Karpowership on Wednesday gave $5,000 (D250,000) cash to Omar Malick Islamic Centre – and also rice and oil to the same centre worth D75,000.

In a joint ceremony at Karpowership’s office in Fajara, the company also gave $1,500 to Gambia Maritime Administration towards the administration’s plan of building a walk bridge for Gambians who cross the river on canoes between Banjul and Barra.

The country manager of Karpowership Yankuba Mamburay said the gestures were part of his company’s corporate social responsibility.

“We do place corporate social responsibility as a high priority because we believe that we should be giving back to the people,” he said.

Karpowership since coming to the country in 2018 has and continues to extend a hand of generosity to Gambian citizens and institutions.

Karpowership has used past Muslim feasts to give food to the needy; the company has also supported fishermen with fishing gear while it has also supported the nation’s biggest hospital EFSTH by helping the baby’s ward with water. In the education sector, the company helped refurbished the national library branch in Brikama and later donated computers and books to the library. The company also supported the National Environment Agency during clean-up exercises.

Last year, the company donated five ventilators to the health ministry worth more than five million dalasis and has alsod bought 1000s of face masks and gave it to various institutions.

Gambia’s electricity fortunes have registered remarkable turnaround since the arrival of Karpowership in May, 2018.

“When we came here, we all knew the situation of electricity in this country; blackout was the order of the day but we were able to stabilize electricity supply in this country since when we came in. For that we are grateful to the government of The Gambia and also our partner NAWEC for giving us the opportunity to serve this country.

“We know that our primary mandate is electricity generation but we have gone beyond that. We have seen to it that we should go over and above just providing our contractual obligation which is electricity generation. We also have some statutory legal obligation which we have been fulfilling satisfactorily including to institutions like Public Utility Regulatory Authority, Gambia Maritime Authority, Gambia Revenue Authority, National Environment Agency and so many other agencies in the country,” Yankuba Mamburay said on Wednesday during the presentation of money and food to Omar Malick Islamic Centre and Gambia Maritime Administration.

Top Imam at Omar Malick Islamic Centre Imam Bojang said: “We thank Karpowership for this kind gesture; it will benefit us a lot.”

Abbas Saidykhan of Gambia Maritime Administration said: “We have a lot of challenges where people are dropped in the water or their items damaged. So the administration tasked with the mandate of ensuring safe usage of our waters among others deemed it necessary to intervene.

“We thank Karpower[ship] very much for this kind gesture towards improving safety and safe usage of the Gambian waters.”

Ousman Muhammed Cham community leader from Sukuta said: “We can only thank them (Karpowership) for this kind gesture and I hope the money will be used in the best manner, to serve the children in the quranic center.”

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has given thresher machines to farmers in Central River Region.

In a colorful ceremony held on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, at the Governor’s office in CRR, TIKA handed over four thresher machines to the farmers in CRR through the Governor of CRR Abba Sanyang.

The Turkey embassy in a press release said: “The machines donated by TIKA will be used in processing groundnut and millet with the objective of mitigating post-harvest losses.

“The handing over ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to The Gambia H.E Tolga Bermek, Governor of CRR Hon. Sheriff Abba Sanyang, the Coordinator of TIKA Banjul Office Mr. Mehmet Akif Eyigun, chiefs of districts in CRR and the regional directors of agriculture and health respectively.

“In his speech, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to The Gambia H.E Tolga Bermek reiterated the brotherly relations between Turkey and The Gambia which is bearing the fruits of strong cooperation between the two countries in many areas. He stated that TIKA has come up with this timely support in response to the hardship of the farmers in CRR. He went further to thank TIKA for this kind donation and hope that such support by TIKA will continue with a broader scope in The Gambia.

“In his remarks, the Coordinator of TIKA Banjul Office Mr. Mehmet Akif Eyigun stated that this was not the first time CRR is benefiting from TIKA’s support. He stated that under the Covid-19 Mitigation Project initiated by TIKA Banjul Office, CRR benefited from hand washing facilities, face masks, and food items. He finally thanked the Governor of CRR for the mutual cooperation and expressed his hope that the donated machines will be put into good use.

