Kenya’s National Police Service (NPS) is set to prohibit cross-rank marriages among its officers. The move is aimed at curbing the rise in sexual harassment and indiscipline.

The Country’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was quoted saying, “We will draw the line, we will not touch those who are already married in the service across ranks.

Senior police officers who opt to have affairs and relations with their junior police officers and they want to marry them, one of them has to leave the service, we cannot continue this way.”

The directive is set be effected by July this year.

Citizen TV reports that in 2020, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said they were investigating complaints by some female police officers that they are sexually harassed by their seniors.

IPOA said the officers had sent confidential details of their alleged ordeals, claiming that some of their bosses demand sexual favours.

A 2013 study conducted by IPOA revealed that sexual harassment was rampant in the police force.

At the time, the authority said it had received 759 complaints against individual police officers. (CGTN Africa, with input from Citizen TV)

President Adama Barrow has declared Saturday a public holiday in The Gambia in observance of International Workers’ Day.

The presidency said in a statement a short while ago: “The Office of the President wishes to inform the General Public that His Excellency President Adama Barrow, acting under section 76 of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, is pleased to declare Saturday 1st May 2021 as a Public Holiday throughout The Gambia, in observance of International Workers’ Day.

“His Excellency wishes the exceptional men and women in the civil service and all other workers in The Gambia a happy International Workers’ Day.”

GMC has issued a statement blasting as ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’ claims its breakaway officials who visited State House were founding members of the party.

GMC suffered heartache after some of its top members opted out of the party last year and joined NPP.

The officials this week visited State House to meet President Barrow as they claimed they were founding members of GMC.

But GMC shot back: “NPP media parading former members of GMC has wrongly asserted them as ‘Founder Members’ of GMC. While it is factual that some of them had served in GMC Executive in the past, it is incorrect that any of those paraded by NPP media following their alleged meeting with President Barrow at State House.

“Except one, all those paraded by NPP media and reported by other media were between two and three years in the Party. Most of them joined GMC in 2017, and following the appointment of Hon. Fatty as Interior Minister, and they left GMC upon his removal as Minister of Interior. It is therefore fraudulent misrepresentation to describe these new members as ‘Founder Members’ of GMC.”

Police have confirmed arresting Momodou Dahaba on allegations of obtaining money by false pretence.

Police spokesman Lamin Njie told The Fatu Network: “We can confirmed that he was arrested in connection to a land matter in which he obtained money amounting to D600, 000 from a certain complainant.

“The matter was investigated and he is charged with obtaining money by false pretenses.. He is currently set on bail awaiting trial.”

Police’s confirmation comes a day after The Fatu Network broke the news the NPP supporter had been arrested for taking up to D600,000 from a woman, relying on well-placed sources.

He allegedly took the amount from a woman in exchange for a plot of land in Bijilo, which he never owned.

Dahaba is a popular member of President Barrow’s National People’s Party.

Some of the nation’s top civil society activists have petitioned the president of UN Human Rights Council over Mama Fatima Singhateh following her appearance at the TRRC on Thursday.

Ms Singhateh was much criticized as she denied enabling Yahya Jammeh when she served twice as the country’s attorney general and minister of justice during the tyrant’s rule. She said she did not know about the human rights violations that took place.

Many accused her of lying to the TRRC and the Gambia civil society have now written to the UN human rights chief seeking her sacking as UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material.

In their petition signed by over two dozen of the nation’s top activists, the activists insisted Ms Singhateh is not the right candidate to serve as a Special Rapporteur for such an important thematic area.

The activists in their petition laid out up to nine reasons for why Ms Singhateh’s appointment should be walked back

“Prior, during and after these periods the Gambia had witnessed massive human rights violations for which Mama Fatima Singhateh had made no efforts to ensure that the Government of The Gambia abide by the rule of law and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in The Gambian Constitution and in fulfillment of the international obligations of the Government,” the activists told Elisabeth TICHY-FISSLBERGER  in one instance, as they referenced the two periods Ms Singhateh served as attorney general.

During her appearance before the TRRC, Ms Singhateh slammed the nation’s civil society as ‘so-called’ who did not bring human rights violations issues to the attention of her office.

More Gambians are reacting to Mama Fatima Singhateh’s marathon testimony at the TRRC on Thursday.

Most Gambians bashed the experienced lawyer for refusing to accept responsibility over the role they think she played in Jammeh’s government.

Ousman Sidibeh said: “Mama just gave the most wittiest, rude and arrogant testimony today. She came for a defanteh and did that with no remorse.

“This arrogant fool will feel like a champion today after having an smooth ride at the TRRC.

