31 October 2011

Gambia ALERT: Court detains newspaper journalist

Seikou Ceesay, a reporter of privately-owned the Daily News newspaper, is being held at the headquarters of The Gambian Police Force allegedly on the orders of the Banjul Magistrate Court for standing surety for Nanama Keita, who recently jumped bail and fled the country.
Ceesay, a co-opted member of the Gambian Press Union (GPU), on July 2011 stood surety for Keita, a former sports editor of pro-government the Daily Observer newspaper, detained at the time for giving “false information” to the office of President Yahya Jammeh. This was after Keita had petitioned President Jammeh over his alleged wrongful dismissal from the Daily Observer newspaper.
Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) sources said earlier on October 19, 2011 Ceesay’s wife was also arrested and detained for about four hours after the court allegedly issued the warrant for his (Ceesay)’s arrest. At the time of her arrest, Ceesay was in his home village at the outskirts of Banjul.
As part of the condition for Keita’s bail, the sources said his passport was confiscated and he signed a bail bond of Hundred Thousand Dalasis (D100,000) about Three Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy One Dollars.(US$3571). The GPU also provided legal services for Keita.
In an e-mail to MFWA on September 16, Keita claimed that he had to flee the country after persistent threats on his life by unknown assailants believed to be government’s agents.
"September 7, 2011, was when I received a tip-off from a sympathizer within the security ranks that attempts are being made to have me arrested immediately on a reason the informant would not let me know… Upon getting this tip-off, on a rather pretty serious tone, I then decided to gather a few things before fleeing to neighbouring Dakar and finally, New York, to take refuge," said Keita.
For more information, Please contact :
Kwame Karikari (Prof), Executive Director, MFWA, Accra. Tel: 233-30-22 4 24 70, Fax: 233-302-22 10 84

Gambia: Elections or no elections Hell No to five more years of Yahya Jammeh’s terrorism