“On his part, the Governor of CRR Hon. Sheriff stated that before the coming of these machines, farmers in his region relied on machines coming from Senegal to thresh their groundnut and millet. He stated without any doubt that the thresher machines will ensure efficiency in the processing of groundnut and millet in CRR. Finally, he extended his profound gratitude to TIKA and promised that the donated machines will be handled with utmost care.”

By Sarjo Brito

Niamina Kudang Village in CRR was the scene of a gruesome discovery on Wednesday morning February 24th, following the brutal alleged murder of one Bambo Darboe. Darboe, who was 56 years old at the time of his demise was allegedly hacked to death by his killer using a cutlass.

Police PRO Superintendent Lamin Njie confirmed an incident of a man suspected to have been murdered to The Fatu Network.

“We can confirm the incident of suspected murder of 56-year-old Bambo Darboe at Niamina Kudang Village in the Central River Region. The body was discovered in the early hours of today Wednesday 24th February 2021.

“An Investigation has been immediately opened into the matter. Members of the public who wish to support the investigation by volunteering information on the condition of anonymity are encouraged to do so,” Njie said.

Reacting to news of the savage attack, National Assembly Member for Niamina East Omar Ceesay said this is worrying not only for the people of Kudang, but the entire Niamina as this has been the third person to suffer similar attacks in the region in less than six months.

Honourable Ceesay said he is calling on the office of the Inspector General of Police to get to the bottom of things and bring whoever is responsible before the law.

Former civil service chief Momodou Sabally has said he is in possession of a letter showing the government has indeed signed an agreement for Gambians in Switzerland to be deported to The Gambia.

In an audio message shared on various forums, Sabally said: “They did not tell them to abandon the thing, they asked them to delay it temporarily. This letter they wrote never said for deportation to be cancelled. They just want nerves to calm and then they would proceed. This is what is called witching. “Because someone you never assisted who put his life on the line to travel abroad and you now want to conspire with Europeans to deport him just because of the small benefit going into your pocket.

“Per diem is what made Dr Tangara and Dr Isatou Touray to travel to Switzerland for our youths to be deported and these people will never want anyone to deport their children. This is sad.

“Maybe they never expected I will see this letter but the letter has exposed them and has confirmed the allegations I made against them that Dr Touray and Tangara went to sign an agreement in Switzerland for deportation. The letter has proved that this is true.”

At least 75 inmates died on Tuesday and several were injured in riots blamed on gang rivalry at three jails in Ecuador’s overcrowded prison system, authorities said.

As security forces battled to regain control, distraught family members waited desperately for news outside the prison in Ecuador’s western port city of Guayaquil, where officials said 21 died.

Another 33 died at the prison in Cuenca in the south and eight in Latacunga in the center of the South American country, according to Edmundo Moncayo, director of the government’s SNAI prisons management body.

“We want the death list given to us,” said Daniela Soria, 29, one of about 40 women outside the Guayaquil prison, many of them in tears.

“We know that the problems are not over because everyone there has a phone and my husband doesn’t call me,” she told AFP.

Earlier, she received a WhatsApp voice message from her husband, Ricardo, which she played back for AFP. “They are going to kill me, get me out of here!” he could be heard exclaiming, the last she heard from him.

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno, on Twitter, attributed the riots to “criminal organizations” engaged in “simultaneous acts of violence in several prisons.”

The authorities, he said, “are acting to retake control.”

The military was deployed to help police quell the uprising.

The public defender’s office, an entity akin to an ombudsman set up to defend human rights, called the violence “an unprecedented massacre” and expressed its “concern over the lack of security in the country, which is reflected in the increase in crime and violence inside these prison facilities.” (AFP)

US-based Kalilou Camara has said he is the right man for the job of president of The Gambia, touting his experience and understanding of America’s story.

Camara late last year announced his plans to run for President of The Gambia at the December election. The Fatu Network was first to interview him.

