By Lamin Njie, US Election 2020 virtual reporting tour participant

African Americans who voted for President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election stood at 11 percent – a three percentage points increase from 2016, it has been revealed.

Tuesday’s unprecedented election has seen Trump and his rival Joe Biden barely have any issues at all in terms of their faithful constituencies but a winner is still not known as counting continued and stretched into Wednesday in key battleground states.

Hundreds of thousands of African Americans took part in the election with 11 percent voting for incumbent President Donald Trump.

According to renowned public opinion pollster John Zogby, 18 percent of black men in America voted for Trump with the overall black vote for him standing at 11 percent. Joe Biden ran away with the black vote by 87 percent.

“Number one, the criminal justice reform under Donald Trump and the fact that some of the harsh penalties that have taken place among blacks, people of colour in the justice system was a factor. Number two is the hip-hop factor. You have some leading hip-hop people come out for Donald Trump,” Zogby who is the founder of Zogby Strategies told foreign reporters on Wednesday, adding hip hop stars endorsing Trump prompted many black men to vote for him.

The lead-up to the election saw a number of rappers including Lil Wayne publicly declaring their support for Mr Trump.

Also, there were some black men who said they were better off than they had been in terms of their economic condition, Zogby said while discussing results from exit polls.

President Adama Barrow on Wednesday embarked on an unannounced visits to various government ministries at the Quadrangle.

The president visited the Personnel Management Office(PMO), the Ministry of Youths and Sports, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Tourism, and the Ministry of Finance, accompanied by his top aides such as civil service boss Noah Touray and press secretary Amie Bojang Sissoho.

State House had last week informed all government departments the president would now be paying them snap visits.

Wednesday’s visits according to the president was not a witch-hunt but a monitoring exercise to see first hand the conduct of civil servants, State House said.

Mai Ahmad Fatty has said true leadership is often a lonely life in the midst of a crowd, as he spoke on the challenges true leaders face.

According to the GMC leader, fake company and women are some of the ‘back-breaking’ challenges that true leaders grapple with.

Fatty wrote on his official Facebook page on Wednesday: “When you become a leader, there is no looking back. Back- breaking challengers will come your way; false, invective scandals would be levelled against you; enmity, envy & hatred will hound you; alot of fake company and pretense will trail you; women, financial & other temptations will be flaunted at you to bring you down; disappointment, betrayal and machinations will be your permanent acquaintances, etc.

“True leadership is often a lonely life in the midst of a crowd. As a leader, I made mistakes and learned from them. We all do make mistakes sometimes. Mistakes can be great teachers for the wise. You need Allah and good people around you to stay focused on the vision, guidance and protection.

“With respect, humility and sincerity, I seek prayers from all of you to be the kind of God-fearing, morally consciousness, selfless and incorruptible leader that our peoples dream of, and to prevent treacherous entourage and illicit influences around me. Honest leadership is not an easy task. I seek your prayers, and I beseech you to remember me always in your prayers, always.”

By Sarjo Brito

GDC’S National Youth President MC Cham Jr is hitting back at NPP’s Seedy Njie after he accused his party leader Mama Kandeh of mortgaging the GDC to the United Democratic Party. MC Cham has since responded to Njie and said he is nothing but a political prostitute who only cares about his pockets. Cham said no serious Gambian should listen to politicians like Seedy Njie and his ilk because left to him alone, Barrow would have never been President to begin with. He was the reason a lot of Gambians went into exile in 2016 after saying that Barrow will not be sworn in here, Cham said.

‘’His understanding of politics is still limited. The United Democratic Party did not put up a candidate in Niamina. If they had one and we withdrew our candidate, he could have said we sold our party. UDP is only here to support us and the GDC appreciates that more than anything. If we are going to talk about political parties selling their souls, then we might as well begin with NRP and GPDP who have sold theirs to the NPP,’’ he said.

The United Democratic Party has disclosed that it is throwing its weight behind the GDC candidate in the forthcoming Niamina West by-elections. The Party insists that their support is to honour the late MP Demba Sowe who occupied the Niamina West seat in Parliament under the GDC until the time of his demise 10months ago.

President Adama Barrow has said the coronavirus pandemic frustrated the earlier launching of his NPP party to the extent he wanted to do a mini-launching of the organisation.

