The Constitutional Review Commission announced on Wednesday it is closing its office for eight days due to the continued spread of coronavirus.

The commission said in a statement: “Following the Senior Management Committee meeting held at the Secretariat this 4th day of August 2020, followed by consultations with the Chairperson of the Commission in relation to the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country, the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) has decided to allow staff to work from home from Wednesday, 5th August, 2020 to Friday, 14 August 2020 (8 working days). This decision will be reviewed at the appropriate time to assess the need or otherwise for any extension.

“This administrative decision is in response to the recent unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in both Public and Private Institutions. The trend of infection in the country and more especially in workplaces is indeed worrisome. The eight day shutdown is intended to shield staff from contracting and then spreading of the virus among themselves as they shuttle to and from the Office. We continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds to ensure that staff are safe from the disease.

“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the CRC has been very proactive and had developed an internal COVID-19 prevention and preparedness policy aimed at shielding staff and Commissioners from the deadly Coronavirus. The policy advised staff to adhere to the policy which is in line with the WHO Coronavirus preventive guidelines. Similarly, the Policy advised Commissioners, staff and visitors to wash their hands with soap and hand sanitizers before entering the office.”

By Baltimore Sun

The U.S. government is attempting to seize the Montgomery County estate of Yahya Jammeh, the exiled former president of The Gambia who has been accused of murders, rapes, tortures and the theft of more than $300 million in public funds during his 22-year regime.

A lawsuit filed July 15 in the U.S. District Court of Maryland seeks the forfeiture of the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home at 9908 Bentcross Drive, Potomac.

The mansion in the exclusive Falconhurst neighborhood has a heated pool, cabana/guest house and seven-car garage, according to a recent Long and Foster real estate listing. Records differ, but the home occupies either 8,800 square feet or 11,000 square feet.

Public records reveal the home was sold for $3.5 million in 2010 to the Jammeh family trust by basketball star Calbert Cheaney, who previously played for the Washington Bullets (now Washington Wizards.)

The Jammeh children attended school in the Washington area, according to the complaint, and their parents occasionally visited. In 2014, Gambia’s first couple attended a state dinner at the White House; Yahya and Zineb Jammeh posed for photos with President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.

Gambia is among the poorest nations in the world, ranking 174th out of 189 countries, according to the World Food Program. Nearly half of its population lives in poverty.

“Yahya Jammeh corruptly obtained millions of dollars through the embezzlement of public funds and the solicitation of bribes” from businesses seeking to obtain monopoly rights over petroleum, telecommunications and other sectors of the Gambian economy, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a news release.

In addition, the release claims that Jammeh, 55, “conspired with his family members and close associates to utilize a host of shell companies and overseas trusts to launder his corrupt proceeds throughout the world, including through the purchase of a multimillion-dollar mansion in Potomac, Maryland.”

Then head of the military police, Jammeh lead a bloodless coup that took control of The Gambia in 1994. He presided over the small African nation until he was forcibly ousted in 2017.

The lawsuit says that during the latter years of Jammeh’s presidency, his annual salary was no more than $65,000 in U.S. dollars. The complaint cites a nine-volume report released last year by Gambia’s Ministry of Justice that concludes Jammeh lacked the income to support his lavish lifestyle and “wasted, misappropriated, diverted or simply stole” the equivalent of more than $300 million from public accounts.

According to public records, the estate next door to the Bentcross Drive mansion is owned by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the longtime president of Equatorial Guinea and the nation where Jammeh is reported to be living in exile. Neither he nor a spokesman for the Embassy of Equatorial Guinea in Washington could be reached immediately for comment.

On Dec. 21, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Jammeh stemming from human rights abuses carried out by a roughly 40-member unofficial squad culled from his personal guard. According to that press release:

“Jammeh created a terror and assassination squad called the Junglers that answered directly to him. During Jammeh’s tenure, he ordered the Junglers to kill a local religious leader, journalists, members of the political opposition, and former members of the government, among others. Throughout his presidency, Jammeh routinely ordered the abuse and murder of those he suspected of undermining his authority.”

New Nusrat principal Mamadi Ceesay was left scrambling on Wednesday following a protest by hundreds of students.

Grade 12 students at the school are unhappy the school is losing its reputation amid the arrival of Ceesay in January this year.

Demolarised teachers, students’ voice not being heard, building structures instead of focus on academic excellence and sacking of part-time teachers are some of the issues the students say they were protesting against.

At the protest, the students chanted ‘we need education’ and ‘we need our teachers back’, even as some said they don’t want Ceesay as their principal anymore.

Efforts by The Fatu Network to speak to the principal himself proved futile as he was in a meeting involving the entire school officials.

By CNN

You may love smoking weed, but it does not love your heart, according to the American Heart Association’s new scientific statement on marijuana.

