While we all seem to have been pre-occupied these past few days with the controversy surrounding the disposal of the assets of former President Yahya Jammeh, we apparently failed to pay much heed to the order to “shoot on sight” armed robbers allegedly issued to the armed forces by no less a person than the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Lt. General Mamat Cham, during a country-wide tour.
While we no doubt agree with CDS Cham that the security forces should be empowered to deal with armed robbery, but giving them the license to “shoot on sight” is going beyond what is acceptable. We are all aware of how trigger happy our security forces had been during the Jammeh dictatorship and in spite of the obvious positive changes they have undergone, we should not forget that a vast majority of them were the very same people in the Jammeh army. Therefore, what is the guarantee that some of them would not get back to their old ways and take advantage of such a blank order to carry out harassment and illegal killings of innocent civilians, with the claim that their victims are armed robbers.
Even before such a “shoot on sight” order was issued by CDS Cham, we have heard a few occasions when some civilians alleged of being harassed by some members of the security forces. A good case in point was when in August 2024, some civilians on a night outing had their car shot at while driving past a checkpoint allegedly manned by members of the State Guards on the OIC Highway, and one of them was alleged to have been hit with a bullet on his leg and they were also briefly detained, accused of failing to stop at the checkpoint.
However, dealing with theft and robbery should primarily be the job of the police and not the army, and as such, the CDS should not have been the one to issue such an order, if indeed it was legitimate to do so. Whatever the case however, neither the CDS nor anyone else should have the audacity to issue such a blank order, which has the potential of being seen by some rogue soldiers as a license to take the law into their own hands. Obviously, such an order cannot be part of the so-called security sector reform because it tantamount to a return to the bad old days when the security forces were given too much powers and leverage to do anything to the civilians with impunity.