Speaking to EyeAfrica TV in an exclusive interview, the president explained: “I wanted to launch it earlier, earlier than this. But because of Covid I was not able to launch. I got to a stage whereby I wanted to organise a mini-launching. But when I brought in the idea, I even prepared my speech and everything so that we have a mini-launching but when I contacted my people, they said, ‘Mr President, we don’t want mini-launching, we want grand launching’.

“And unfortunately that would not have happened at that time. But now Covid, Alhamdoullilah, we don’t know what is going to happen but if all plans work and Covid have subside [SIC] in this country, I think in January. Whatever we need for the launching is now in the stores. We are just waiting for the time.

“We are ready and our people are looking forward to it. I think it will be a big day in the history of this country. I will launch my party in Independence Stadium. That day I will invite every Gambian and every journalist in this country. It will be a grand launching.

“It will be a launching that will be history in this country. I have said it so many times: you can say I own my party but you don’t own the people. The people are supporting us because they are appreciating our development in this country.”

UDP leader Ousainou Darboe has on behalf of his party sent love to Samba Baldeh following his electoral victory in the Wisconsin state legislature vote.

Madison Alder Samba Baldeh won the 48th Asssembly District after defeating Republican Samuel Anderson. He is the first Muslim to be elected to the Wisconsin state legislature and the first black man from Dane county.

In a statement, UDP’s leader Darboe said: “On behalf of the National Executive Committee and the entire membership of the United Democratic Party, I wish to heartily congratulate Hon. Samba Baldeh on his election to the State Legislature of Wisconsin with best wishes and success in all your endeavours. I remember how you graced our invitation back in 2018 and attending one of our fundraising events with Mayor Bensouda.

“The UDP has watched with pride and satisfaction the hard work you have put in to educate yourself and serve the people of Wisconsin. Your election is a testament to your character and your determination to excel and distinguish yourself in your adopted country.

“All Gambians are proud of your electoral success in the great State of Wisconsin, especially we at the United Democratic Party knowing how much you have contributed to the success of the UDP especially in our local government councils particularly KMC and we are praying that one day you will be elected to US Congress. Please extend our heartfelt wishes to Mrs Baldeh and your family.”

Madison Alder Samba Baldeh has defeated Republican Samuel Anderson in the 48th Assembly District.

“I look forward to working with the governor and all of my colleagues on the urgent issues that must be addressed; a raging pandemic, massive unemployment particularly in the service sector and the upcoming winter and flu season,” Baldeh tells Madison365. “These really are issues of life and death and should be the focus of our attention before everything else.”

Baldeh was declared the winner with 80 percent of the vote with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Baldeh will be the first Muslim elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature and the first Black man from Dane County. Baldeh, an IT project engineer at American Family Insurance, is currently in his third term on the Madison Common Council representing Madison’s 17th District.

Baldeh takes over for Rep. Melissa Sargent who had represented the 48th Assembly District since 2013. (Madison365)

By Lamin Njie

Travis County spent a staggering 6.9 million dollars on new locations and other measures to ensure safe voting for its over 850,000 registered voters, the county’s election officer has said.

US state of Texas has over 250 counties and Travis County is one of them with 852,000 registered voters.

According to Dana DeBeauvoir, election officer for the county a normal presidential election in her county cost about 2.2 million but the coronavirus pandemic meant the county spent three times that amount.

“We are spending 6.9 million for this election and it’s all new locations, extra people, better training, PPEs, more equipment, everything we can do to try and make voters experience inside the polling stations as safe as possible and to offer as many other options for voters as we can so that whatever position they’re in they can still vote,” she said as voting got underway in Texas.

The county had 178 voting centres and in-person voters started lining as early as 7am Tuesday to vote. The polls closed in Texas at 7pm.

According to the county’s election officer, they made sure people voted safely by putting in place all the necessary precautions.

“We have redesigned all of our polling places and voters will find many new locations that are larger so that we were able to socially distance inside, not only the voters but also the voting booths. We have PPEs for voters, and we have done a lot of education and training on how the election workers could protect themselves,” DeBeauvoir said.

She added: “So everybody in the polling station wears a mask, everybody is socially distanced, inside and outside. And the voters are given PPEs so that they never actually touched any of the equipment.

