Gambia NIA attempts to Recruit Diasporans

The Gambia National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is attempting to recruit Gambians from the Diaspora who are presently in the country for a consultative meeting with the government of the Gambia to inform on perceived opponents of the regime.

According to a source who asked not to be named, some of the participants were approached by the top brass of the notorious NIA to provide their  "patriotic services in providing information on Gambian dissidents based abroad."

“I had suspected from the word go that all the government wanted is to establish a mechanism to keep a tab on the activities of Gambians in Europe and the US. This government’s concern for welfare of Gambians at home and abroad is suspect at best and non-existent at worst so we are not fooled,” he continued.

Asked what was specifically said about the role of the so-called Gambian dissidents abroad whom some of his colleagues told him they were approached by the NIA officials to stalk and inform upon, the source ploughed on:

“There was particular mention of some Gambians whom the officials accused of running online media portals primarily to tarnish the image of the government. Freedom newspaper was singled out for trenchant criticism as one of the officials said that freedom newspaper’s editorial policy has cost the country millions of Dollars in international assistance”.

The source maintained that this act of expressed ill-will towards Gambian citizens has engendered in him a substantial sense of fear and concern for the welfare and security of his fellow Gambian abroad, saving money to feed families back home.

“This is absolutely saddening and depressing for me, because it shows how far we have to go as a nation when the government is devoting a huge chunk of the national treasury to ensnare its citizens. Does Jammeh think we have only been eating and shitting abroad with no sense of what we want for the future? We have accumulated vast experience in many aspect of life so we cannot be easily fooled”.

The participants, according to the source, have been paid hundred Dollars a day apiece for taking part in the meeting with the government refunding their airfares back to their countries of residence.

This, the source believes, is part of the government’s propaganda and populist gimmickry so as to attract participants in the Diaspora in larger numbers.

He concluded:  “I know for sure that there are some desperate and greedy opportunists who are willing to compromise their principles just to have jobs with the government to further their personal interests. They will pay dearly for their association with the corrupt, murderous and drug-dealing Jammeh”.