Kalilou Camara has joined Gambia Action Party and has been elected deputy national president of the party at the party’s congress held at the weekend.
US-based Camara announced late last year he would be vying for the top job of president of The Gambia in a massive move.
He is currently in the country and attended GAP’s Sunday congress where he got elected into the party’s executive.
He is GAP’s new deputy national president.
ML Fatty has told said GMC is a party that is not growing which informed his decision to leave the party.
Fatty who served as a GMC top official in the diaspora officially joined UDP on Monday meeting with UDP foot soldier Momodou Sabally.
He confirmed to The Fatu Network on Tuesday he has left GMC for good.
“GMC wasn’t moving. There was only one person and that’s the leader. Everything revolves around him. And almost all of the media activities do not sit well with me.
“Can you imagine the party leader was in Abuja but did not consult any party official and went ahead to hold a media briefing,” ML Fatty told The Fatu Network.
He’s agreed he will appear on The Fatu Network News Review on Thursday.
Fatoumatta Njai has kick-started the process of meeting with PPP officials across the nation, as she brushes aside Kebba Jallow’s leadership of PPP.
PPP is at a crossroads following a disaster congress in Brikama-ba last month which Touma Njai refused to take part in an election alleging fraud. She then went ahead to declare herself leader of PPP.
She wrote on Sunday while meeting with PPP supporters in Foni: “Received at Foni today and recognised as the SG and Party Leader of the PPP pending free and fair elections.
“In the coming week we shall be received by all other Regional Chairpersons of the PPP as their choice of Party Leader … Gambia loves the PPP it was the leadership that was to be desired …..
“My leadership shall be for the People …. Leadership to empower the women and the youth….. An inclusive leadership in which transparency and accountability would be of priority.”
The health ministry has announced all intending travellers requiring COVID 19 testing and certification will pay D3,000.
“Every traveller is required to pay this fee and present receipt at sample collection sites,” the ministry said in a statement Monday evening.
The ministry then explained: “The public is informed that, the COVID 19 pandemic continues to pose challenges, considerably overwhelming our health system.
“Besides, since the reopening of airports and subsequent introduction of new protocols such as mandatory provision of negative COVID 19 viral test by travellers within three days of travel period, the cost of testing has exponentially been on increase.
“It thus becomes imperative to effect this payment scheme to help manage the cost efficiently. The fee can be a reflection of the resource cost the national reference laboratory faces for completing COVID 19 diagnostic test in a timely manner.”
Persons travelling will pay the sum at Ecobank.
The absence of an interpreter has sparked the adjournment of the rape trial of businessman Bubacarr Keita.
Keita, 29, is standing trial after being accused of raping his ex-wife’s 15-year-old sister, a charge that he denies.
The trial was supposed to resume on Tuesday but got quickly adjourned after it was made known that the interpreter was absent.
The case will now go on, on Wednesday.
President Macky Sall of Senegal has broken his silence over the series of protests witnessed in Senegal for days, over the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
The president called for calm and serenity in the country, saying, “each life lost is a mourning for the Nation. This is why the state will come to the aid of bereaved families and facilitate access to care for the injured.”
Sall further commended the Defense and Security forces saying, “In the face of such incredible violence, where children and women were put, in an organized manner, on the front line in the scenes of breakage, our Defense and Security Forces demonstrated professionalism and restraint. Otherwise, the toll would have been heavier.”
Ousmane Sonko was on Monday released on bail after being arraigned, he faces a rape charge which he has since denied, saying the accusations are politically motivated.
After his release, Sonko asked his supporters to continue with peaceful demonstrations.
“We are not asking the people to go and unseat Macky Sall,” he said at a news conference.
“But let’s be clear, the revolution is marching its way to 2024,” Sonko said in reference to the next presidential election.
The protests which commenced Wednesday as a result of Sonko’s arrest have led to the death of at least 5 people including a 17-year-old boy.
Schools in the capital were also ordered to close for a week following the unrest. (CGTN Africa)
Interior Minister Yankuba Sonko has begun giving testimony to the TRRC.
While Sonko is not an adversely mentioned witness, he is appearing before the investigation to give evidence on ‘certain’ events.
He began his testimony Tuesday morning with TRRC lawyer Essa Faal warning him against lying.
“You are a lawyer, so you understand the rules. You have just taken an oath to speak the truth. You know it’s an offence to lie under oath or provide false testimony to the commission,” Faal told him.
Faal also warned him: “We can make this a short hearing, I know you’re a minister of state, we do not want you to spend all your day before the commission as you have other important matters of state to take care of. So we will be happy if you answer the questions directly and we conclude quickly so that you go back to your important functions. But be rest assured Honourable Minister that if we need to spend the time here, we would. So you can make it easy by answering questions directly.”
