Barely seventy-two hours before leaving the Gambia, at the end of his assignment in the Gambia, US Consul Christopher Zimmer yesterday granted his final interview to The Point newspaper.

Below is the full text of the interview:

The Point: Thank you very much for granting The Point this last interview at such short notice.
Zimmer: You are welcome.
The Point: For how many years have you been in the Gambia?
Zimmer:  I have been in the Gambia for two years.
The Point: Where does your next assignment take you?
Zimmer: I’ll be going to Washington DC for one year for language training, after which I will be going to Croatia as a Political Officer for three years.
The Point: How do you feel leaving The Gambia?
Zimmer: During my stay, I’ve made many friends here, and I enjoyed living with the people. I have also traveled extensively throughout The Gambia and will be leaving with a heavy heart.
The Point: Since you took charge how many visa applicants have you issued?
Zimmer: I think it’s around 2,500 applicants out of a total of 7,500 interviewed.
The Point: Did you at any time reject someone that you later realized should have in fact been issued?
Zimmer: There have been cases where the people (visa applicants) did not provide enough information for me to issue a visa, but when they reapplied, the change in their situation or additional information allowed me to issue them visa.
The Point: How does it feel to reject a visa applicant?
Zimmer: It never makes me happy to reject a visa applicant. There are definitely cases that made me sad, but it is part of my job and it is something that consular officers throughout the world have to live with. We cannot make everybody happy and we just have to follow what the US law requires.
The Point: How would you rate the Gambia in terms of applicants presenting false identities?
Zimmer:  Throughout the world, there are people who will use fraud to try to enter the United States and The Gambia is no exception, but I do not think there are any unusual aspects about The Gambia in that respect.
The Point: Do you sometimes feel insecure?
Zimmer: I read some of the comments in the newspapers and hear what people say about me around town. But we have a very strict law that requires an applicant to be viewed as an immigrant until they can prove that they are not.  In effect, you start the interview as a refusal and the applicant works up to an issuance. My application of the US law and the past two consular officers has been very consistent. What I try to do is that I try to be very open with the applicants to explain why they have been refused and I think sometimes there are some that view the explanation as very harsh, when I am required by U.S. law to explain to them why they have been refused. In the past, these explanations have not always happened and some people are always surprised to hear the actual evaluation of their case or to learn that in the past they received a permanent refusal.
The Point: You said you have issued 2,500 out of 7,500 applicants. Do you agree to statements by certain people that you are harsh in issuing visa?
Zimmer: No, that’s not a fair assessment, but I hear all the rumors going around The Gambia. You hear a lot of rumors about what you need to apply for a visa or what will help you.  Often people receive poor advice on what to put on their forms or what to tell the officer about how long they were in the United States or what they have done in the past.
A lot of the information people try to cover up, we already know because of our recording system is much more advanced in just the last three or four years. So in the past when something may have worked to the advantage of the applicant, it is now very harmful for them to make misstatements.
For instance I can see during an interview, how long someone has been in the US. So if they tell me that they were there for three weeks, I can ask for the immigration records and see that they were actually there for 4 months and in the past that was not possible. It is my duty to check those records to make sure that people have told the truth throughout the visa application process and it is something that I think people have to realise because providing false answers during the interview or on the application form can lead to a permanent denial of visas and everyone signs a statement that everything on their form is true and correct.
People need to be very careful to what they answer and what they answered in the past and make sure that they don’t change their answers because the consular officer can see all the answers and if what you say now is not consistent, a refusal is likely.
The Point: Do you have a successor?
 Zimmer: I do have a successor, she will arrive at the end of August, and we have some temporary officers that will be here before that period. Some very experienced officers are coming to fill in the gap. My successor is coming from Lusaka, Zambia.
The Point: Any final word as you leave The Gambia?
Zimmer: On a final note I will like to say how much I enjoyed The Gambia and my experiences traveling up-country seeing the provinces, working on several projects beyond consular work, such as monitoring the elections and my visit to the UTG and some outreach that I have done for students and others.
I can see why this place is called the Smiling Coast because everyone I meet, even at the interview window, are generally happy.