United Democratic Party executive official Yankuba Dabo has advised the party to take its petition to the ECOWAS court.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out UDP’s petition for failing to comply with the law around filing a petition. The top court also ordered the party to pay D100,000.

Unhappy with the striking out of the petition, Yankuba Dabo said: “I would advise my party, UDP Gambia, to continue with our petition appeal matter to the ECOWAS court of Justice.

“The overwhelming evidence of election fraud that marred the December 4th presidential elections cannot be ignored!”

He is the second UDP executive member to react aside leader Ousainou Darboe.

China put hundreds of thousands more people under lockdown on Tuesday to try and stamp out a worsening coronavirus outbreak, as infections hit new highs in multiple US states and Europe.

Covid surges have wreaked havoc around the world, with many nations in Europe and North America trying to strike a balance between economically punishing restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.

The United States halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruptions, while France ordered firms to have employees work from home for at least three days a week.

Despite facing a much smaller outbreak compared with global virus hotspots, China has not relaxed its “zero Covid” strategy, imposing stay-at-home orders in many parts of the city of Yan’an.

The hundreds of thousands of affected residents there joined the 13 million people in the city of Xi’an, who entered a sixth day of home confinement as China battled its highest daily case numbers in 21 months.

I’m about to be starved to death,” wrote one Xi’an resident on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.

“There’s no food, my housing compound won’t let me out, and I’m about to run out of instant noodles… please help!”

Many Xi’an residents have similarly complained on social media about the restrictions, which include a ban on driving and only one member of a household permitted to go outside for groceries every three days.

This lockdown is the most sweeping in China since the similarly sized city Wuhan was cut off from the world in the early days of the pandemic.

Source:  AFP

By Amara Thoronka

Childhood, Poverty and desire for films

I grew up at Jalloh Terrace, a large, populated community in east Freetown, the capital of the West African state of Sierra Leone. The movie ‘Issakaba’ was released in 2000 at a time when most of the houses in the Jalloh Terrace community [mine inclusive] were without television. I was in my early stage at primary/elementary school.

Children who wanted to watch films would have to go to the privileged few, behave themselves and watch films from Nollywood (Nigerian film industry), Bollywood (Indian film industry) Hollywood (United States film industry) and Ghallywood (Ghanaian film industry).

Sometimes we are carried away by the appealing scenes of some movies which would cause us to be late to return to our respective homes. Such lateness could warrant knocks on the head and/or lashes on the buttocks as a form of punishment for staying away from home at a time we should be studying or be in bed. The few families who had television were highly respected. We sometimes helped them draw or fetch water from the well as a way of having undenied access to their homes to watch more movies.

The plot of Issakaba

To date, many adult Africans are of the assertion that the Nollywood movie, Issakaba, is the greatest African action movie ever. It is a 2000 Nigerian film in which a secret society turned vigilante boys called “Issakabba Boys” use charms and cutlasses to fight against serious crimes such as armed robbery, murder, ritual killing and more.

The justice-driven Issakabba boys are led by the protagonist (main actor) of the movie, Ebube (Sam Dede). They are dressed in black and red with cutlasses in their hands and charms on their bodies. The kingdom is overwhelmed with crime and evil everywhere. Armed robbers have a superpower that is given to them by evil traditional medicine men. The robbers are also being protected by some corrupt elders and security personnel occupying influential positions in the kingdom.

Amidst challenges, the Issakaba were able to bring to book all armed robbers, corrupt police officers, crooked elders and evil medicine men. Issakaba punishes evil and crime doers by either chopping off their limbs or heads or burning them alive.

Impact on childhood

I was eight years old when the movie was released. After a few weeks of watching Issakaba, I and other male children started using the actions in the movie in our interactions and fun games. Some could take the role of Issakaba boys while others acted as the armed robbers, native medicine men, elders, police and other villagers.

Instead of using cutlasses like the Issakaba boys, we instead used dry okra sticks and other light objects to punish the wrongdoers. We used palm oil or any red-coloured liquid to symbolize the blood of an amputated criminal.