“It’s contact-less and I think that’s one of the main things we done here. We tried to make in-person voting as safe as you can possibly be, to try to take some of the fear out of it because Covid makes people uncomfortable, with good reason for showing up in-person.

“We’ve also seen a huge increase in mail balloting. You can qualify for mail balloting in Texas if you’re in one of four categories. One of the categories is over 65. So a lot of those folks who never voted by mail before even though they qualified are now participating.”

The TRRC has said testimony on the National Intelligence Agency by witnesses will continue on Monday.

Former President Yahya Jammeh relied heavily on the NIA to violate and abuse the rights of citizens during his 22 years rule – and witnesses have been speaking to the TRRC about their experience with the agency.

The TRRC is currently on a short break over its public hearings but on Tuesday, the probe said the public hearings will continue next week.

“The Commission will continue hearing testimonies related to the NIA,” the TRRC said.

CRR deputy governor Lamin R Darboe and a staunch ally of President Adama Barrow has died. He died on Tuesday in Janjanbureh.

State House in a statement said President Barrow remarked that ‘it is a sad day for me’ as he reacted to Mr Darboe’s death.

“The demise of ‘R. Darboe’ as he is fondly called by his closed associates, is a great loss to his family as well as the entire Nation. He would be remembered for his political engagement to advance democracy in the country.

“He worked hard in serving humanity, to leave a legacy in his community and the nation at large. In recent years he took up an administrative role as Deputy Governor to nurture the democratic change and support the reform processes,” State House said.

President Adama Barrow has appointed Seedy Keita as his new trade minister – after he fired Lamin Jobe – and after the man he first offered the job turned it down.

The president had in September offered former Central Bank governor Bakary Jammeh the job but he astonishingly turned it down.

The president has now hired a new man in Seedy Keita and according to State House, Keita holds a double Masters degree in Business Administration and Financial Management from Edinburgh Business School, Herriot-Watt University.

He recently had a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Strategy from – Said Business School, the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, State House said of his educational background.

State House added: “Mr Keita, until his appointment as Minister, was Director Finance Department at the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector in Jeddah from 2011 to date. He first joined the Corporation in 1999 as a Young Professional Core Team Member and rose through the ranks.

“In The Gambia, Mr Keita worked at the Accountant General’s Department and The Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, where he held various positions to the level of Chief Accountant before he left for a World Bank-funded Health Project in 1998.”

By Lamin Njie

Nearly 100 million people have voted early in US presidential election in which Democrat Joe Biden is seeking to stop President Donald Trump from winning a fresh four-year term.

More than 61.5 million people have cast their ballot through mail while more than 31.9 million have voted in-person, according to figures by CNN.

Both Trump and Biden are now trapped in last-minute pushes in key battleground states; Trump on Sunday held rallies in five states, in Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Biden was in the important state of Pennsylvania.

While millions of people have already chosen between the two men, it’s the 270 electoral college votes that will ensure either men the White House.

Dr Lonna Rae Atkeson told foreign reporters while the popular vote ‘mostly’ aligns with the electoral college, five presidents including Donald Trump became president thanks to the electoral college.

“Historically, since we’ve been doing polling, we use the popular vote to predict the Electoral College vote. And that mostly works, 53 out of 58 contests have successfully… The popular vote has aligned with the Electoral College vote,” Rae Atkeson who is a professor and regents’ lecturer in Political Science at the University of New Mexico said.

“But there are five presidents who did not win the popular vote who served as president. There were John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016,” she said.

America operates a system whereby a group of officials are handed the joint task of indirectly choosing the president and the vice president. They come from all 50 states in the country and each state has as much electoral college officials as its size.

A candidate in this year’s election must win at least 270 of the 538 electoral college votes to win the race.

Oley Dibba Wadda has detailed how people advised her not to join UDP as she lifted the lid on events that surround her decision to join the party.

Speaking on For The People By The People Show on Sunday, the former ADB official said: “It wasn’t about wanting to run for president, it wasn’t about wanting to be the flagbearer. I have heard the stories that the reason why I didn’t pursue Citizens’ Alliance was because I wasn’t offered to be a flagbearer. That wasn’t the case. If that’s what my vision was, I wouldn’t go into UDP.