“The American Heart Association recommends that people not smoke or vape any substance, including cannabis products, because of the potential harm to the heart, lungs and blood vessels,” said Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, the deputy chief science and medical officer for the American Heart Association, in a statement.

The new scientific statement, published Wednesday in the AHA journal Circulation, examined existing research on the connection between cannabis and the heart.

The statement found using weed has “the potential to interfere with prescribed medications” as well as “trigger cardiovascular conditions or events, such as heart attacks and strokes,” said clinical pharmacologist Robert Page II, who chaired the medical writing group for the statement.

Anyone planning to use marijuana should discuss possible risks with their health professional first, said Page, who is a professor in the department of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine/rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora, Colorado.

“If people choose to use cannabis for its medicinal or recreational effects, the oral and topical forms, for which doses can be measured, may reduce some of the potential harms,” Page said in a statement.

“It is also vitally important that people only use legal cannabis products because there are no controls on the quality or the contents of cannabis products sold on the street,” he added.

Heart complications

Some of the studies analyzed by the medical group found heart rhythm abnormalities, such as tachycardia and atrial fibrillation, could occur within the hour after weed containing THC is smoked. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive substance within marijuana that creates a “high.”

Tetrahydrocannabinol can also cause a faster heart rate, increase the heart’s need for oxygen, disrupt the walls of arteries and contribute to higher blood pressure while prone, according to other studies.

“Cannabis smoke contains components similar to tobacco smoke,” Page said, and studies show tobacco-like increases in carbon monoxide and tar in a weed smoker’s blood after smoking marijuana, regardless of the THC content.

Chest pain, heart attacks, heart rhythm disturbances and other serious heart conditions are associated with both tobacco and marijuana carbon monoxide intoxication, the statement said.

For anyone with existing heart disease, risks go up. Smoking weed has triggered heart attacks, a higher risk of strokes and heart failure in people with underlying heart disease, studies show.

In comparison, CBD, or cannabidiol, one of the other 80 chemicals in cannabis, does not give the “high” typically associated with THC. Nor does it appear to cause harm to the heart.

Kanifing Municipality Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda has lifted the lid on his decision to get tested for coronavirus after he felt ill.

Confirming he tested positive for the disease, Mr Bensouda said in a video message on Tuesday: “The few days that have passed, I felt ill. I was feeling dizzy, whatever I ate won’t give me any taste and whatever I smell wouldn’t give me any smell.

“I then said I would take the test but also to stop going to work. The test has returned and it turns out positive.

“I want to tell you Covid-19 is real. Time has come for us to come together and support the government so that this disease can be driven out of Gambia.”

By Fatou Camara II

Many Gambians are finding it hard to get tested for coronavirus, according to an investigation by The Fatu Network.

“For the past week I had been trying to get tested so that i know my status but I am still not able to do my test. I’ve been to Ndemban Clinic the past week but to no avail,” Ebrahim Jammeh said.

Another one said: “I was there with many people but we all ended up going home as there was no frontline worker on the ground to get us tested . This is frustrating.”

The Fatu Network reached out to the spokesperson of the Rapid Response Team, Fatou Jah to find out the reason behind people finding it difficult to get tested.

“This is because we are short of staff , almost all frontline workers are positive including myself. I’m getting treatment as we speak and for the lab almost 20 are currently admitted,” she said.

By Fatou Camara II and Mudiwa Ngum

Former civil service boss Momodou Sabally has said he’s against ‘heartless’ lockdown of the country amid the continued surge of coronavirus cases.

“I am against a heartless and senseless lockdown of the country being proposed by some privileged classes who may have enough food and backup water and power supply sources in their homes,” Mr Sabally told The Fatu Network in an exclusive interview.

He then asked: “How can you lock down a country whose government has failed to provide basic food support for the poor and vulnerable almost 6 months into this coronavirus crisis?”

The former secretary general also reserved special scorn for the Barrow government, saying it has failed to take the right steps.

“Our COVID-19 situation is worrisome and the Barrow Administration has clearly failed to take the right steps to prevent unnecessary suffering and loss of lives,” he said.

“People need to adhere to expert advice on the coronavirus containment measures and the government needs to communicate better and set the right examples in social distancing and wearing of masks.”

Sabally also reprised his call for the sacking of Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh.

“My message to The Gambia Government is to fire the clearly incompetent health minister (Dr Samateh),” he said.

Former official of Central Bank of The Gambia Modou Ceesay has died, family sources have said.

Ceesay died not long ago at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul.

He is brother to Chief of Protocol at the Office of the President Alhagie Ousman Ceesay.

By Matty Senghore

Two Grade 12 teachers at Masroor Senior Secondary School have asked that school be closed as coronavirus continues to ravage all aspects of life including the education sector.

Both students and teachers alike continue to live in uncertainty and fear as the deadly disease rocks the country.