In the absence of black clothes used by Issakaba, we tied a small piece of black cloth on our wrists and heads. When the hand or head of a criminal was to be cut off, the leader of our own Issakaba play would shout “Eeeeee” and the rest would say “Sakabaaaaaa.”

The Issakaba play influenced our play style for years. We put so much effort, time and energy to imitate characters, actions and even sounds in the Issakaba film. Even when we were often warmed and beaten to stop such a play, we were adamant and resistant. The play was everywhere. People talked about the movie in schools, offices, marketplaces, homes, social gatherings, public transport – everywhere.

We could watch the film twice a week but would still want to watch it the following week. Personally, at around 10 years old, I had a small notebook for proverbs, idioms and other unique expressions used in the play.

The ones I will never forget are: “The river does not flow throw down the forest without bringing down trees,” “The child who says the mother will not sleep, he too will not sleep,” “The smoke and the rabbit have never been friends,” “Your evil deeds have come to light so this is the end of the road,” “When the fire dies the ashes remain to bear testimony of the flames,” and “When the birds become too big for its cage you let it go.” The film preoccupied the leisure moments of kids both on-screen and in their playing.

To parents and other adults

The media, especially televised content, have an indelible and influential impact on someone. Television is far much powerful in influencing the attitude and behaviour of kids than any mass medium. TV is audiovisual, a blend of video and audio. Its contents are graphic and captivating.

Parents and all adults should endeavour to guide the TV contents which their children are exposed to. Children should not be exposed to films or TV/video programmes with sexual, gory and violent scenes. Research has shown that cartoons and teaching videos can help children to be smart, bold and friendly; while violent, drug-addicted and sexual TV content can influence children to engage in antisocial activities and early sex.

Schools should also embrace visual teaching aides to enable pupils to have lasting imagery of concepts, practices, techniques and principles.

A senior reporter with Foroyaa newspaper Abdoulie Dibba has died, the newspaper confirmed on Tuesday.

In a statement, Foroyaa said Mr Dibba’s death was confirmed by his Family in the early hours of Tuesday 28th Dec 2021.

Foroyaa said: He died after battling with illness. He was indeed a voice for Farmers and the rural Gambia. His stories made so many impacts on the lives of Farmers and people in the rural Gambia. He was called the ‘Farmers Eye’.

“May Allah grant Him Janatul Firdaws.”

Opposition United Democratic Party’s petition against the 4 December presidential election has been thrown out by the Supreme Court.

The development came on Tuesday morning, with the justices of the top court also ordering UDP to pay D100,000 to President Barrow.

The justices held that UDP failed to comply with a rule around election petition, as argued in one motion by lawyers for President Adama Barrow.

UDP failed to comply with Rule 11 which says when filing an election petition, the petitioner must provide a notice of the presentation of a petition and of the nature of the proposed security accompanied by a copy of the petition. This also must be served by the petitioner on the respondent within five days after the presentation, exclusively of the day of presentation.

UDP leader Darboe dismissed the decision of the Supreme Court saying UDP did not lose because of the merit of the case. Instead he said the striking out of the petition was done out of a technicality.

But one lawyer said: “The Petitioner was way off. With their years in practice, I am quite sure they were aware of this rule but took their chances. So the case lost even before it started. That explains the amount of court costs awarded to President Elect Barrow…a whopping GMD100K.”

United Democratic Party leader Ousainou Darboe has reacted the Supreme Court’s decision to strike out his party’s election dispute petition.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the UDP failed to comply with the rules of filing an election petition. The top court struck the petition out and placed a D100,000 compensation cost on UDP to be paid to President Barrow.

But Darboe said, in a message circulated by his supporters: “?????? ?????????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ????????????.  ?? ???? ???????? ??? ????????????? ?? ???? ???????, ??’?? ???????? ??? ??? ???????????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ????.

“?? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ????????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ? ???? ????????????. ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ????????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ?? ?? ??? ???????.”

