Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The Gambia’s Minister of Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, has ruled out the possibility of releasing the names of individuals issued with diplomatic passports, insisting that such disclosure would violate privacy laws and international norms.
His comments come amid mounting public calls for transparency following government clarification that only 3,030 diplomatic passports have been issued, and not 20,000 as reported in some Senegalese media outlets. The reports had alleged that several recipients of the passports were former Senegalese government officials.
Speaking to The Standard newspaper, Minister Ceesay said, “As a government, we do what we think is in line with the law. We cannot be releasing people’s private details. Those have to do with third-party and privacy issues. It is not done. Nobody does that. No country does that, and it is not in line with our laws.”
He emphasized that the government’s confirmation of the total number of diplomatic passports issued is sufficient disclosure, adding that any further publication of names would contravene The Gambia’s data protection legislation.
“We have a data privacy law in The Gambia now, so we cannot just release people’s names openly in the air just for the purpose of transparency. That is not in line with international practices,” the minister explained.
However, Dr. Ceesay noted that individuals seeking access to the list could submit a formal request through the Access to Information Act, where such requests would be reviewed in line with legal exemptions.
Turning to another issue, the minister dismissed as false rumors circulating in parts of the Senegalese opposition that former Senegalese officials, including ex-ministers, are seeking refuge in The Gambia.
“The government is not aware of any former Senegalese official seeking asylum in The Gambia. Asylum on what grounds?” he asked. “We have cooperation for extradition with Senegal. Just in the past weeks, we extradited a Senegalese fugitive. So these are statements made by the opposition to create confusion.”
He clarified that The Gambia would only act upon official extradition requests from Senegal and not on the basis of unverified political claims.