“After the consultations with the UDP leadership, I came home last year. October, to be precise. Almost… Exactly a year ago. I came home, for two months I didn’t go out. I stayed indoors, I prayed, I consulted, I researched, I spoke to people, I sought advice. I felt hesitant about joining UDP until I went in. So in January when I met with UDP at the time, when I said ‘okay, I will consider this’, after consultations… And you know a lot people, very high profile people reached out to me externally. And I said ‘okay, I will consider going for UDP’.

“And most people who knew about my consultation with UDP advised me ‘don’t join UDP’. Their advice is UDP is the party that put Gambia in where it is today and so on and that they’re problematic, it is tribal. I was under so much pressure I had to really push back and really stay indoors and make sense and really think about what it is I wanted to do.”

Mamma Kandeh has shared the two types of people that support President Barrow: the one who is not politically aware and the one who is self-centred.

Speaking in Jokadu, North Bank on Sunday, Kandeh dedicated sometime responding to Jokadu’s MP Salif Jawo who has left GDC and joined NPP. Jawo had claim Kandeh expelled him.

“They’d found GDC already established. They only came because of their interest. When we were forming the party, they were not part of it. He’d said I expelled him from the party but GDC’s expertise is past sacking someone without a letter. Let him show the letter of his sacking,” Kandeh said.

Kandeh then said of the two types of people that support President Barrrow: “There are two kinds of people who follow President Adama Barrow. They are the one who doesn’t know anything and the one who knows but is with you because of his pocket, his own interest.”

The leadership of the 18th Executive Council of the University of The Gambia Students’ Union (UTGSU) it has ‘reasonably’ postponed the handing over and swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Monday 2nd November, 2020.

“The decision came up following our official receipt of the Judicial Tribunal’s ruling on the exparte motion in the matter forwarded by the appellant of the Petition. Meanwhile, this demonstrates the Council’s resolve to respect and uphold the dictates of the UTGSU Constitution,” the council said in a statement.

UTG students are facing a leadership crisis after the electoral victory of the Ousman Jassey-led camp got disputed. His camp is accused of fraud – and the judicial tribunal at the top institution on Saturday handed down a ruling on a ex-parte moton filed by Kemo Fatty and his team which forbade the 18th Executive Council from handing over to the new council.

The 18th Executive Council is however arguing: “It is instructive to note that we, the outgoing Executive Council, has highly cherished the principles of separation of power and rule of law. We have and will continue to respect the independence of other arms of our governance system within the confines of the Constitution.

“However, we draw the attention of all UTG students and more especially, the Judicial Tribunal that Section 54(6) of the UTGSU Constitution compels the outgoing Executive Council to relinquish power and swear in the newly elected Executive Body not later than two weeks after the official declaration of results. Clearly, it could be vividly recalled that on Thursday 22nd October, 2020, the UTGSU Electoral Commission (UTGSU-EC) conducted election and declared the result on Friday 23rd October,2020. Therefore, the two weeks constitutional mandate for a handing over will elapse on Friday 6th November, 2020.

“In light of the foregoing, we challenge the Judicial Tribunal to expedite its electoral petition hearings prior the expiration of our mandate as per the Constitution. In short, we issue an ultimatum to the Tribunal to determine the outcome of its Petition hearings on or before Friday 6th November, 2020.

“The issued ultimatum seeks to ensure that we do not remain and operate in office unconstitutionally. Therefore, we prevail on the UTGSU-JT to cooperate with us in a bit to avoid any illegal perpetuation of our existence in office.”

Senegalese President Macky Sall has announced his new government which has seen a number of old officials left out.

In a November 1 decree, Mr Sall appointed 33 new ministers and four new secretaries of state; but the likes of Makhtar Cissé, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, Mahammad Dionne and Amadou Ba have all been snubbed.

The move has seen Mr Sall also bring in some opposition figures.

Below is the complete list of the new officials as shared by Senego;

By Lamin Njie, US Elections virtual reporting tour participant

Next Tuesday’s US election will be the most expensive election ever, costing an eye-watering 14 billion dollars, findings by the Centre for Responsive Politics have revealed.

The 2020 US election comes amid the country’s economy struggling driven largely, if not entirely by the coronavirus pandemic.