By Mathew K Jallow
A standout refrain in rock goddess Janis Joplin’s most famous 60s ballad titled “Me and Bobby McGee” reads; “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” The song was a tribute to the freedom marchers of an era that turned ordinary people into extraordinary human-beings. And equally important still, it was a decade that defined a generation who looked at their circumstances, decried the naked injustices that permeated every aspect of their lives, and had an epiphany to change America. But by the strength of their voices, which resonated across cultural boundaries, they inadvertently set in motion the social and political paradigms that changed societies around the globe; one neighborhood and one country at a time. And the world has never been the same. Dirt poor China, once beset by deadly famines and bloody civil unrests then, has now become the leading economy in the world. And they are not alone. In much of East Asia and South America, where shanty towns, dilapidated homesteads, corn fields, and lush open countryside once spread as far as the eye could see, skyscrapers, marble edifices and high-rise glass towers of tantalizing architectural beauty now reach for the blue skies; standing as monuments to the sacrifices of generations long gone. As a tribute to those who fought those wars of mental and physical liberation, a lot has also changed in many of the other parts of the world. From the pristine rolling flatlands of once fierce-some Mongolia, to the awe-filled impossible ancient stone architectures of Peru’s pantheon of the gods; Machu Picchu, nothing has ever been the same again.
By the same token, elsewhere around the globe, where minds continue to be restricted from freely wandering into the serene realms of imagination and creativity, a lot still remains unchanged by history, and even worst. And Africa, south of the Sahara, more than any other place on the face of the earth, represents the foreboding and reprehensible culture of social and political stagnation that is eating into the soul of a weary people; a people tasked by the burdensomeness of a disastrous culture of greed and covetousness. To its people, Africa is the quintessential definition of a bad dream; a never-land representing a catastrophic disincentive to a people left with no other options than to fend for themselves under circumstances that overwhelmingly court war-making and political unrest as the last resort. From the foot of the mysterious Atlas Mountains, to the rugged coastline of Southern Africa, the African continent has become the metaphor of the cruel underbelly of Machiavellian mean-spiritedness, and there is no better example of this than The Gambia, a country, which for sixteen long miserable years, has remained encumbered by the menace of a murderous political tyrant; Yahya Jammeh. In this day and age, long after the flames of civil unrest in many of the world’s hotbeds of political discontent have been extinguished, long after the demands of social justice had become the hallmarks in governance systems around the world, and long after smoke from the embers of the fires from popular revolts have drifted up towards the receptive clouds, The Gambia continues down a path that is politically destructive and economically unsustainable. In short, after sixteen years of cruel totalitarianism, The Gambia continues to remain captive to one of Africa’s most malignant reigns of terror. The scourges of political ineptitude and greed that have visited other unbending dictators, now also have Yahya Jammeh in their sights as a perfect candidate for obliteration from the face of this earth.
The last sixteen years of Yahya Jammeh’s Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council rule have left The Gambia severely torn apart by politically motivated death and dying, incarceration and disappearances, corruption of unimaginable proportions, naked and unforgiving tribalism, the complete collapse of the system of governance and the disintegration of our social and cultural values. The soul that once clued our people together into a single unitary body of hope and aspiration is no more. We as a nation are victims of a regime that has perfected the art of divisiveness and political manipulation, and turned it into the centerpiece of Yahya Jammeh art of gaining and retaining political power. Under Yahya Jammeh reign, The Gambia has turned into a land of despair, a place consumed by fear of incarceration and death; a place where dreams go to die, and where Yahya Jammeh’s footprints have left behind them a trail of terror in which hardly any family remains untouched. The greed, narcissism and corruption of the man who singlehandedly runs The Gambia as if it were his personal possession, has left many Gambians disposed of their properties, their hopes and their dreams. Everywhere one looks, Yahya Jammeh has a property to his name, in every sector of the economy, Yahya Jammeh’s Kanilai family farm is a leader competitor, often muscling his way into and taking over Gambians’ properties to add to the massive wealth he has already amassed for himself.And as each day passes, Yahya Jammeh has become an even more of a threat to the livelihoods of Gambian workers and retirees; intermittently raiding the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation accounts to lavish our wealth on people who have no right to the pensions funds of working and retired Gambians. But more than that, no other income generating governmental institutions in Gambia has been safe from Yahya Jammeh’s marauding in an effort to fulfill his insatiable greed; a testament to his selfish craving for material wealth; not Gamtel/Gamcel; not Gambia Port Authority; not Livestock Marketing Board; and not even The Central Bank of The Gambia among other agencies and institutions.
But, perhaps the most visible aspect of Yahya Jammeh’s reign is the tribalism he has introduced and fostered in the body politics of our country. In today’s Gambia, the Fulas, Mandingoes, Wollofs and the other tribes have become virtually invisible. It is as if they have vanished into thin air; gone forever, and the daily news casts, even by Yahya Jammeh’s mouthpiece, The Daily Observer Newspaper, confirms this anomaly. The names that have consistently featured in the news over the years have been and continue to be exclusively those of Yahya Jammeh’s tribe of preference, the Jolas. The names that top the list include the Jammehs, Sonkos, Colleys, Sanyangs, Sannehs and Badjies; names of people favored by Yahya Jammeh; names that now occupy most senior positions in the regime; names Yahya Jammeh can rely on to protect his nefarious activities from becoming public knowledge, and names that have become synonymous with every crime attributed to Yahya Jammeh and his regime. Yet, if Gambians think they know the extent of Yahya Jammeh’s massive corruption and what he will do avoid accountability to the Gambian people, they need to think again. Recently, Freedom Newspaper and Radio revealed for the first time, what every Gambian suspected all along; Yahya Jammeh’s contracting of Cassamance rebels for protection in the event of a revolt to oust him from power. But Gambians hardly care about a paltry three thousand mercenaries when in the city of Brikama alone, dissidents can easily muster a ten-thousand-man army of young able-bodied men who will fight to protect the integrity of our country’s borders from outside intrusion. Besides, in the city of Serekunda alone there are far more willing defenders of our country’s territorial borders than the entirety of all the mercenaries Yahya Jammeh can coral from his Cassamance homeland. And if Yahya Jammeh is delusional to think his three thousand man contracted Cassamance rebels force can scare patriotic Gambians from fighting to save our country from external aggression, he must be out of his damn drunken mind.
But what has captured the imagination of Gambians today is November 24, 2011. Will Yahya Jammeh stay or leave; leave either through a humiliating electoral defeat or be sent packing by the combined outrage of Gambia’s civilian population and the military and security forces? Gambians at home and abroad echo similar sentiments of rejection of another five-year term of Yahya Jammeh’s murderous tyranny and are unwilling under any circumstance to contemplate such an eventuality. But one of the stumbling blocks to this aspiration, many believe, is the collapse of the party unity talks. As inconceivable as it sounds, the minuscule and ridiculous issue of national convention as demanded by PDOIS has turned out as the bottleneck to a united opposition. Considering how insignificant this issue is within the larger context of the life and death issues surrounding The Gambia under Yahya Jammeh, the inability of the political parties to embrace UDP’s Ousainou Darboe is almost a sacrilege of near religious proportions. For the moment at least it seems PDOIS’s equivocation has swayed the other political party players towards a direction that undermines the need and the sanity of a united political front. And to think NRP’s Hamat Bah will endorse the unreasonable issue of national convention to influence his decision to abandon Ousainou Darboe cold turkey is beyond imagination. As it is, a vote for either NRP or PDOIS will tantamount to a deliberate sabotage of the elections against UDP; essentially diminishing of the opportunity for Ousainou Darboe’s electoral success. And considering that UDP is the only opposition party with a truly broad national reach and appeal, it would appear a foregone conclusion for PDOIS with presence in only Serekunda East and Wuli districts and NRP with a viable presence only in Saloum, to unequivocally embrace the candidature of UDP’s Ousainou Darboe. If Hamat Bah and Halifa Sallah cast themselves as pariahs in this political process, it will be an understatement to say that Gambians will judge their credibility harshly for years to come. As it is, a vote for either an NRP or PDOIS candidature will translate to a vote for Yahya Jammeh. Gambians cannot fathom nor wrap their minds around this inconceivably moronic failure of imagination. But as we pursue the elections prong, the possibility of a popular revolt to oust Yahya Jammeh is an option Gambians must keep handy in our quiver. Hell NO to five more years of Yahya Jammeh.