And he told The Fatu Network News Review host Lamin Njie on Tuesday he is in the country to implement his plan.

The Kachang-born said: “I think I can do some changes in the country. I believe that my experience in America for the last 31 years has taught me a lot of things.

“We also need fresh minds, minds that can think out of the box. If you give the baton to the same people, they gonna run the same way because they’re here for all that time.

“But being that I have lived, worked and seen the American system and knows why it has become the success it has become, I think I have the wherewithal to be able to bring this country to potential that it has.”

Goodluck Jonathan thanked Gambian stakeholders including lawmakers and party leaders for the commitments they have demonstrated and the roles they played in the constitutional review process, according to the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation.

Gambian political leaders are in Abuja, Nigeria to meet Dr Jonathan over the beleaguered draft constitution.

And in a press release on the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Dr Jonathan at a welcome ceremony on Monday night in Abuja registered his “appreciation to the government and people of The Gambia for the moral support offered to the inter-party dialogue to date”.

He also thanked the Gambian stakeholders including lawmakers and party leaders for the commitments which each and every one of them have demonstrated, and the roles they played in the progress recorded so far with the constitutional review process, the release said.

Top political leaders among them Darboe, Hamat and Kandeh are all in Abuja.

A top police officer died in Serrekunda, police said in a statement.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ebrima Jabang of Banjul Region died on Wednesday. His age was not immediately revealed.

“This sad news is extended to The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed and Security Services, His Excellency Mr Adama Barrow, Vice President, Her Excellency Dr. Isatou Touray, the Minister of Interior Hon. Yankuba JN Sonko, Service Chiefs, friends and relatives in the Gambia and abroad.

“He will be laid to rest today the 24th February 2021 at 14:00hrs at Gunjur,” police said in a statement.

Giss Giss pundit Dabakh Malick has blasted the nation’s politicians who went about cricitising the decision for ECOMIG to stay in the country over fears of Gambia’s sovereignty receding yet elected to travel to Nigeria for talks over the draft constitution.

A huge debate has erupted amid leaders of the country’s political parties travelling to Nigeria to meet Goodluck Jonathan.

Opposition leaders such as UDP leader Darboe and GDC’s Mamma Kandeh are all among those who made the trip.

Some of these opposition leaders have blasted President Barrow over the decision for ECOMIG to have longer in the country arguing the nation risks losing its sovereignty. Yet these leaders are among those who are holding talks with Dr Jonathan over what some analysts say is an issue that borders on the nation’s sovereignty and should be solved internally.

Dabakh Malick wrote on Tuesday: “Gambia let’s STOP the double standard in our national discourse, you can’t call for the outing of ECOMIG (because you think it’s mortgaging our sovereignty) but still have the audacity to attend an outsourced effort in reviving our Constitution.

“Legally the two ways this Constitution can come back is either through the EXECUTIVE or PARLIAMENT, so I see no reason why we should spend so much time and resources going in and out to that effect. Let’s do it for The Gambia!”

Dabakh’s comments come as prominent youth leader Lamin Saidy jokingly asked the leaders on Monday not to sell the country while in Nigeria.

President Adama Barrow on Tuesday received the letters of credence of the ambassadors of Cote d’Ivoire, General de Corps d’’ Armee Sekou Toure and Italy Giovanni Umberto De Vito.

According to State House in a statement, both diplomats extolled The Gambia’s “cordial relations with their various countries while expressing the commitment to strengthening the cooperation in the areas of education, business, food and security, economy, Tourism, and Culture”.

State House said: “President Barrow said he was honoured to receive H.E. General Sekou Toure, the Ivorian Ambassador to the Gambia, to build on the historical ties between The Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire. He conveyed his congratulations to the Ivorian President, H.E Alassane Ouattara for his re-election and commended the people for maintaining stability in the state of West Africa under his leadership, thus demonstrating the trust that Ivoirians have in him.

“In another engagement, President Barrow received the Italian Ambassador to The Gambia, H.E Giovanni Umberto De Vito. He commended the current good ties and appreciated the support provided to the Gambia by the Republic of Italy through the European Union and at the bilateral level.

