By Zainab Jobarteh
As part of their aim to enhance the Security Sector Reform (SSR) agenda, promote a more inclusive and transparent process with communities and maximise awareness and coordination amongst international actors in The Gambia, DCAF last week organised a conference, at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference in Bijilo, for key partners to demonstrate the progress and achievements made on SSR.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Kenneth Issac, the head of the DCAF office in Banjul highlighted his institution’s contributions towards the SSR in The Gambia.
He informed that DCAF undertook an in-depth baseline assessment to inform the reform agenda leading to an institutional human resource assessment of key security institutions and a population survey of the population sector.
He stated that DCAF has been focusing on the implementation of reforms of key security institutions since 2021.
“A 13-month EU-funded project aimed at improving effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of The Gambian Police Force (GPF) was complemented by a three-year project funded by the Swiss Government aimed at providing similar support to The Gambia Immigration Department,’’ he said. The overall programme, he said, aims to ensure that the GPF and GID are more effective in ensuring human security at individual and community levels with due regard to human rights standards.
Director General of the Gambia Immigration Department, Seedy M. Touray, who also represented the Minister of Interior, assured that the government is committed to the SSR of the country. He affirmed that there is a desire to shift from that the past dictatorial regime to a state-centric, human security, human rights and most importantly, to democracy.
Andrea Semadeni, Ambassador of Switzerland underscored the importance of SSR to national development. He stated that good security sector governance based on the rule of law and respect for human rights is a cornerstone for development and security.
He said he is convinced that DCAF has found partners that would bring the necessary expertise in the area of SSR and can support The Gambian authorities in the best possible way.
The Conference was attended by the Swiss Ambassador, the EU Ambassador, representatives of the ministries of Justice, and Interior and security officials.