The two candidates – Donald Trump and Joe Biden – have shelled out hundreds millions of dollars for one thing only: to win the White House. The latter however wallowed in more money than Trump with his campaign raising $809 million to Trump’s $552 million, according to data by the Centre for Responsive Politics.

How the candidates get their money

According to Sheila Krumholz the executive director at the Center for Responsive Politics, American politicians fund their campaigns through donations, either through individuals or groups – and there’s been a massive rise in the amount of money candidates are getting and splashing.

“This rapid increase in money flowing into U.S. politics is partly due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission in 2010, which allowed organizations that are nominally independent from the candidates to raise and spend unlimited sums from any source,” Krumholz told foreign reporters covering this year’s US elections.

What are the millions being spent on?

The staggering money by the candidates is for the most part being spent on digital advertising, according to Krumholz.

“Especially in a time of COVID when we’re all sitting at home, online political ads are cost-effective way to message and fundraise,” she said.

But is the election all about money?

Money is a fascinating window through which to look at politics and it is a critical element for a winning campaign, according to Krumholz.

She however quickly added: “However, it is not enough on its own. Campaigns also need to have good campaign organization, good charisma connection with the voter’s message. And so generally speaking, those candidates who excel in those other areas are more likely to raise the money they need.

“At some point, if both candidates, usually it’s major party candidates, Democrats and Republicans, but not always, who are heading into the general election in November. If they have reached a certain threshold amount, money is not going to be the determinative factor.

“If they’re both, say they both raised a million dollars at some point, it becomes less about the money and more about how they’re waging their campaigns and potentially the proclivities, the leanings of the constituency they seek to represent. So money is essential, but not everything.”

By Fatou Camara II

Youth and Sport Minister Bakary Badjie has pushed back at criticism he has abandoned the issues of the youth and busy campaigning for NPP in Niamina.

The youth minister came under his first real attack as a public official on Saturday when some Gambians took to Facebook to criticise him for joining the NPP campaign trail in Niamina.

The youth minister told The Fatu Network: “Yes it’s true that I am in Niamina but it is not correct that I abandoned my office. I came here yesterday which is a Saturday and I’ll be leaving this evening so I’ll be going back to work tomorrow.

“My official days are Monday to Friday, official hours 8:00am to after 5pm . My coming here do not interfere with my work this is a weekend. It’s clear to all that I am not a technocrat, I am a I politician so I can use my weekends in ways I feel suit.

“And those that are complaining their MP’s are here also and they infact came here during the week days but I don’t so this do not interfere with my work in whatsoever.”

By Lamin Njie, US Elections virtual reporting tour participant

American voters remain hugely split over President Donald Trump and Joe Biden as they continue to cast their vote early in an election that has proved increasingly hard to call.

While elections in a country are defined by many events, American voters are largely driven by issues that matter most to them and they tend to align themselves with the candidate they think best has solutions to those things that concern them.

“I think for me civil rights is part of the issues, top there on the list,” Evan Lis of Arizona (seen in the picture), said.

“Definitely Trump is pro-America, he likes the standards of loyalty and patriotism. I know he’s obnoxious but I don’t like the democratic issues at all,” Blaze Carlson, also from Arizona, a state that has proven to be a battleground state in this year’s election, said.

Foreign policy is an important issue in America and the issue of terrorism has been an important foreign policy issue for the country in the last decade; the recent knife attacks in France has seen Donald Trump last Thursday in Florida claim ‘horrifying terror attacks’ will be carried out in cities across the US if Joe Biden is elected into the White House.

But according to Dr Doug Schwartz, associate vice president and director of the Quinnipiac University poll, foreign policy is not the most important to American voters.

“Traditionally, foreign policy is not a top issue for voters. It’s usually we speak of more of the bread-and-butter issues or the pocketbook issues as being the most important things that affect people’s daily lives.

“The economy is usually a major issue in U.S. Presidential elections. This time around, I would add the COVID-19 pandemic being a major issue in the election. Simply because it affects people so directly in their daily lives and has had a big impact on the economy. That is something that is affecting the U.S. election,” Dr Schwartz who is responsible for Quinnipiac University poll’s methodology and all aspects of the survey process said.