The National Youth Wing of the United Democratic Party (UDP) has written to the Inspector General of police seeking a permit to hold a peaceful procession against corruption in the Gambia on March 9th, 2023.

The letter listed provisions of the constitution and the public order act that they believe guarantee them the right to peacefully assemble and petition their government.

“In exercise of our constitutional rights guaranteed under section 25(1)D of the Constitution of the Gambia 1997-to hold peaceful procession – and in adherence to the provisions of section 5(2) of the Public Order Act No. 7 of the 1961 Cap. 22.01; we the members of the United Democratic Party’s Youth Wing wish to stage a peaceful procession to manifest our dissatisfaction with the incidence of corruption allegations emanating from the official reports of the Auditor General of the National Audit Office,” the UDP Youth Wing said in a letter written to IGP.

The letter from the UDP Youth Wing went on to enumerate the reasons for their seeking a permit to hold a peaceful procession.

“Following a spate of serious fraud and or corruption allegations contained in several Reports of the Auditor General of the Gambia, We the young people of the Gambia believe that our future is being jeopardized by these corruption allegations. We believe that to secure our collective futures we must make our concerns known to the Honourable Members of the National Assembly and His Excellency the President of the Republic of the Gambia. 

“By this letter, we humbly request for a permit for police protection to hold a peaceful public procession on 9th March 2023. The procession will commence from National Assembly Building to the Quadrangle the seat of the Executive arm of the Government where we will hand our petition demanding for the enactment of the anti-corruption bill before the National Assembly with all due deliberate speed. We hope to begin this procession between the hours of 12 pm to 4 pm,” the letter reads.

By Buba Gagigo