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Two Directors Released As NIA Is Restructured
Courtesty of The Gambia Journal : The Gambia Journal has learnt that two former bosses at the fearsome National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have been released after about nine months in detention. Former Deputy Director General, Mr. Alieu Singhateh, and former Director of External Relations, Kemo Balajo, were released last Friday 8th December.
The release of the duo follows their prolonged detention since their arrest in connection with the March 21st abortive coup. They leave behind Messrs Abdoulie Kujabi and Foday Barry who were both former Director Generals of the same institution. All four were arrested in connection with the March 21st alleged coup attempt against the government of President Yahya Jammeh. Though both Singhateh and Balajo had been charged with alleged concealment of treason, prison officials at the Mile Two central prisons woke them up on Friday morning to announce they were free to return home. It is not known if the men will be allowed to return to their positions in the NIA, an institution that has undergone stormy changes under the period of their incarceration. In act their release comes at a period when the NIA is undergoing yet more changes.
Official sources say, 34 officers of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had their services terminated with immediate effect the same day Messrs Singhateh and Balajo were released. The changes follow the coming in as chief spy of Mr. Pa Jallow, an experienced professional who steered the establishment of the institution, then called National Security Services in the eighties.
A source close to the agency said current plans are to restructure the agency with a view to making it more focused and more effective. The sources added that with the restructuring, the agency would now be better placed to deal with suspected offenders more efficiently and professionally. He cited the numerous cases of innocent people being detained for months unnecessarily. “Don’t think that we at the NIA want these things to happen here, I mean the manner in which people suspected of various offences languish in detention for long periods without trial. We too, just like you journalists and civilians don’t like it. My God, some of the detainees are related to us you know, friends, neighbors, our former bosses and colleagues and even blood brothers. “Our source said. He promised that from now on the NIA will go by the book and that there will no longer be baseless and lengthy detentions without charges and that any arrests made by the NIA would be explainable.
The source went on to say that the appointment of Mr. Pa Jallow as the NIA Director-General would bring about a change in the agency’s operations and restore confidence in the NIA. In addition to maintaining the hardworking and dedicated staff, the new administration has also resolved to give the institution a better image than what has obtained for sometime now.
Our sources further stated that a circular has been issued that before any arrests are made, a clearance based on good reasons must be obtained by the NIA officers from the Director-General. As part of the institutional restructuring the number of directorates is being halved from nine to four only in order to downsize the agency and put it in more efficient shape.
Many observers welcome the attempts to do something about the notoriously thuggish institution that more than any other defined the repressive nature of Yahya Jammeh’s reign, but few are hopeful of any sustained improvements for this agency. The NIA, a political commentator told The Gambia Journal, “As an instrument of terror is an indispensable parameter in the equation that helps Jammeh to hold on to power. Without its lawless modus operandus, the Jammeh regime continued survival cannot be guaranteed.”
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