By D. A. Jawo
Once again, it appears that the government of the Gambia has taken advantage of a particular situation in order to make money from the people; with the ministry of Health demanding D3000 (three thousand Dalasis) for a COVID 19 test certificate for people travelling out of this country.
Of course, while no one expects such a service to be provided free of charge as there are expenses involved in its discharge, however, the amount they are demanding is quite exorbitant.
Right now, the COVID 19 test is being done free of charge and as it is the same process for those travelling, then it certainly does not make much sense to ask for such a huge amount just for a test certificate.
Of course, it is obvious that it is just another opportunity for the ministry to make money, which they are ready to capitalize on, knowing quite well that travelers will pay as they have no other choice, but are the authorities not aware of some possible negative implications of that decision?
One such possible implication is that the crooks and fraudsters may soon get into the business, now that there is a lot of money to be realized from it. As there is hardly any security printing in this country, it would be quite easy for those intending to make quick money from the process to get involved by forging the test certificates. We all know how easy it is to forge Gambian documents. We have heard, for instance, that even our diplomatic passports, which were supposed to be among the most secure of our national documents, were being forged, it would be very easy to forge the COVID 19 test certificate. Therefore, it may just be a matter of time before those bad people start doing exactly that.
Therefore, one would wonder whether the ministry actually put into consideration all the possible implications when they were taking such a decision to peg the amount that high. For instance, did they ever consider the possibility of fraudsters getting into the business and started forging those certificates? In such a situation, it can certainly have very serious implications for the health sector. Eventually, if those fake certificates get intercepted outside this country, then the very credibility of our authentic documents would be compromised and that would mean more trouble for travelers from the Gambia.
It is therefore quite important to always consider all possible implications of whatever actions we take, rather than only looking at the amount of money to be realized from such actions.