“Looking at the situation right now students are not responding as expected, because parents know how dangerous this Covid-19 is. Parents are not allowing their kids to come to school and the preventive measures they can use to prevent their kids from the virus is to abstain them from coming to school and due to this the school is really handicapped. You enter in the class as a teacher and will find few students sitting down,” teacher Kiskey Saidykhan told The Fatu Network.

Teacher Abubacarr Kanagie on his part insisted: “Students are risking their lives coming to school. When school resumes, if you ask a student a question they won’t be able to respond because they were not reading and this will have great impact on them if they should be given exams. We the teachers are appealing to the government to please hold on to this issue of reopening of schools until they can contain the virus because prevention is better than cure”

Meanwhile an examination candidate at Masroor Alieu Saho detailed how their school calendar was abruptly disturbed by the early untimely closure of school in the country because of the pandemic and the reopening of school with the increasing number of cases is affecting them mentally.

“Covid-19 has impacted a lot on our education because when we go to school now there is constant fear as the ministry of health says it that there is currently a community transmission because lately the cases that have been tested have no known contacts,” he said.

“So there is always this constant fear that we might have the virus because people are coming from different homes and it’s really difficult to implement the rules of corona virus in schools though we are adhering to the rules but it’s difficult.”

Two people have died of coronavirus while 128 people have joined 671 in testing positive for the disease, according to the ministry of health today.

The ministry in its 111th situation report said two new deaths recorded, bringing to 16 the total number of documented COVID19 related deaths in the country – with a crude case-fatality ratio of 2.0%.

One hundred and twenty-eight new cases registered, the ‘highest’ reported in a single day thus far – taking the total number of COVID-19 cases ever confirmed in the country to 799, the ministry added.

Police Anti Crime Unit patrol team during their night patrol arrested 12 people at Tawto in West Coast Region for staging a musical show last night, police said today.

“Among the arrested individuals are the organisers of the program and the DJs,” police said on its Polizo Magazine Facebook page.

They added: “They are all going to be charged and put before the court under the health emergency power regulations.

“The public especially event organizers are strictly adviced to adhere to regulations.”

Police are also warning organizers of upcoming events against flouting the public health emergency regulations.

A coronavirus patient that escaped from MRC four days ago has returned back to the treatment centre, the ministry of health confirmed on Tuesday.

The patient who was being treated at MRC alongside 31 others absconded last week.

The patient has now voluntarily returned to the COVID-19 treatment facility at MRC, the ministry of health said.

Feyifolu Boroffice, an American/Nigerian national, has been appointed as World Bank Resident Representative for The Gambia, according to a statement by the bank on Tuesday.

The statement added: “Ms. Boroffice joined the Bank in 2010 in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region. She has since held several positions in Africa and ECA, her most recent assignment being as Senior Private Sector Specialist in Nigeria.  Prior to joining the Bank, Feyi worked for a decade in the private sector including as an auditor at Ernst & Young and in corporate finance at ExxonMobil Corporation.

“In her new position, Feyifolu Boroffice will implement the Country Engagement Note FY18-21 and lead the implementation of the new Country Partnership Framework that will leverage The Gambia – Systematic Country Diagnostic and incorporate the post-COVID-19 pandemic response. She will also maintain and enhance good working relations with the Government and other stakeholders in Gambia and with the international community.

“Her appointment is effective since August 1, 2020.”

Brikama Magistrates Court has convicted 16 people of carrying passengers without face masks, a violation of the law around mandatory wearing of the coronavirus protective gear.

Police spokesman Lamin Njie confirmed that the court convicted them of the crime on Tuesday.

They were each fined D1000.

Health Minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has moved into a quarantine facility following the COVID-19 positive test results of three of his close working contacts, the government spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ebrima Sankareh said: “The preliminary results of his first COVID-19 tests are inconclusive. While awaiting additional tests, Dr. Samateh who is in high spirits, will continue to lead the operations of the Health Ministry from quarantine.

“Dr. Samateh reminds Gambians and all residents to accept the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus.”

By Lamin Njie

Bubacarr Keita’s bail hearing has failed to continue following the adjournment of the hearing.

The 29-year-old was billed to returned to the high court in Bundung on Monday August 3 for continuation of his bail hearing but it has been adjourned till next week Monday. The Fatu Network could not immediately establish why the hearing could not take place.

Mr Keita is accused of raping his ex-wife’s 15-year-old sister last year. The businessman has equipped himself with a team of lawyers led by top attorney Lamin S Camara, and they have launched a bid to secure his release on bail pending the determination of the case.

Last week, Camara called on judge Momodou SM Jallow to grant bail to Mr Keita since the prosecution have ‘woefully’ failed to put any cogent facts to warrant a refusal of bail.

He had initially insisted Keita has people who are willing and ready to serve as sureties if the court is willing to grant bail; that he will in no way jump bail and that he is a prominent businessman employing nothing less than 15 Gambians.

The prosecution had argued Keita has a valid US visa and that he could influence or intimidate the witnesses if released.