CA leader Dr Ismaila Ceesay has insisted it is now time for Gambians to unite and build their nation, speaking amid the Supreme Court striking out UDP’s election dispute petition.

UDP will have another day to forget as the party has lost its last hope of getting anything out of the December 4 presidential election.

The party lost the election to President Adama Barrow but refused to accept the result and mounted a legal battle. But the Supreme Court has struck out the petition and has ordered UDP to pay D100,000.

Dr Ismaila Ceesay wrote Tuesday afternoon: “The Dec 4 election is lost and won. It’s now time to unite and build the nation. It’s now time to provide our people with the most basic of their needs.

“Jobs for young people, water for communities, quality education and healthcare etc. It’s time we build this country for the future.”

President Adama Barrow has thanked Gambians for their trust in him following the Supreme Court’s decision in throwing out UDP’s petition.

UDP sped off to court after rejecting the December 4 election result, accusing the president of bribing voters.

The Supreme Court however on Tuesday struck out the petition after finding UDP guilty of not filing its petition in line with the Elections Petition Rules. The party was also ordered to pay D100,000.

President Barrow tweeted: “I am pleased that Gambians have decided. Our democracy works, citizens can rely on our judiciary to lay their complaint and justice would be served. Thank you Gambia for your trust in me.”

National People’s Party deputy spokesman Seedy Njie has reacted that UDP has been living on deception and fooling its people following the party’s Supreme Court misery.

UDP has lost its legal challenge to the election result after the Supreme Court threw out its petition Tuesday morning. The court held the party failed to abide by the rules of filing a petition.

Seedy Njie told reporters at the high court after their victory: “We knew the will of the Gambian people must be sustained. For us as a party, we know the United Democratic Party over the years have been living on deception, have been living fooling and hoodwinking their people and also by hypnotizing them.

“You see people who have no value to their party, who have no value to the country, who have no agenda and program for this country. What they wanted was to destroy people and we are never distracted.

“We are committed to serving this country and we committed to delivering the services as social contract that we have with the Gambian people.”

Senegal on Monday launched a new 1.3 billion U.S. dollar commuter railway meant to ease traffic gridlock and modernize a crumbling public transport system.

President of Senegal Macky Sall on Monday launched the operating phase of the Regional Express Train, or TER, which will connect the city of Dakar to the new city of Diamniadio, around 40km to the east.

It’s expected to carry some 115,000 passengers daily, according to the Senegalese authorities.

A 45-minute ride on the train will cost commuters $3, although shorter trips will be much cheaper.

Speaking at the launch, President Sall said the goal of the train is to spread out the country’s economy.

Sall said Dakar currently holds “26 percent of the Senegalese population and nearly 70 percent of the country’s economic activity”, with only “0.3 percent of the national territory”.

The TER, the first new railway since independence from France in 1960, is one of the flagship projects of the Emerging Senegalese Plan.  Sall’s plans also include a new airport, roads, sports arenas and a sleek conference center. (CGTN Africa)

The Supreme Court has struck out United Democratic Party’s petition against the December 4 presidential election result.

Supreme Court top justices led by Justice Hassan B Jallow held Tuesday that UDP failed to comply with Rule 11 of the Elections Petition Rules.

That rule says when a petitioner files a petition, the petitioner is required to file a notice showing the proposed security, nature of the security and must attach the petition itself within five days of the filing of the petition.

The top court also ordered UDP to pay D100,000.

Officials of President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party celebrated as they came out of court on Tuesday morning.

The UDP has refused to accept the December 4 election result, accusing President Adama Barrow of bribing voters. UDP also made the charge foreigners voted in the election.

The Supreme Court has struck out United Democratic Party’s petition against the December 4 presidential election result.

Supreme Court top justices led by Justice Hassan B Jallow held Tuesday that UDP failed to comply with Rule 11 of the Elections Petition Rules.