24 October 2011

Gambia News: Chief Ebrima Manneh’s Father Speaks

By Lamin Sanyang
The father of  Chief Ebrima Manneh, a Gambian journalist whose whereabouts remain unknown ever since his mysterious disappearance five years ago spoke to this paper about the recent comments of the Justice Minister about his son that has been published by the Newspapers in the country and  captured in the Online Newspapers.

The family of Chief Ebrima Manneh was met and the comments made by the Justice Minister were related to them. They were surprised by the comments. They were asked whether they are in touch with the Justice Minister.
“I don’t even know the Justice Minister and have never seen a delegation from him,’ said Chief Manneh’s father, Sarjo Manneh.
The old man has lamented the hardship and pain he underwent in search of his son for the past five years. He questioned the possibility of a person disappearing in a small country like ours and cannot be traced for five years. He said he had gone the length and breadth of the country looking for his son.
“If the government said they have no hand in my son’s disappearance then why can’t they send a delegation to clear their name to us?” asked the old man.
He told this reporter that since the disappearance of Ebrima Chief Manneh in 2006, nobody came to meet them about his son except the press union and the international bodies. He said he has made several attempts to meet the President and the Vice President about his son but all the attempts had failed. He said he heard the President’s comment about his son when the Media chiefs met him at the State House and is still wondering how his son could have left the country without his knowledge.
Meanwhile, he was asked what he would want to tell the Justice Minister about his recent remarks on his son. He said he would want to meet the Justice Minister in person.
“How did he know my son is alive? Where is he kept? Why does it have to take all these long years to find my son? Why is it that his statement and the president are not the same?” asked  Sarjo Manneh.