A witness last week claimed it was Sonko who told him UN investigators who travelled into the country to investigate the killing of West African migrants were distracted through alcohol and women. That witness also said Sonko asked him not to speak to the investigators should they reach out to him.
UDP has taken ML Fatty from GMC in a stunning win for the yellow party – and dealing a blow to the red party.
UDP top-shot Momodou Sabally met with the Europe-based GMC stalwart on Monday where he officially joined UDP.
Fatty said he was not forced into leaving GMC for UDP. Fatty and GMC leader Mai Fatty share the same surname but it is not immediately clear if they’re related.
The Fatu Network contacted Fatty for comment but he said he was driving.
Meanwhile, in an audio obtained by The Fatu Network, Fatty said he was not coerced into joining UDP.
His decision to join UDP will come as comfort for UDP amid the dramatic desertion of Abdoulie Suku Singhateh who went ahead to join President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party.
Former Nigerian President Dr Goodluck Jonathan has arrived in the country for a showdown once more with the nation’s political leaders. It’s the third time in as many months he is travelling to the country.
Dr Goodluck said in a statement posted to his official Facebook page moments ago: “I have just returned to Banjul to continue the consultations with Gambian stakeholders as the country makes progress with the constitutional review process. I thank the Government and the good people of the Republic of The Gambia for the warm reception each time we visit.”
Jonathan has been leading efforts in forming a consensus regarding the beleaquered draft constitution.
Senegal President Macky Sall will address the nation on Monday evening as protests sweep through Senegal.
According to local media, the Senegalese president will address the nation at 8pm Monday.
His speech will be around protests that have swept Senegal amid the detention of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
Dr Baba Galleh Jallow of the TRRC said Monday afternoon his house has been ransacked by an intruder.
Dr Jallow said in a statement posted to his Facebook: “I came home from work today and found my house ransacked. The pictures below show some of the mess created by the intruder. With the exception of a cell phone, nothing was taken from the house as far as I can tell. It seems to me that the intruder was searching for something – documents maybe – or something else.
“They might also have been trying to do something else in the house. Or they might just have been a thief looking for raw cash. I do not know. But the house was ransacked and my papers and clothes thrown around. They entered the house by breaking through the burglar proof window in the back.
“I am sharing this incident publicly just for the public record. I do not feel at all intimidated or threatened; but since I work in the public domain, it is important that I publicly share incidents of this nature just in case.
“Below are pictures of the scene which one of our senior security officers at the TRRC has shared with a senior officer at Brusubi police station. I will be going there to formally report the matter and give a statement.”
Jallow did not immediately pick a call for comment.
Essa Faal pressed Malamin Ceesay prompting the former top police officer to agree to lying over a report he authored.
Ceesay headed a panel that dived into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of scores of West African migrants who were apparently killed on the orders of former President Yahya Jammeh.
In their report, Ceesay who is retired now and his team of investigators said in one instance that the ‘eight African bodies were discovered at Brufut’ but the ‘panel could not link the bodies to any specific nationality as there were no identification documents found on them’.
“That’s a lie?” Essa Faal asked him on Monday.
Replying, Ceesay said: “Yes it is.”
During his testimony before the TRRC, Ceesay said it was the panel that authored the report.
“It’s a panel,” he said but Essa Faal fired back that he was the head of the panel.
“This is a panel investigation report and I was not present during the arrest,” Ceesay maintained.
“My friend all of you who signed this document, you have decided to lie. All of you lied,” Essa Faal told him.
In replying, Ceesay said: “Yes.”
Essa Faal then said: “These Ghanaians were arrested in Barra and all of you knew that. By putting your signature on this document, all of you have decided to lie.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Ceesay responded.
“So if the panel lied, it means you also lied?” Essa Faal asked.
“Yes, I agree,” Ceesay said.
“In fact that would make you the head of the liars because all of you would be liars on the basis of this document?” Essa Faal asked further.
“Yes, I agree,” the witness said.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the country’s First Lady Asma al-Assad have tested positive for COVID-19, the presidency announced on Monday. The two are said to be in good health condition and stable.
The presidency said the two went for PCR tests after developing mild symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.
The two have proceeded on quarantine and will continue delivering their duties from home for a prescribed duration.
President al-Assad and Mrs. Asama called upon Syrians to continue observing health guidelines aimed at curbing further spread of the virus. (CGTN Africa)
The women of Niani Sukuta of UDP persuasion have stripped Abdoulie Suku Singhateh of his honorary father role and have given it to Momodou Sabally.