“President Barrow acknowledged the management of illegal migration by Italy by promoting and legally integrating Gambian migrants into Italian society. He told the Ambassador of the importance of the remittances migrants contribute back to The Gambia to help sustain families. The President urged Ambassador De Vito to invite Italian companies to invest in the construction industry.

“On global issues, the President urged the G20 to cancel developed countries’ debts to allow countries such as The Gambia to spend 60% of their income in developing their infrastructure to tackle poverty and improve the working conditions of workers.”

By Lamin Njie, editor-in-chief

The nation’s anti-drugs agency seized drugs of various types worth 121 million dalasis in 2019 – where cannabis topped the list but cocaine eating nearly the entire value of all seizures even though it sat second on the list.

Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s 2019 report has been released and The Fatu Network obtained a copy on Tuesday.

In it, the agency seized over two tons of cannabis in 2019 worth 7.9 million dalasis; over 56 kilograms of cocaine was also seized worth 113 million dalasis and it came largely from the seizure of 52 kilograms of the substance from a sugar container imported into the country by Laura’s Food Company.

Elsewhere, over one kilograms of hashish was also seized worth D413,000, even as one kilogram of ketamine was seized. A paltry 11grams of heroine was confiscated.

According to the report, most of the traffickers enter through villages like Kartong, Sibanor, Bullock, Dimbaya, Omorto, Darsilameh, Jalokoto and Giboro. A massive 610 people were arrested of which 67 were non-Gambians. It’s a mixture of those caught trafficking in the drugs and those who were found in possession of drugs.

The head of the agency Bakary Gassama said in the report: “It is my strong conviction that addressing the drug problem is a shared responsibility.

“While we may think that there is no single justification for young people to use drugs, it is important that we, as concerned adults, parents, and policy-makers, pay attention to the reasons they advance for this attitude, however implausible we find them and talk to them about the dangers and life-long devastating effects.”

A top military official who commanded the so-called ‘Bulldozer’ squad during former President Yahya Jammeh’s rule has said the squad at the outset had between 50 and 60 men – which later increased to between 150 and 160 officers.

A squad comprising soldiers, police officers and men from other security outfits in the country assumed crime fighting lead role in the early 2010s but a lot of human rights violations is said to have been committed by the squad.

And appearing before the TRRC on Tuesday, Lieutenant Colonel Amadou Bojang said the squad was under the command of top commander General Saul Badjie.

“We were about 50 to 60 but when I came back [from peacekeeping], there were some PIU officers from TDA. They were all dismissed, they were reinstated and they were all sent to bulldozer and the strength increased to 150 to 160,” Amadou Bojang told the TRRC.

But when asked by Essa Faal if the squad was a milder version of the Junglers, Bojang said:   “It’s not true.”

His testimony continues.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said Europe and the US should urgently allocate up to 5 per cent of their current vaccine supplies to developing countries where Covid-19 vaccination campaigns have scarcely begun and China and Russia are offering to fill the gap.

In a Financial Times interview by video link from the Elysée Palace, Macron said African nations were sometimes buying western vaccines such as those made by AstraZeneca at “astronomical prices” — two or three times the price paid by the EU — and being offered Chinese and Russian vaccines of uncertain efficacy against new variants of the virus.

“We are allowing the idea to take hold that hundreds of millions of vaccines are being given in rich countries and that we are not starting in poor countries,” he said ahead of a G7 meeting by video link on Friday of the leaders of the world’s biggest economies called by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“It’s an unprecedented acceleration of global inequality and it’s politically unsustainable too because it’s paving the way for a war of influence over vaccines,” Macron said. “You can see the Chinese strategy and the Russian strategy too.”

The French president said it was crucial for pharmaceutical groups making vaccines to transfer technology abroad in order to accelerate global production of vaccines — “we will apply all the pressure we can” — and to be transparent about pricing.

