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Ombudsman sensitizes police immigration and prisons departments
The office of the Ombudsman organized a one day sensitization workshop as part of the Ombudsman’s preparations to visit prisons, police cells and other detention centers. The workshop was attended by fifty eight participants from the Police, Immigration and Prisons departments as well as staff of the Ombudsman and Press officers and was held at Senegambia Hotel on 10th August 2017.
The Opening remarks was done by the Ombudsman Mrs Fatou Njie- Jallow stating the roles and functions of the Office of the Ombudsman, reasons for its existence and its establishment in 1997 as stated in Chapter X (ten) section 163-165 of the 1997 constitution of The Republic of The Gambia.
Mrs Njie Jallow further spelt out that the main objective of the workshop was to equip her staff with additional skills and knowledge required to visit prisons and detention centers. She believe this will foster a fruitful relationship between The Ombudsman Office and these institutions in a bid to enhance administrative justice, wipe out discrimination, promote human rights and the rule of law. She further stated that the Ombudsman has been granted unrestricted access to all police and prisons cells as well as all detention centers. This she stressed is a big responsibility and the institution cannot afford to make any mistake and they have to get it right, thus the need to train the staff and build their capacity for the assignment ahead.
The Police, Immigration and Prisons departments all made presentations on the role and functions of their institution and their management structures. The presentations were followed by questions and answer that engaged participants to get to know the role and functions of the various institutions.
The Deputy Ombudsman Mr Samba Badjie delivered the closing statement at the end of the workshop, thanking all the participants from the various institutions that attended the training and the resource persons that presented during the workshop. He highlighted that it was a successful workshop as all the participants contributed effectively and all learnt from each other.
A similar workshop is been planned for the SIS, The Gambia Armed Forces and Gambia Ports Authority to be held by September 2017.
Source: Office of the Ombudsman, The Gambia
