Seedy Njie has insisted politics is not child’s play after he helped his party swat aside the country’s opposition parties at Saturday’s by-elections.

NPP’s candidate in the Niamina West national assembly by-election overwhelmed his GDC rival Yero Jallow to hand the party its first elected MP. In Kerr Jarga where a councillorship by-election took place, NPP’s Awa Gaye tamed GDC’s Yama Cham, APRC’s Wuyeh Jarra and UDP’s Momodou Sillah.

Seedy Njie speaking to journalists shortly after Birom Sowe’s victory said: “We’re elated. We want to invite everybody on Monday at the Arch in Banjul where His Excellency our party leader will meet our first elected officials.

“So we defeated them in both elections, the GDC, the UDP combined. Politics is not child’s play, politics means serious business and we mean serious business and today we’re committed. We also want to congratulate the Gambia Democratic Congress for participating and also all the other parties, UDP and APRC as well for both Niamina and Kerr Jarga.”

Gambia Action Party has congratulated National People’s Party less than 24 hours since the party stunned its opponents at the Niamina West and Kerr Jarga by-elections.

NPP’s Birom Sowe swept aside his GDC rival Yero Jallow in the Niamina West national assembly by-election while the party’s Awa Gaye overcame her GDC, APRC and UDP challengers in the Kerr Jarga councillorship by-election.

Gambia Action Party a few days before the Niamina West by-election faced criticism after its leader Musa Ousainou Yali Batchilly travelled to Niamina to talk to supporters of GAP to vote for the NPP candidate.

And in a statement, GAP congratulated NPP on its victory saying: “We congratulate NPP on the landslide victory registered in both Niamina West and Kerr Jarga Ward respectively. GAP has gratitude beyond words to have thrown our weight on NPP which led to many criticisms.

“We have strong convictions that many underestimated minority as the so-called majority were reduced to none. The political hypocrisy must end as 2021 will bring the most desired filth [sic].”

UDP’s candidate in the Kerr Jarga councillorship election took last place after polling only 257 votes.

Momodou Sillah was one of four candidates that vied for the councillorship election in Kerr Jarga, Jokadu.

The bout was won by NPP’s Awa Gaye who polled 1364 votes followed by GDC’s Yama Cham who got 700 votes. APRC’s Wuyeh Jarra went home with a sorry 446 votes.

By Sarjo Brito, in Niamina CRR and Lamin Njie, editor-in-chief

NPP got off to a flying start to life in the political ring on Saturday after the party’s candidates snatched convincing victories in the Niamina West and Kerr Jarga by-elections – and to all but send a strong statement of popularity to its opponents.

NPP’s Birom Sowe denied GDC from retaining the Niamina West National Assembly seat by defeating Yero Jallow. The election was forced by the death of sitting MP Demba Sowe, a GDC representative.

In Kerr Jarga, Jokadu, NPP’s Awa Gaye saw off her APRC, UDP and GDC challengers in the councillorship bout. Hundreds of votes separated the two candidates from their rivals.

Birom Sowe won the Niamina West contest by 1,716 votes to Yero Jallow’s 805 votes. Awa Gaye polled 1,364 to her closest rival, GDC’s 700 votes.

By Sarjo Brito, in Niamina CRR

NPP’s Birom Sowe has emerged as the new MP of Niamina West after his comprehensive victory in the constituency’s by-election.

Sowe denied GDC from retaining the Niamina West National Assembly seat by defeating Yero Jallow. The election was forced by the death of sitting MP Demba Sowe, a GDC representative.

Sowe won the contest by 1,716 votes to Yero Jallow’s 805 votes.

A group of up and coming Islamic thinkers have returned to the Faji Kunda cemetery to destroy amulets buried there by unknown sorcerers.

Top Islamic scholar Imam Fatty a two days ago railed at people who are bent on destroying others through sorcery. Some work of sorcerers involves burying amulets and charms at the grave of a dead person.

A video has now emerged online showing a group of brave Islamic students returning to the cemetery to destroy the charms that were unearthed during a grave digging exercise. One of the dangerous charms destroyed was nestled inside an egg.

Watch video below…

By Lamin Njie

Joe Biden’s remarkable late recovery in the battleground state of Pennsylvania has seen him become the 46th president of the United States – and dashing any hope of a second term for Donald Trump.

