Functional institutions are meant to add to the quality of life of the citizenry. On the one hand, they provide necessary social services to enrich our experiences of living an otherwise boring and sterile life. But on the other hand, society also needs rules, laws and regulations for an orderly and predictable existence. That breeds peace, harmony and tranquility. 

Unfortunately, the introduction of the institution of police in The Gambia got off on a bad footing. First, it was meant to put the population in check for fear of reprisal against the colonial vampires and the ones they educated in their ways (languages and systems) amongst us. That status quo has not changed because, as Sulayman Bokar Bah will say, the bourgeoisie (those with unhindered access to resources and amenities of pleasure) are a poison to our mental and economic liberation. 

To compound the matter, the corruption and abuse of power within the police force has become self-sustaining. It reproduces asexually, exponential to the growth of poverty and marginalization in society. In other words, the more poverty increases (which is a fact in The Gambia) the more people in all demographic categories become alienated. As a consequence, the small bourgeoisie becomes fearful of its own shadow and increase police presence in communities to enforce conformity to a status quo of poverty, submission to power, and eventually surrender to destitution. 

The detention conditions in all police stations in our country goes against international human rights standards and norms. Filthy and unhygienic cells, poor food rations, exposure to abuse and torture, illegal detentions etc., are all modus operandi of an institution that has become a tool of oppression for every executive in power, from Dawda Jawara toYahya Jammeh to Adama Barrow. In the guise of maintaining law and order, the application of the same law was and still is selective and uneven. Their actions are not dictated by the dictum of equality before the law, rather, by strings and favors that could translate to cash and other privileges. 

In the rein of the three regimes Gambia unfortunate had since the attainment of self-rule, constant executive interference in the work of the police is a daily occurrence. It’s not uncommon for a minister, a parliamentarian or even a well-connected business personality to order for the arrest and prosecution of xyz. Many of our fellow Gambians have lost their dignity and even lives to such a deplorable administration of justice. Our standard as citizens are so low that the majority prefers to look the other side or just remain mute in the face of the gross violation of human rights by the police force of of our country. The gangrene should not be allowed to fester. 

Recent strives in the country have seen the GPF stoop so low to the level of a militia to protect the political interests of the president and his inner cabal. Refusing to grant permission for peaceful protests speaks to the very fear alluded to before. Resorting to force, to disperse a group that was peacefully expressing legitimate concerns of life and death is nothing short of criminality and trampling of constitutionally guaranteed rights. How else could that hyper reaction be justified when the organizers have uttered their readiness to sit down and engage the Brikama Area Council for consensus and trust building to solve problems that are perennial within the municipality? 

Again, what the GFP should do is to engage in reorientation to serve those who pay them, but at the same time, finds itself brutalized by its sons and daughters it feeds, cloth and shelter. 

Yours in the service of The Gambia and Afrikka, I remain. 

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