“Smart? Hell No, that wasn’t a smart thing to do.”

US-based Kebba Nanko however offered a different view as he praised the former attorney general.

He said: “Sister Mama Singhateh is not Rude or arrogant. She is very articulate, smart, prepared, intelligent, legal minded, and she never drafted any degree, and never worked for an illegal government (AFPRC)!!!

“Smart and intelligent Former Justice Minister. President Barrow hire her as your next justice minister. There is no way TRRC can indict her!!! Let them go after the degree drafters!!! I am proud of her. I love smart lawyers!!!”

Gambians spent Thursday reacting variously to Mama Fatima Singhateh’s testimony before the TRRC – a testimony that will be remembered for the former attorney general standing her ground throughout.

This is what some Gambians online are saying;

Coach Pasamba Jow said: “Jammeh had at his disposal Military Jungulars to kill for him, Economic Jungulars to pillage for him and of course LEGAL JUNGULARS to legalize his tyranny.”

Nyang Njie said: “Whosoever facilitated the recent job of Mama Singhateh at the UNITED NATIONS have done gross injustice to the people of the Gambia. The Foreign Ministry must shed light per who endorsed her application. Shame on us.”

Amran Gaye said: “Seems like there’s two classes of witness at the TRRC. The low-level Jammeh lackeys: the jungulars, NIA agents, police, soldiers – all the ones who did his dirty work on the ground for him. They come to the commission, get told in no uncertain terms what they did wrong. They sob and apologize, promise not to do it again – we shake our heads and condemn them.

“Then there’s the high level ones: the ones who built the infrastructure of dictatorship, who lived in their ivory towers and got to pretend Gambia was a great country – because it was great for them. They have internally rationalized all the harm they did to this country for their own selfish gain, and some even see themselves as heroes who worked hard for this country. You can recognize them by their arrogance and the way they answer questions at the commission: combative, defensive, lashing out and attacking the commissioners, defending their records, claiming evidence against them is hearsay or maliciously intended.

“We got the second type today, and it’s shameful. No wonder Jammeh was around for so long, when so many of our “best and brightest” propped him up as long as he benefited them.”

Lamin Drammeh said: “’I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t violate the rights of anyone. That’s not who I am, Mama Fatima Singhateh told the TRRC. I strongly disagree with you Madam Singhateh. We all saw what your ministry did by enabling and endorsing so many rights violations of citizens. You’ve allowed yourself to be used as a tool to violate the rights of Gambians. Lest we forget, you were the minister of justice and attorney general between 2013 and 2014, and again between 2015 and 2017, when some of the worst human beings violations were being committed. So you are not being truthful to The Gambian people.”

Yamu Matarr Sallah said: “Send her to Mile 2.”

By Sarjo Brito

A family store in Serrekunda that sells different types of African fabric was the scene of a shocking incident on Monday after CCTV footage captured two women in veils and the Muslim abaya dress pretending to be shoppers, allegedly stealing an approximate staggering amount of D200,000. The two women can be seen entering the store with veils on and once inside, one gets busy with one of the salesmen in the store and acting as a shield, while the other carries out the sinister act.

One of the salesmen at the store Alieu Sohna said there have been growing concerns of theft at the market the past years but said things seems to have escalated this year. Whilst they are unable to say exactly how much the unsuspecting thieves got away with, Alieu Sohna said the amount could in fact be up to D300,000.

‘’We face a lot of difficulties here including theft and it is unfortunate that we are seeing an escalation this year because we cannot even tell the exact amount that was taken from our store. I would say D200,000 but it could be more than that. If you see the video and the bag, she took in hard currencies, you will know that it was not a small amount. Our normal daily sale is more than D300,000 and the day the incident occurred was a super day’’

As the market gets busier by the day for Eid preparations, thieves become more sophisticated in carrying out their plans leaving us wondering if this was premeditated or a crime of opportunity?

‘’It could be premeditated or maybe not. Perhaps they saw an opportunity while in the store and decided to take. It if was premeditated I believe she would want to walk away with everything possible but once she had access to one plastic bag containing cash, she left the rest of it untouched. Whether she was in a haste or whatsoever, this was how it happened’’

Alieu Sohna urged his fellow businessmen to be more vigilant and pleads with the members of the public to be reporting people or activities that might look suspicious to them. Alieu Sohna also asks the help of the public in identifying the women seen in the surveillance footage.

By Fatou Camara II

Dibba Kunda in Sabach Sanjal North Bank Region is faced with water shortage pushing families to the edge.

Women in the village spend long hours at one of the village’s only taps, a situation they want addressed by the government.