America this past Tuesday conducted one of the most emotive elections in her history – an election that will be remembered for its high stakes nature but also for its unprecedented voter turnout. A record over 144 million people voted in the election.

The state that put the contest and four-day agonising wait to bed is Pennsylvania where Trump had led Biden since on election day Nov. 3. However, a disciplined Joe Biden had continued to eat into Trump’s lead in the state as more mail-in ballots got counted and by Friday morning, the democrat stunned Trump by modestly pulling ahead. News networks such as CNN and BBC have now projected Biden has won in the state.

Biden by early Friday led Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 5,000 votes, where over six million people voted.

Trump had earlier on Thursday evening railed against the election accusing entire fraternities such as the media and big tech of masterminding an elaborate heist of the election.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” Trump who did not tender any evidence to back his claims and was only reappearing from hibernation for nearly two days began by saying at the White House.

He said elsewhere in his 17-minute speech: “There were now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of those states have run in all cases by democrats.

“We were winning in all the key locations by a lot actually and then our numbers started getting miraculously whittled away in secret and they wouldn’t allow legally permissible observers.

“We went to court in a couple of instances and we were able to get the observers put in and when the observers got there, they wanted them 60, 70 feet away, 80 feet away, a 100 feet away, outside the building to observe people inside the building.”

Some frustrated news media organisations like ABC and NBC took the editorial decision to cut away from his press conference – if at all that’s what it was – saying he was making false statements and smearing America – a country a lot of countries in the world look up to.

Trump had also elsewhere thrown the integrity of the contest into question when he for example earlier on asked that counting be stopped, he even lost his legal bid at the supreme court in Georgia while trying to achieve that.

Joe Biden on the other hand had all throughout adopted a calm disposition speaking to the American people every now and then, suing for calm but also asking Americans to put their faith in the system.

“”I ask everyone to stay calm. All the people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed. And we’ll know very soon.

“Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well,” Mr Biden had said in an address to the American people on Thursday.

Again on Friday, Biden addressed Americans from his Wilmington, Delaware base where more secret service agents were unleashed to beef up his security, as the inevitable continued to ring.

“We’re going to win this race,” Biden said in a short address at few minutes to 11pm Friday while vowing to work as hard for those who voted against him as those who voted for him.

But his rival Trump was still insisting on the election not being fair, expressing hope his legal bids that are underway would address the issue.

“I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!’ he tweeted. He had first cautioned Biden not to wrongfully claim the office of president.

The former vice president’s late resurgence in Pennsylvania is what has truly inflicted the coup de grace on Trump’s re-election chances.

Mr Biden won the race by 273 electoral votes, well past the 270 threshold, according to CNN’s projection. Trump now has until January 20 to leave the White House.

By Sarjo Brito, in Niamina CRR

The National People’s Party candidate contesting the Niamina West National Assembly by-election says the people of Niamina are rallying behind him, and victory is certainly his today.

While elections results are yet to be out, Sowe claims the people of Niamina have manifested that they are rallying behind him 100%.

“The Niamina people are showing today that they are with President Barrow and his national development plan. They are behind NPP to see that we take this country to the highest level,” Sowe said.

The politician continued that the people of Niamina are Gambians too and deserves their share of development.
‘’We now need development, and this is what we are calling for. You know the hardship you encountered along the road to get here. We are Gambians and we need development too and it is what we are calling for’’

Birom Sowe also fired back at his opponent Yero Jallow following allegations that the Independent Electoral Commission allowed the NPP to continue their campaign outside of specified period. Jallow says the allegation are untrue and unfounded. He furthered that the Gambia Democratic Congress has been hellbent on spreading false information and propaganda messages on the campaign trail.

By Washington Post (By Danielle Paquette and Anthony Faiola)

First the president expressed shock. Then he refused to accept the results of the election.

It was late 2016, and Gambia’s ruler of 22 years — Yahya Jammeh — triggered global outrage when he rejected an unexpected loss to his political rival.

“I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process,” Jammeh said on state television at the time, offering no evidence.

The strongman appealed to the Supreme Court, asserting the contest was rigged.

Some in Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa, thought of that tense December night this week after President Trump falsely declared victory even as Democratic nominee Joe Biden pulled ahead.

“For us in Gambia, we were saying, ‘Trump is acting like Jammeh in 2016,’ ” said Sait Matty Jaw, executive director of the Center for Research and Policy Development, a pro-democracy group in the capital, Banjul.