The women who had earlier adopted Suku as father announced that they have dumped him after he left their party and also presented cola-nuts and mint in traditional gesture to former Presidential Affairs Minister Momodou Sabally seeking his blessing as their new father.
The event happened in Niani Sukuta on Sunday, March 7, 2021 during a political gathering at the town center convened to present farming equipment worth more than D300, 000 to the UDP women of the area by a group of Niani natives resident in The Gambia and abroad.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Sabally expressed gratitude to the women who extended to him the honour of being their father and promised that this group of women will never regret their decision to choose him.
Sabally implored the women and the entire town of Sukuta to renew their allegiance to the UDP and their party leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and to continue supporting the country’s biggest political party since “victory for the UDP is certain come December 4, 2021. “
It could be recalled that barely a week ago, on February 28, a group of six towns and villages from CRR, NBR and the Kombos formally adopted Momodou Sabally as honourary father during a ceremony presided over by the UDP’s party Leader and Secretary General at the Party’s Manjai Bureau.
By Sarjo Brito
Secretary General and Party Leader of PDOIS Halifa Sallah told delegates during his party’s congress on Sunday that it is time the Gambian people open their eyes to the reality of this country and take charge of their affairs. Sallah said ordinary Gambians have been made to believe that they are least important, whilst we continue to view our politician as our superiors. The veteran politician also said it is time for the narrative to change as Gambians need to understand that power in fact resides in the people as opposed to what they are forced to believe.
“They make us believe that we are nothing. People tell us I am just a poor person; I do not know anything. I am just a farmer; I am just a woman and I am not educated. I do not know anything. I am just behind you. We tell politicians we are behind them and keep going backwards until we fall into a hole.
“The idea that people do not have a voice, power, or that they are nothing in society is what PDOIS as a party is out to dialogue and educate Gambians about because the people are in fact everything. Reiterating the theme for this year’s congress ‘eradicate ignorance and poverty”, Sallah said the status quo will continue being the same until and unless ignorance and poverty are ready to be fought.
The PDOIS leader also said: “PDOIS had to go through a long journey. We knew as long as ignorance remain, the battle will be long. When you’re fighting to enlighten and those are fighting to keep the people in darkness, the battle will be long.”
The National Human Rights Commision has called for the greater participation for women in leadership roles, as the commission joins the rest of the world in commemorating International Women’s Day celebrated on March 8.
In a statement, NHRC said women and girls form about 52 percent of the nation’s population but they yet hold less leadership roles.
NHRC said: “However, despite their numerical strength, women in the Gambia are severely underrepresented in elected decision-making bodies at the national and local levels.
“Of the 58 members of the National Assembly, only 6 are women; while only 4 women are in a Cabinet of 18. Women comprise less than 15 percent of the 144 elected councillors while only one of the eight Local Government Authorities and only one of the five Administrative Regions are headed by women.
“There are no women District Chief (Seyfo) and very few Village Heads (Alkalo). None of the State-Owned Enterprises is headed by a woman.
“Patriarchy, illiteracy, and socio-cultural and religious beliefs continue to militate against women’s political participation and socio-economic advancement and also exacerbate the discrimination, exploitation, and violence they suffer in both the public and private spheres.”
Lamin Tunkara’s wife wept as she gave evidence on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of her husband.
Tunkara was the only Gambian who was arrested together with West African migrants in July 2005. They were later brutally killed on the orders of former President Yahya Jammeh.
Tunkara was arrested after he dashed out of his house following a phone call.
“They came with him to the house with his hands cuffed from behind. Those who escorted him did not wear uniform. But they were many, more than 10 people,” his wife Adama Conteh told the TRRC.
Adama said she was then asked to go out of the room.
“They told me to go out of the house. I went out and stood under the veranda. They did not stay long in there and they came out. The owner of the compound had come from his travels who asked them where they were going but someone among them told him he should come with them if he wants to know where they were going to. They left,” she said.
Kairaba Police Station was the last place his family knew him to have been kept – where his wife would take food to him. She would do so in the morning and in the afternoon.
All attempts to have him bailed failed and Adama then spent the next weeks and months looking for her husband. Her search took her to Jeshwang, Mile Two and even the NIA.
According to her, a man found her at the gate of the NIA who asked her to stop looking for him.
“Him telling me ‘so Lamin Tunkara is your husband’… It then occurred to me he knew something about it. He then put me in his car and took me home,” she said.
Tunkara’s child is now 15 years old.
Senegal opposition leader is set to return home following an order for his release from detention, according to local media.
Sonko had been in detention since last Wednesday following his arrest for disturbing public order while on his way to court to answer to a rape allegation charge.
He has now been released and will be allowed to return home. However, he is placed under judicial supervision and is required to answer to any summons in respect of investigations regarding rape claims against him.