That rule says when a petitioner files a petition, the petitioner is required to file a notice showing the proposed security, nature of the security and must attach the petition itself within five days of the filing of the petition.

The top court also ordered UDP to pay D100,000.

Officials of President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party celebrated as they came out of court on Tuesday morning.

The UDP has refused to accept the December 4 election result, accusing President Adama Barrow of bribing voters. UDP also made the charge foreigners voted in the election.

By: Christian Conteh

AdvocAid an organisation that works on providing holistic access to justice via free legal representation, education empowerment, detainee support and a moving forward programme has strongly condemned what it described as ‘the tragic loss of life of a baby who died in a police cell in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone while being detained with her mother’. The mother is said to have been arrested on allegations of stealing a handbag.

“AdvocAid has over the period repeatedly called for pregnant women and women with young children not to be detained and instead to be supported through alternatives to incarceration such as community support, mediation or diversion,” a statement from the institution reads.

Adding that, “this is in line with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article 30), UN Standards for the Treatment of Female Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Rule 64), and Sierra Leone’s Bail Regulations 2018.”

This mother AdvocAid maintained was arrested for a minor, non-violent offence and should not have been detained, especially with a young baby. The institution calls for the police to ‘immediately and unconditionally release the mother and for the Ministry of Social Welfare to provide the required medical and psycho-social support.’

Whilst it will be investigating the matter further it calls on the Independent Police Complaints Board and the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone to also undertake an investigation.

“AdvocAid calls on the Government of Sierra Leone to urgently review all cases of pregnant women and women with young children detained in police stations and correctional facilities across the country.

“We urge the Government to facilitate early releases of this group of women as a COVID-19 prevention measure given the increasing infection rates, in line with our press statements of 25 March and 8 July 2020, and calls by the UN, WHO and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

The rights group further stressed the need for petty offences to be decriminalised.

AdvocAid works with girls and women caught up in Sierra Leone’s often unjust legal system. It is the only organisation in West Africa providing holistic access to justice via free legal representation, education empowerment, detainee support and  ensuring detainees leave as stronger women with brighter prospects.

Police have issued a statement contradicting a report by What’s On Gambia that a driver was seriously beaten by an angry mob after killing a boy.

Police in a statement on Monday clarified: “We can confirm an accident which occurred on Sunday 26th December 2021.

“The accident involves a Motorcycle with registration number KM 5583 C ridden by Makhary Thiam of Latri-Kunda German and motor vehicle with registration number KM 6724 D driven by Muhammed Darboe of the same address.

“Preliminary accident investigations revealed that the motorcycle was riding towards Manjai when the private car left its lane knocking the motorcycle carrying a passenger known as Modou Penn. The driver tried fleeing the accident scene leading to a hot pursuit and was intercepted at Pipeline where an angry mob attacked damaging the vehicle.

“Personnel of the PIU intervened and rescued the driver for further investigations.

“Makhary Thiam sustained minor injuries and was rushed to Serrekunda General Hospital where he was treated and discharged. Meanwhile, police probe continues and appropriate actions will follow.”

By Christian Conteh

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Women In Liberation and Leadership (WILL) has said that her organisation will keep advocating for the implementation of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) Report recommendations especially those that involve sexual and gender-based violence.

Fatou Baldeh MBE was speaking to The Fatu Network in an exclusive interview following the release of the TRRC Report to the public.

“As someone who has been working directly with victims this is quite encouraging because for us it shows government commitment, which we are very encouraged by,” she said.

Fatou further noted that often issues of sexual and gender-based violence as serious as they are, are not given the much-needed importance when compared to other crimes.

“Our fear was that more attention would be placed on crimes like murder and enforced disappearance than sexual gender-based violence. So that’s why we have been working tirelessly these few years to make sure that victims of sexual gender-based violence are heard from and their stories inform the decision-making process,” Fatou said.

Adding that her institution is very pleased that the names of victims who came forward were mentioned and criminal liability attached to certain individuals.

