Kairaba Station Officer, Others Received Bribe From A German Tourist Accused Of Exploiting Gambian Teenage Girls!!!!

Letter Writer Asked If The Gambian Police Is For Sale?

…..IGP Badjie Asked To Investigate

By Sam George, Banjul                           

On Saturday the 10th of January 2009, a patriotic Gambian name withheld, was buying food at Four Season on Kairaba Avenue, when a white German tourist  Ralph Ehrensten (about 60yrs old) walked into the restaurant with three young Gambian girls; Mariama Bah, Ndeye Fatim Touray and Binta Dibba ages from 13yrs to 16yrs old. The patriotic Gambian was suspicious of their appearance together and interrogated the driver, the driver confirmed that two of the young girls were in fact the girl friends of the 60yrs old German tourist. The driver stated that the girls visit the German tourist at a private house that the tourist is renting and the German also visit the little girls house and the parents of the girls were aware of the relationship.

The patriotic Gambian was joined by other concern and angry Gambians to confront the tourist. The tourist produced a Gambian ID card for one of the girls, stating that the girl is 20yrs old. The girl was asked of her date of birth and she gave a different date than the one on the ID card. Knowing that he was caught, the 60yrs old German tourist called a police officer that helped him obtained the fake ID cards for the young girls and the officer advised him to leave the scene and the girls behind after tension started to rise at the restaurant. The girls were turned over to the police station at Kairaba Ave.

The German tourist later came to the police station with the parents of one of the girls and the police officer that helped him obtained the fake ID card. The patriotic Gambian was asked to leave and that he will be called if needed. He was called after couple of hours and was asked to report to the station. He told them that he was living  far away,  but will come the next day. When he reports to the station the next day to give a written statement, he was shocked that the tourist was released with a self bail by the station officer and there was no file of the case at the station apart from the log on the book and station officer refused to take a statement from the patriotic Gambian. It  seems that the officers involved were paid to kill the case and the mother and father of the girl are literally selling their daughter because of poverty.

It is funny that at the same time that the scene was happening in the same station, there were Gambians citizens in jail for hanging around the Senegambia tourist area and the only crime they committed was (bomsing). It seems that there are lots of effort to protect tourist from Gambians and almost zero effort to protect Gambian from predatory tourists, sex tourists and child molesters.

Tourism is a good thing, but if developing countries don’t protect their countries from predatory tourist,  the consequences will far override the little money that tourism brings into their countries. Good tourist always come with their family and these good tourist will agree to these statements. Predatory tourists are mostly old white males whose sole intend is to prey on poor people. The consequences of predatory tourists are exploitation, which can lead to deviant social behaviors and an increased level of prostitution, which leads to the high spread of STDS. What amount of money and foreign exchange can compensate for these horrific consequences?

The concept that tourism brings development and foreign exchange to a developing country is a mit in today’s reality. The only time that this can be true is,  if law enforcement is not for sale, if not these countries will always be magnets for predators and bad foreigners, look at The Gambia today’s prostitutes are coming from Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia and all over west Africa simply because tourist are over protected and exempted from law enforcement. Prostitutes and predatory tourists can bribe police and immigration officers to continue committing crime after all prostitution, child molestation and sexual abuse is illegal in the Gambia. It is ironic that these immigrants and Gambians prostitutes will pass the police post at Senegambia every night without being questioned simply because they give officers few dalasis to buy attaya. You tell me how much tourism brings to The Gambia every year and I will show you that Gambians in the Diasporas contribute way more than that towards the economy of The Gambia.

Editors note: The views expressed here by the author, do not reflect the position of the Freedom Newspaper. This paper cannot take any liability for the author’s opinion. German tourist  Ralph Ehrensten and other parties mentioned therein are free to give us their side of the story. All accused persons are presumed innocent, until proven otherwise by a competent court. Therefore, we are treating Mr. George’s piece as mere allegations, until the fact of the matter is established. We call on the relevant authorities to look into the matter. The police should not only be seen to be honest, independent, but faithful to their oath of allegiance. A corrupt police force is a threat to development and national security. Thanks for your attention.