SOURCE :foroyaa.gm

03 October 2011

GAMBIA: THREE WEEKS AFTER THE BUSUMBALA ACCIDENT INVOLVING JAMMEH'S CONVOY.NO STATEMENT FROM GOVERNMENT.

By Lamin Sanyang
It is more than three weeks when one of the vehicles in the President’s convoy had an accident at Busumbala that resulted in deaths, injuries and damaged to properties. No television or radio coverage of the incident had been broadcast and no press release concerning the accident has been issued. 
“We have not heard from any one since the funeral,” said a family source.
The family of Dawda Jatta lost two children in the accident and their third child was admitted at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital. This reporter visited the family at Busumbala and he found out that the child that was admitted at the hospital, Dawda Jatta Jr, has been discharged after spending three weeks at the hospital. He sustained injuries on his head. The family said the child’s head was scanned, but the result was not communicated to them.
“I think we will return him to the hospital because he is acting strangely. He could not recognize some members of the family and he finds it difficult to talk,” said a distraught family member.
They said apart from the fee that was paid for the scanning of his head, they were responsible for all the medical bills including the food and transportation to the hospital. It is reported that there are still other people lying at the hospital. Their family members are also responsible for their treatment.

A resident of Bundung and a family member of the late Mrs. Rohey Sonko (a woman who died in the accident at Busumbula) told this reporter that the corpse of her late mother was long transported to Cassamance (the southern part of Senegal) for burial. Asked what next after the burial she said: “I would not know because the impact of the accident still makes me panic,” she said.
She further revealed to this reporter that there was an eight year child who was with her late mother in the van that was hit by a vehicle from the President’s convoy. She said the upper teeth of the child were broken and that the kid is still admitted at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul . She was asked to disclose the person responsible for the medical bills, but she declined to comment.
However, another young lady in her mid twenties, Ms. Kaddy Jatta, was found lying down on a mattress on the ground with both legs broken and wrapped in bandages. She was surrounded by family members at Bundung. She said she was discharged from Banjul hospital last week Tuesday. She said she is a staff of Gamtel, the country’s national telecommunication company. She was asked whether any compensation was given to her, but she answered in the negative.
“My boss is the one paying all the medical bills,” she said.
Miss. Jatta explained the hardship that she is undergoing because of the accident, while complaining of losing her two mobile phones plus two thousand dalasi during the accident. She said she cannot move without a wheel chair. She said she was visited once by the soldiers at the hospital.
“Since I was released at the hospital, I have seen no one to tell me my faith,” she lamented.
Mrs. Fatou Badjie, another victim of the accident was discharged from the hospital last Monday. She told this reporter that the accident has affected her head, ribs and the ankle of her right leg.
“I was in a state of unconsciousness during most part of the time I spent at the hospital,” she remarked.
Mrs. Badjie was asked whether she received any compensation which she answered in the negative, but added that she did not pay any medical bills. She was asked whether she was visited by the authorities, but she said she was once visited by the soldiers at the hospital. She complained that she lost her mobile phone at the accident. When asked about her present health condition after she was released from the hospital.
“My sides are severelyaching,” she complained.
The owner of the Toyota van that was hit by the vehicle was contacted to explain the situation. He told this reporter that the van is still parked at New Yundum Police station. He was asked whether any compensation was given to him, but he answered in the negative.
“They did not contact us,” he said.
However, he said he went to the Insurance Company where he insured his vehicle and he was given a document to take to the police for signature. He said the document was signed by the police. He said the accident has really affected his work and family. He said he is waiting for the response of the authorities. 



Source:foroyaa.gm