When asked about whether her organisation will be monitoring the implementation phase of the TRRC process she replied,

“absolutely, we shall be following the process through, this is another milestone, there are more things to be done. As an organisation we shall continue to popularise the TRRC Report and advocate for implementation of the recommendations around sexual and gender-based violence,” she noted.

WILL is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) aiming to transform and protect the lives and rights of Gambian women and girls in The Gambia.

A cleric and suspected ritualist, Alfa Tunde Olayiwola, who was arrested for being in possession of a fresh human head, has died in police custody.

Olayiwola, who also claimed to be a herbalist, was paraded along with other suspects by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Oyeyemi Oyediran, last Thursday at the command headquarters, Akure.

According to the police commissioner, the deceased was arrested at the Oka area of Ondo town.

Oyediran said, “On December 23, 2021, around 9am, the police received information that a self-acclaimed cleric named Alfa Tunde Olayiwola, a suspected ritualist, was about to receive a consignment suspected to be a human head.  The police immediately swung into action and the cleric was apprehended at the Ajagbale area of Oka, Ondo town.

“A fresh human head was found in his custody.  He confessed that the head found in his possession was to be used to ensure he had a better life.”

The 55-year-old Olayiwola, who confessed to the crime, had said he bought the head from a man, whom he did not identify, for N60,000, adding that he wanted to use it for a money ritual.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspect died on Saturday, as the cause of his death had yet to be ascertained. (PUNCH)

PDOIS, All People’s Party and Youth for Change have agreed to a new deal that will see the three parties work together in the 2022 national assembly elections.

Gambians will choose their representatives in April 2022 and PDOIS, APP and Youth for Change have already gotten the ball rolling on their campaign strategy.

PDOIS is plotting to retain its four seats in parliament, namely Serrekunda, Banjul North, Wulli East and Wulli West.

PDOIS, APP and Youth for Change worked together in the December 4 presidential election and an agreement was on Monday unveiled at a press conference by leaders of the three parties.

The agreement document seen by The Fatu Network says the three parties will support each other’s candidates in constituencies where they are selected to contest.

Elsewhere in the two-page deal, all candidates who are not selected would fully participate in the campaign of the successful candidate.

By Dawda Baldeh

Falalo M Touray a one-time Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Director General of Department of Agriculture, Director Agriculture Extension Services has been coronated as new traditional chief of Kombo South Constituency on Saturday 25 December, 2021. The traditional coronation ceremony was held at his residence in Gunjur.

Chief Falalo M Touray is among the highly educated traditional chiefs in The Gambia. He has Master Degree in Agricultural Science from University of Reading U.K.

Speaking at the event, Falalo M Touray expressed gratitude to the president for appointing him as the chief of Kombo South.

“As citizens, we must come together to do what is right. Any Alkalo who cannot work with the sitting president the best thing is for the person to resign,” he said.

Lamin Sanneh Governor of West Coast Region said chiefs should work amicably to guard the interest of the country.

“I am calling on the Alkalolu (Village Heads) to work with the chief.Let’s come together as Gambians and work towards developing our country,” he said.

Buba Sanyang, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Lands who said the role of the Chiefs is very crucial advised the Chiefs to be very careful in the way they rule their constituencies.

“The most important part is that they work with a team which are the district authorities. It is important for the chiefs to understand that the Chieftaincy rule is very crucial in the country. They need to caution their village heads to be conscious of the documents that they authenticate and bring to the chief for endorsement,” he said.

UDP commando Momodou Sabally has said it is his belief the Supreme Court will annul the December 4 election.

“What we yearn for is when the Supreme Court annuls the election, we will go back and have a new election and I believe this is what will happen and that’s also what is in the interest of this country,” Mr Sabally told UDP supporters in a new audio message.

UDP has yet to come to terms with its devastating defeat in the hands of President Adama Barrow in an election that is notorious for its bitter acrimony.

UDP rejected the election even before the final result was announced and has filed a petition at the Supreme Court complaining and alleging that President Barrow cheated his way to victory.