“Life in this village is very frustrating particularly with women. Imagine we all fetch water from this tap because this is the only tap in our area. We spend hours to secure just a pan of water and carry it on our heads,” Jama Njie tells The Fatu Network.

Bury Sambou sitting on her water gallon waiting for her turn to fetch water says the tap usually opens at 1pm and closes at 5pm.

“Water is a major problem in this village,” she says.

Another person Hawa who is doing laundry says the chore is done in the village with little water.

“Laundry is a nightmare. We gave our complaints to the government when they visited, they promised to help but we are yet to see anything,” she says.

NPP strong supporter Momodou Dahaba who goes by his moniker ‘Dahaba’ has been arrested by police for allegedly obtaining up to D600,000 by false pretense.

Well-placed sources told The Fatu Network Dahaba took D600,000 from a woman in exchange for a plot of land in Bijilo. One person familiar with the issue said Dahaba never owned the land.

The Fatu Network understands he will be put to court soon. He was still with the police on Thursday afternoon.

Dahaba was a strong supporter of the APRC and he has since switched his love to NPP.

A woman said a taxi driver broke her leg and stole her bag after she hired him, a grim development that has left many concerned.

The woman who identifies herself as Amie Camara said the taxi driver picked her at Turntable only for her to find herself at Salagi Forest Park, in a video that has emerged online.

“He drove for a while and he took out a spray and began spraying towards me. I lost consciousness. He brought me here. He took my wallet and my phone and my ID card and he broke my leg,” the woman said as she cries in pain.

Members of the public have seen been reacting to the disturbing development, calling on police to investigate the matter.

Police are yet to get back to The Fatu Network on the issue.

Mama Fatima Singhateh branded the human rights violations that occurred during Jammeh’s rule as ‘so-called’ and went on to say they were not in her knowledge.

“As minister of justice, most of the so-called violations that occurred was never within my knowledge. It would have been nice for these things to be brought to my attention,” Ms Singhateh sparring with Haddy Jabbie said.

Ms Singhateh and TRRC lawyer Mrs Jabbie sparred during on Thursday afternoon as her questioning intensified around her attorney general role under Jammeh.

She at one moment warned: “I was not used by anybody, I cannot be used by anybody.”

Earlier on, Ms Singhateh dismissed suggestions she knew Jammeh was directing the director public prosecutions to prosecute matters.

“I’m not aware of that,” Ms Singhateh replied when Mrs Jabbie put to her directions were given to the DPP under her watch to prosecute matters.

Also on Thursday afternoon, Ms Singhateh insisted no country in the world had a perfect human rights record.

She said: “I’m not denying that The Gambia had human rights issues. I will be pretending or I will be fooling myself if I thought that we had a perfect human rights record. But no country in this world has a perfect human rights record. We have an obligation as government officials to continue to do better and advocate for better and I did that. In cabinet and in public.

“But what I find very concerning is that foreigners would come and tell us about human rights situation in The Gambia when we had our own lawyers and so-called civil society organisations within the country who would stay mute and not say anything or draw any human rights violation to our attention and then go to the press and start crying foul for the violation of somebody’s right.”

“For a minute there, I thought it was Yahya Jammeh who was talking to us, talking about why do the foreigners or the non-Gambians etc come to tell us about our human rights record,” Mrs Jabbie blasting back at her said, making reference to Jammeh’s position foreigners had no right to preach human rights to Gambia.

Former attorney general and minister of justice Mama Fatima Singhateh has just started giving evidence to the TRRC.

Ms Singhateh served in the role of attorney general of The Gambia twice at different periods. She was serving in the role when Jammeh lost the 2016 election.

Her appearance at the TRRC comes barely two days after Amie Bensouda gave evidence regarding decrees she cobbled for the AFPRC junta.

GMC top-guns who ditched the party to join National People’s Party visited State House to meet President Adama Barrow.

“The reason I joined NPP is it’s a party formed by the people and it is for the people. We should join the national party so we can support President Barrow to develop the country,” Momodou Sidibeh who left GMC last year told Dou Sanno in a video that has emerged online.

Another former GMC stalwart Lamin Barrow said: “It GMC had a head from the time of the coalition to now… The people who made GMC, GMC… The efforts this group has made including the congress held at the Independence Stadium. The success of that congress and the growth of the party was thanks to this group.”

In the video, Dou Sanno said the officials were the ones who formed GMC along with Mai Fatty.

“But these are the people who found the right path which they are now following. So they came to show their loyalty to President Barrow,” Sanno said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Wednesday said that 108 additional migrants were intercepted off the Libyan coast.

“Today, 108 migrants, including ten women and four children were returned to Libya by the coast guard,” IOM tweeted.