It was one of the last times a world leader refused to step down after losing an election — a move swiftly condemned by defenders of democracy such as the United States, which has long positioned itself as a political expression role model and lambasted others who fall short.

Less than three months ago, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put pressure on the tiny South American nation of Guyana after its former president blamed his fall from power on illegitimate votes.

“We know what makes a free and fair election,” Pompeo said. “It’s a central idea of every person gets to vote.”

On election night in the United States, vote counts showed an early lead for Trump across several battleground states. Optimism among Republicans chipped away, however, as officials began to tally millions of mail-in ballots — and Biden seemed to have a clear edge by Friday.

“STOP THE COUNT!” Trump tweeted, asserting without evidence that people had cast fraudulent ballots.

As Trump bashed the U.S. electoral process, his supporters gathered this week at election offices in states with tight races. Some of them brought guns.

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that his father should go to “total war.”

“He is going against the very principles of democracy,” said Jaw, who followed the chaos on social media.

Back in 2016, Adama Barrow, then a 51-year-old businessman, stunned Gambia when he won 45.5 percent of votes for the highest office in the country.

Jammeh had garnered less than 37 percent.

The ruler had built a reputation for human rights atrocities. Gambia is investigating years of accusations against him — including extrajudicial killings by his personal squad of hit men — through its Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.

Initially, Jammeh conceded defeat and people celebrated his exit in the streets.

But the president who once asserted he would lead “for a billion years if Allah decrees it” quickly changed his mind. Leaving office meant he could be prosecuted for crimes. Jammeh faced accusations of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers, as well as rape and murder.

Unrest enveloped the country of roughly 2.4 million. Thousands fled into neighboring Senegal — including Barrow, the president-elect.

West African leaders tried to reason with him, but Jammeh wouldn’t listen. So troops from Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana ousted him in January 2017. He now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.

On social media Friday, a photo of Trump circulated with a slightly modified Jammeh quote: “I announce to you, Americans, my total rejection of the election results.”

For Latin Americans, Trump’s unfounded claims of fraud recalled the tactics deployed by both the right and the left for generations in efforts to cling to power.

Those attempts in recent years were reversed through international pressure, particularly from the United States.

Such was the case in Guyana.

Then-President David E. Granger, on the cusp of losing, baselessly blamed votes by dead people and noncitizens in the March elections.

“It is the first time this has happened in the history of our country,” Granger said in July, according to the Guyana’s Stabroek News. “It has happened because there are some bad elements out there who tried to manipulate the vote.”

After a laborious recount and a feud in the courts, Granger ultimately backed down after a five-month standoff, allowing opposition candidate Irfaan Ali to be sworn in as president in August.

That happened in no small part due to U.S. pressure.

“The Granger government must respect the results of democratic elections and step aside,” Pompeo said in July as he announced new visa restrictions on “individuals responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Guyana.”

The irony of Trump’s resistance was not lost on the Guyanese. One meme circulating on the local Internet there Friday showed Trump phoning Guyana’s indicted election chief, Keith Lowenfield.

“Yo Lowenfield help me out bro. Joe Biden leading,” Trump says in a caption.

“Sure no problem but you have to gimme back my visa,” Lowenfield replies, referencing the U.S. penalty imposed on him for the disputed vote.

By Sarjo Brito, Niamina CRR

The Gambia Democratic Congress candidate contesting the Niamina West National Assembly by-elections has said he is concerned over the independence of the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC.

Speaking to the media shortly after casting his vote at Sambang Village on Saturday as voting got underway, Jallow expressed his disappointment with the electoral body after they allegedly allowed the NPP to continue with their campaign until late last night. Jallow said this was clearly a violation of IEC campaign laws.

He said: “I am a little bit disappointed with the IEC. They said campaign should have stopped on the 5th, but we had information yesterday that the NPP was going around campaigning during the night. I called the IEC CEO Mr Sambujang and gave him the report.

“His response was that they cannot stop them. They are only stopping the usage of PA system. I told him that the electoral body does not understand what it put on paper then because all parties according to the electoral act, must refrain from campaigning a day before elections.

“We respected the law and stayed home but they allowed the NPP to do what they want. In fact, Sambujang was harsh on me on the phone because I insisted that they are allowing NPP to break the law.”

