By Fatou Sillah
During the debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address, Honorable Suwaibou Touray, National Assembly Member for Wuli East, condemned the conditions of prisons in The Gambia, describing them as inhumane institutions designed more for punishment than rehabilitation. He emphasized that these facilities violate the rights of detainees.
“The buildings are not human rights friendly at all; the prison is a colonial institution; they built it with the colonial mindset. That is, to punish those who have fallen foul of the law,” he said.
He highlighted that both Mile 2 and Jeshwang prisons are severely overcrowded, with many young detainees awaiting trial.
“If you go to Mile 2, you go to Jeshwang, you have hundreds of young people in those prisons. In Mile 2, in fact, it is double; many of them are also in remand. Their cases are not moving, and they are rotting in jail,” he explained.
The legislator called for prison reform to be prioritized in government plans, arguing that the president’s speech should have addressed the issue explicitly and called for an expedited construction of new, modern facilities.
“I would have thought that the President would have touched that area to build a new prison. I know the process is on, but to mention it will show us how serious the government is in building a new prison from this swamp to somewhere better,” he said.
He also warned of the political repercussions if prison conditions were ignored, noting, “I know if the UPR mentioned how stinky our prisons are, how unfriendly our prisons are. Maybe the president may not be reelected the way he was reelected. So we should not ignore this issue,” he said.
On the broader justice system, Hon. Touray expressed concern over a backlog of cases in the courts, especially land disputes.
“We have a lot of cases lingering in courts as if there is no judiciary in the country. Thousands of cases—almost 80% of the cases in courts are land issues,” he said.
He attributed much of the land conflict to the unchecked authority of local chiefs (Alkalos), who often authorize multiple sales of the same parcel of land. “One land is sold to three people, to four people, and the Alkalo just puts a stamp on the documents. They get little remuneration and walk away. So because of that, you have a lot of swindlers,” he explained.
Calling for comprehensive land reform, Hon. Touray stated, “We need a comprehensive review of the land issue in The Gambia. It cannot just be cosmetic; the crisis is all over the country.”
Addressing economic concerns, he challenged the government’s optimistic inflation data, citing rising costs of basic goods.
“Inflation in data, in my view, is different from inflation on the ground. Right now, bread is increased to 12 dalasis. The inflation rate is around 50%; I can say, some things are doubled, some are tripled,” he said.
Hon. Touray also expressed concern over the government’s heavy reliance on borrowing without channeling funds into productive sectors, cautioning that this approach could lead to significant economic challenges ahead.
He stated, “If we are just taking loans, and we are spending all those loans, and we are not investing those loans in the productive base of the economy, we are giving future generations more problems to be able to take care of themselves.”
He further emphasized, “We must be able to ensure that the economy we are nurturing will have investment in the productive base so that it will be able to create enough jobs for our people, not just build monuments that we cannot manage.”
Hon. Touray urged a thorough examination of financial decisions, noting, “We need to really interrogate these things and ensure that the figures are real, what we need is to meet the needs of our people, not just now but for the future.”
Regarding national security, he disputed the President’s positive assessment of the country’s stability.“If we are that perfect, we are that remarkable, we would not need the services of the ECOMIG. It is not as palatable as the President put it,” he argued.
He further urged the government to prepare for potential regional security threats, citing recent cooperation between Senegal and Mali to address terrorism.
“Recently, Senegal had an agreement with Mali to be able to deal with the terrorist crisis, and therefore this is as serious as it is, and we are in the centre of Senegal, and we should be mindful and prepare ourselves for any eventuality. How are we prepared for eventualities? It needs to be known,” he concluded.