“We maintain that the arbitrary detention of migrants must end,” IOM said.

According to IOM, a total of 6,174 migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast so far this year, including 426 women and 277 minors.

In 2020, a total of 11,891 immigrants were rescued and returned to Libya, IOM estimates, noting that 381 migrants died and 597 went missing on the Central Mediterranean route during the same period.

Libya has become a preferred point of departure for thousands of illegal immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores.

Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close them. (XINHUA)

President Adama Barrow paid a courtesy visit to the QCell headquarters in the capital, Freetown and was welcomed by the chairman of QGroup Muhammed Jah.

Jah thanked him for his efforts and initiatives to restore and maintain The Gambia’s place in the telecommunications space in Sub-Saharan Africa by replicating the great service of QCell Gambia in Sierra Leone, according to State House.

In a news release, State House said: “The President extolled and commended Mr Jah for the good work, while congratulating him for building a successful business in Sierra Leone, saying he is eager to see this initiative expanded to other African countries.

“While in Freetown, President Barrow also met with members of the Gambian community in Sierra Leone, who warmly welcomed him to their adopted homeland.

“The delegation consisted of representatives from Freetown, Kono, Bo and Kenema regions as well as Gambian experts working and doing business in Sierra Leone.  The various speakers, under the chairmanship of Bahoreh Kaloga, thanked President Barrow for his outstanding leadership and love for his country as well as for taking time out of his very busy schedule to meet them, listen to their concerns and commit to addressing them.

“President Barrow expressed his appreciation to the delegation of Gambians in Sierra Leone for the warm welcome accorded to him. He commended them for being law-abiding residents in Sierra Leone thus representing The Gambia with pride and discipline. He assured them of his Government’s continued support and willingness to address the concerns raised.

“President Barrow also reassured the delegation that The Gambia is still a stable country with ambitious development plans and he invited them to participate in that process. He also expressed his support for those who wish to return to The Gambia and actively participate in nation-building efforts. He advised them to follow the right procedure of acquiring documents to return home.”

President Adama Barrow was awarded the Order of Grand Commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone, GCRS, State House has said.

President Adama Barrow joined Julius Maada Bio and other West African Heads of State as Guest of Honour to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the country’s Independence on Tuesday.

And as part of the celebrations, President Barrow was given the top Sierra Leone honor along with a host of West African leaders.

State House said in a statement Wednesday: “On the citation, President Maada Bio recognised and commended President Adama Barrow for promoting peace, rule of law and democracy in The Gambia, while undertaking Security Sector Reform.   He was also commended for his cooperation in addressing global issues and concerns at both the regional and global levels.

“Speaking on behalf of the recipients of the noble awards, the President of Ghana and Chairperson of ECOWAS,  His  Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, described the noble gesture of the awards as an ‘exceptional act of consideration’ and hailed the historic role Sierra Leone contributed to educating West Africans and urged its citizens to reconcile as one people.”

“What unites us is more than what divides us, work together in the spirit of reconciliation, promote peace and Sierra Leone first before any other identity,” President Akufo-Addo emphasized, according to State House.

By Fatou Camara II

Lack of electricity was an unfortunate reality that held Kiang back in terms of development. But things appeared to have taken a new dimension when President Adama Barrow late last year traveled to Kiang kwinala with his ministers to officially inaugurate the electricity expansion project under the theme Operation Lampomala.

“Since the inauguration I do not see anyone complain about inconsistency or any other issues except joy and delight, all we wish is for its continuity. However we wish to thank NAWEC particularly our own son Minister Fafa for the efforts,” Nyaga Darboe sitting under his veranda in Kiang Kwinella tells The Fatu Network.

Mr Darboe says the President and his government should go back to Kiang and complete what they started as promised.

“What I want to tell the president is, Kiang consists of many villages and only a very small percentage has electricity. It was clearly said Kiang central and Kiang west will have electricity but just a small portion has electricity all the rest do not have electricity. The government should step up and make sure electricity reaches to all other parts of Kiang as promised,” he says.

Ba Momodou lived in Kiang for decades without electricity. He is now aged and says Kiang having electricity was a good thing.

“Everything is in progress and we are benefiting from it. All we pray for is continuity and expansion to all other parts of Kiang,” Ba Momodou tells The Fatu Network.

The youth of Kiang are also reveling in the new reality.

Abdullah Susso says: “Electricity in Kiang feels like heaven on earth to the community. I’ll be very disappointed to see anyone criticize the government for its efforts.

“The truth is we have been in the dark for decades now, everyone can attest to that so all I wish is for it to continue from here to all the other parts of Kiang.”