The concept of intellectual property was essential for innovation, but if vaccine manufacturers were not co-operative “inevitably the political question of intellectual property will arise in all our countries,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the right debate, it’s not helpful, but it will arise — this discussion over excess profits based on scarcity of the vaccine.”

Macron acknowledged that the EU had been slower than the US at ensuring production and supply of vaccines for its own populations and was facing shortages, but said diverting a small share of the doses to Africa from European supply chains would not hinder vaccination campaigns.

“The key is to move quicker,” he said. “We’re not talking about billions of doses immediately, or billions and billions of euros. It’s about much more rapidly allocating 4-5 per cent of the doses we have.

“It won’t change our vaccination campaigns, but each country should set aside a small number of the doses it has to transfer tens of millions of them, but very fast, so that people on the ground see it happening.”

Macron said he had discussed the idea “a lot” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “She supports it and we are in agreement,” he said, calling for a “fully European and co-operative initiative” and adding that he hoped also to convince the US, where vaccine supplies are more plentiful than in the EU.

He said the plan would be a test of the reality of multilateralism. “It’s not about vaccine diplomacy, it’s not a power game — it’s a matter of public health,” Macron said, adding that he welcomed the global provision of Russian and Chinese vaccines provided they were certified by scientists for use against the appropriate variants of the virus.

“It’s unacceptable when a vaccine exists to reduce the chances of a woman or a man according to the place where they happen to live.”

While implicitly acknowledging that the rollout of vaccines to developing countries was a diplomatic battle that western countries were currently losing, Macron said it was in the interest of all countries that wanted their borders to remain open to extend vaccination programmes beyond their home territory.

“It’s in the interest of the French and the Europeans. Today I have more than 10m of our fellow citizens who have families on the other side of the Mediterranean,” he said.

Macron, whose government has been criticised for the slow rollout of vaccinations in France, insisted that transferring “3-5 per cent of the vaccines we have in stock to Africa” would have no impact on the domestic inoculation programme. “It won’t delay it by a single day given the way we use our doses.” France has promised vaccinations to all adults who want them by the end of the summer.

Without helping their neighbours around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East and the Balkans, European countries would never be able to reopen because they would end up reimporting Covid-19 variants resistant to their vaccines, he said. (Financial Times)

Senegal has offered 20,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, in solidarity with its neighbors in West Africa, according to local media in Senegal.

Senegal last Wednesday received 200,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines produced by the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm.

And according to Senegal President Macky Sall, 10% of the vaccine would be given out to The Gambia and Guinea Bissau.

Speaking by video conference at the 20th edition of the International Economic Forum on Africa, President Sall said: “We have decided to make 10% of this vaccine available to two neighboring countries, or 20,000 doses for the Gambia and Guinea Bissau as a form of African solidarity.”

Gambia have made it through to the knockout stage of the African U-20 Championship in Mauritania after goals from Kajally Drammeh and Lamarana Jallow tamed Ghana.

Ghana led early on in the match after Issahaku’s left-footed shot outside the penalty box beat keeper Lamin Saidy.

Gambia quickly got back into the game after Kajally Drammeh headed home an Ebou Camara cross in the 16th minute. And on the 33th minute, midfielder Lamarana Jallow’s low travelling free-kick put Gambia in the front foot.

Set-piece specialist Ebou Camara was sent off in the second half after a second yellow card over time-wasting. It then became a matter of Gambia holding their nerves amid sustained pressure from Ghana.

The game ended 2-1 and it means Gambia have made it to the knockout stage of the competition, finishing second-place to Morocco.

Gambia led Ghana 2-1 at half-time in the U-20 African Championship in Mauritania after goals from Kajally Drammeh and Lamarana Jallow brought Ghana back to earth.

Ghana led early on in the match after Issahaku’s left-footed shot outside the penalty box beat keeper Lamin Saidy.

Gambia quickly got back into the game after Kajally Drammeh headed home an Ebou Camara cross in the 16th minute. And on the 33th minute, midfielder Lamarana Jallow’s low travelling free-kick put Gambia in the front foot.

Second half coming up in a moment.