the GID team now in Gabon.
The scheme has been widely criticised by opposition and civic society members who said the act does not make sense and is an attempt by the NPP government to rig the coming elections using state institutions like the GID.
“Since our national ID card qualifies one to acquire a voters card, this scheme is nothing but a plan to give the vote to non-Gambians,”’ said Hagi Suwaneh, member of a newly established group GICSAC, which is vehemently opposed to the scheme.
Madi Jobarteh of the civic society group EFSCRJ, said passports, and not ID cards, are what Gambians abroad require and issuing ID cards to Gambians abroad does not make sense, when ironically, Gambians at home find it difficult to get one.
According to GICSAC leader, Hagi Suwaneh, also an opposition youth leader, GID officials arrived in Gabon on Saturday August 2, and have started issuing ID cards and birth certificates.
Suwaneh alleged that reliable sources in Gabon have confessed to him that the situation Gambians are facing in the country is not related to ID cards which cannot be used to process anything in that country anyway.
“This raises questions about the true motive of this scheme, its transparency and the integrity of our national documents. If the Gambia government truly wants to support Gambians in Gabon, they need to ensure that the documents they issue to them are valid for the legal and bureaucratic processes in Gabon,” Suwaneh added.
GID explains
The Standard contacted the director general of the Gambia Immigration Department Ebrima Mboob who referred us to an interview he did on the matter with GRTS, Mboob confirmed to the national broadcaster that his officers are currently in Gabon to issue ID cards to Gambians but denied any political interference in their work.
He insisted that they are only responding to serve the needs of Gambians in the diaspora.
“We have a team in Gabon right now attending to the needs of Gambians. We have to understand that their lives depend on this and we need to also look ahead to see that remittances outside of the Gambia also play a fundamental role when it comes to our GDP,” he said.
Mboob added: “We should understand that we are driving a reform and if one must definitely attend to the needs of your citizenry, this is a big responsibility. So, providing people with the need for those services should not definitely be confused with siding with a political party or trying to rig elections. We are far from that. We are serving our people,” the GID boss said.
He said his institution is nonpolitical and he never had government interference in his work since his appointment.
“One of our goals has to do with the protection of Gambians. We have a responsibility to see that Gambians are documented,” DG Mboob explained.
On the argument that the legal requirements for ID cards cannot be met abroad, Mboob argued that he saw no wrong with issuing ID cards outside The Gambia. “It is very legal because embassies are jurisdictions of countries they are representing. The embassies and the consular offices represent their states and that jurisdiction falls within that particular country,” Mboob argued.
Calls for IPC to intervene
Meanwhile, the National Assembly Member for Wuli East Swaibou Touray of PPDOIS recently said on Kerr Fatou that the issuance of the ID cards abroad should be taken up by the Inter-Party Committee since the document is a requirement for the processing of a voter’s card.
Source: The Standard