The GDC and NPP lock horns today in Niamina for the Niamina West parliamentary seat following the demise of the late Honourable Demba Sowe who represented the constituency under a GDC ticket.

Voting has gotten underway in the national assembly by-election in Niamina West where newly NPP is bidding to upset GDC.

A by-election in Jokadu for the Kerr Jarga councillorship ward has also gotten underway.

A 72-year-old man who had an underlying health issue has died after contracting coronavirus, according the ministry of health.

The health ministry in its latest report on Covid-19 said the man had been admitted at MRC Clinic in Fajara. The nation’s coronavirus fatalities now stands at 121.

It comes as the ministry revealed three new coronavirus cases have been recorded taking it to 3,684 the total number of cases registered in the country.

Nawec has announced Karpowership will replace its current power ship with a new one on Sunday.

Nawec said in a statement: “NAWEC wishes to inform the general public that the Karpowership will embark on the replacement of its current ship with a new one and new generator sets. Work is expected to begin on Sunday 8th November 2020, at 03:00AM and will last for at least 36 hours.

“As a result, there will be some intensive load shedding in the GBA while some areas will experience intermittent interruption in electricity supply during this period.

“NAWEC solicits the understanding of its esteemed customers. Normal supply shall be restored as soon as replacement work is completed.”

Mamma Kandeh has asked the people of Niamina to resist the sweet talks coming from President Adama Barrow’s NPP ahead of Saturday’s by-election.

NPP and GDC are all set to battle it out in the Niamina West national assembly election which has been forced by the death of MP Demba Sowe.

Speaking in Kerr Katim on Thursday, Mamma Kandeh laid into the NPP’s tactic of buying people, asking Gambians to be mindful of that.

“I have said it and will say it again. There are two people who follow Barrow: the one who doesn’t know and the one who follows him based on his interest.” Mr Kandeh said adding, “no one should sell his integrity. If you sell you integrity you will become a slave.”

According to Mr Kandeh, he helped the country with more projects than President Barrow when the Gambian leader was not a president.

“With this present government, if Adama Barrow sits and I sit and I talk about 100 projects that I implemented in this country, he will not be able to name three,” Kandeh said.

Dr Ismaila Ceesay has told The Fatu Network his message to Gambians on why they should choose him instead of President Adama Barrow will centre on the issue of trust.

Speaking shortly after Citizens’ Alliance published the names of people that have been nominated for leadership of the party which saw he nominated unopposed as the party’s presidential candidate, Dr Ceesay said of his soon-to-be State House rival: “He’s clearly shown he’s not a man to be trusted. Every promise he made to the Gambian people, he’s broken.

“From the three years to the reforms to the new constitution to the street lights in Brikama. And clearly you cannot trust a leader who breaks his promise.”

According to Dr Ceesay, he is excited to have been chosen by CA as their flagbearer and that he is minded to bring change to The Gambia.

NPP campaign manager Lamin Cham has said the people of Niamina told them Mamma Kandeh promised them things and never delivered on them.

Speaking at a meeting in Penai in Niamina, Cham who is also the personal assistant to President Adama Barrow said: “Every village we get to, they say ‘Mamma Kandeh said this here, he didn’t do it’. So one should be mindful of the things he says.

“Because the things you say would be told another time. No matter how hard, one should speak the truth. It’s the truth that will set you free. Lying doesn’t set someone free, it destroys you.”

NPP and GDC are spending the last hours campaigning ahead of the Niamina West by-election billed for Saturday.

A Senegalese man living in Italy has been sentenced to one year and five months in prison after he was found guilty of selling counterfeit goods.

Mbaye Sene, 70, supplied Senegalese businesspeople in Italy thousands of items which included women bags, swimsuits, glasses and wallets that were associated to a leading brand, according to Senego

The wholesaler kept the items in a garage on Via Campidano in Olbia – and it was police that discovered it following a raid.

Citizens’ Alliance has published the names of people nominated for leadership of the party ahead of its congress later this month.

In a statement, CA said four positions of spokesperson, women president, persons with disabilities president and diaspora president will be contested at its congress.

The positions that will not be contested after they went unopposed are, flagbearer and presidential candidate, national president, secretary general, national treasurer and national mobiliser.

Dr Ismaila Ceesay was unanimously nominated as the flagbearer and presidential candidate of the party which will now be ratified at the congress.