Editor,

Please allow me space in your paper to share my experience with your readers. On Saturday the 10th of January 2009, a patriotic Gambian (name withheld) was buying food at Four Seasons, on Kairaba Avenue, when a German tourist, (about 60 years old) walked into the restaurant with three young Gambian girls, ages between 13 and 16.

The patriotic Gambian was suspicious of their appearance so he interrogated the driver who confirmed that two of the young girls were in fact the girlfriends of the old German tourist. The driver stated that the girls visit the German tourist at a private house he is renting and that the man also visits the little girls’ house. The parents of the girls are said to be aware of the relationship.

The patriotic Gambian was joined by other concerned and angry Gambians to confront the tourist, who later produced a Gambian ID card for one of the girls, revealing that she was 20 years old. And when the girl was asked about her date of birth, she gave a date different from what the ID card indicated.

Knowing that he was in trouble, the old man called a police officer who had apparently helped him to obtain the fake ID cards for the young girls. The police officer advised him to leave the scene and the girls behind, as tension was rising at the restaurant. The girls were turned over to the police at the Kairaba station. The German tourist later came to the police station with the parents of one of the girls and the police officer who had helped him obtain the fake ID card. The patriotic Gambian, who had earlier been asked to leave the station, was called after a couple of hours.

He was shocked to learn that the tourist had been released with self bail by the station officer, and there was no file of the case at the station. The station officer refused to take a statement from the patriotic Gambian. It seemed that the officers involved had been paid to kill the case. And it appears that the mother and father of the girl were literally selling their daughter because of poverty.

It is interesting to know that at the same time that this scene was unfolding, there were Gambian citizens in jail and the only crime they had committed was hanging around the Senegambia tourist area. It seems that there are lots of effort to protect tourists from Gambians and almost zero efforts to protect Gambians from predatory tourists, sex tourists and child molesters.

Tourism is a good thing but if developing countries don’t protect their countries from predatory tourists, the consequences will far override the little money that the industry brings into these countries. Tourists with good intentions always come with their families. They will agree to this statement that predatory tourists are mostly old male tourists whose sole intent is to prey on poor people.

The consequences of their actions are exploitation which can lead to deviant social behaviors and increased level of prostitution, leading to the spread of STDs.
What amount of money and foreign exchange can compensate for these horrific consequences? The concept that tourism brings development and foreign exchange to a developing country is a myth in today’s reality. The only time that this can be true is when some unscrupulous law enforcement officers do not sabotage the efforts of government.  

Look at The Gambia today, prostitutes are coming from all over West Africa, simply because tourists are over protected and exempted from the jaws of the law. After all, prostitution, child molestation and sexual abuse are illegal in The Gambia. It is ironic that these immigrants and Gambian prostitutes will pass the police post at Senegambia every night without being questioned, simply because they give officers few dalasis to buy attaya.

You tell me how much tourism brings to the Gambia every year and I will show you that Gambians in the diaspora contribute way more than that towards the economy of The Gambia.