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toubab1020
12240 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Dec 2020 : 14:20:02
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The Triple X Rise On Prices Of Residential Permits Sores Non Gambians, GID Unmoved
https://www.chronicle.gm/the-triple-x-rise-on-prices-of-residential-permits-sores-non-gambians-gid-unmoved/
By Kaddy JAWO on Dec 15, 2020
Nigerian, Sierra Leonean and many other West African nationals living in The Gambia have expressed discontent over the recent increase on payment of residential permit. The disgruntled foreign nationals believe that the increment was discriminatorily applied and beyond any reasonable basis.
It all started after many foreign nationals were suddenly told upon renewing their residential documents that the fees have increased dramatically. Where Senegalese nationals were paying D200, the price has now escalated to D700. Nigerian, Sierra Leonean, Ghanaians, Mauritanians nationals who were paying D1, 000 will now pay 1950. European residents who were paying D2500 will now settle for D4, 800 before being issued a permit.
Aminata Camara, a sierra Leonean national who runs a unisex salon said the sudden increase on the residential permit is too high for people like her because they depend on their business entirely to survive. “I have lived here for 14 years, and it was never this expensive.” Why make it too expensive now?” She asked. Aminata believes that the Immigration Department ought to reconsider the decision and treat West African nationals living in The Gambia fairly. As according to her, the increment on permits is disproportionate compared to The Gambia national ID card, also increased from D200 to D450.
The Public relations officer of The Gambia Immigration Department Mamanding Dibba told Peter Gomez, on his radio’s morning show “Coffee time” that all ECOWAS Citizens pay the same amount of D1, 950 as residential permit except The Senegalese, Guinea Bissau and Ivorian nationals who have the payment only lowered. “These three countries were exempted by the former administration”, according to Mamanding Dibba.
“During the former administration the residential permit was DI, 500 for ECOWAS Citizens. We have now migrated from manual to biometric documentation. The production for Biometric is very expensive compared to the manual. So, this is the main reason why there is an increment in the payment of residential permits”, PRO Mamanding Dibba said.
On purposely targeting foreign nationals for documentation, the Immigration spokesman said said his office (Immigration department) does not encourage ethnic profiling but rather treat Gambians and Non-Gambians the same. “We don’t do ethnic profiling. There has not been any serious complain that we are targeting a particular section of the community. It is just a rumor, so we have to treat it as one”, Mamading Dibba said.
With the ministry of Finance in a spree of all tax increase and collect everywhere, chances are quasi nil that Adama Barrow’s government reduces the tariffs on residential permits for the foreign nationals established in The Gambia.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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toubab1020
12240 Posts |
Posted - 17 Dec 2020 : 10:08:51
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‘ECOWAS citizens in Gambia pay D1,900 annually except’…
https://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/headlines/ecowas-citizens-in-gambia-pay-d1900-annually-except
Dec 16, 2020, 1:23 PM
By: Sankulleh Gibril Janko
The Gambia Immigration Department GID has refuted claims of preferential treatment among ECOWAS citizens in The Gambia on payment of yearly permits, while clarifying that they all pay D1900 except Senegalese, Bissau Guineans and Ivorians.
There is a speculation that some ECOWAS citizens especially Nigerians and Sierra Leones amongst others pay more than their counterparts in The Gambia.
However, according to the spokesperson of the Gambia Immigration Department, Mamanding Dibba, all ECOWAS citizens in the country pay the same amount except three countries.
“All ECOWAS citizens pay the same amount of money for the purpose of a residential permit in this country,” Dibba told West Coast Radio.
The GID spokesperson mentioned three countries whose citizens are exempted from paying residential permits in The Gambia.
“With the exception of Senegalese, Bissau Guineans and Ivorians,” he clarified.
He said: “These are the three countries that have been exempted by the former administration but other than these three, rests of the ECOWAS member countries are all paying the same amount.
In a follow up interview via telephone with the GID Spokesperson to make further enquiries, this reporter has been informed of the payments the three exempted countries make to the department.
Dibba told this reporter: “Senegalese, Ivorians and Bissau Guineans are paying for non-Gambian ID which is D650 plus the application form that is costing D100 summing up to D750 for those three countries.”
Many ECOWAS citizens residing in The Gambia have complained about the increment on the residential permits from D1,500 to D1,900.
To this complaint, Dibba credited the increment on the production cost of the documents, citing their biometric nature. He further said even Gambians previously paid D200 to obtain a national ID but this has also been increased to D450.
He denied claims that Nigerians, Guineans or other ECOWAS citizens have been treated unfairly, saying his office does not condone such treatment.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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