By Fatou Camara II

Fourteeen inmates have escaped from the Jeshwang prisoners, the third time prisoners are escaping from the facility since August 2018.

Senior Prison Officer Luck Jatta confirmed to The Fatu Network the over a dozen inmates escaped on Jan 1.

“This happened on the 1st of January 2021 from the hours of 6 to 7:30. Normally officers that’s the time they bring in their dinner,” he said.

He added: “We were made to understand that it was a plan by the inmates themselves so it’s more attached to negligence of officers because there was no prison break but there was an escape.”

Jatta said it is going to be difficult to get a hold of the escapees . He also said this is not the first time things like this happened in the prison

“They are not convicted but remand inmates so it’s going to be very difficult to get a hold of them if only you know them and this is the third time this is happening,” he said.

Former police chief Tamsir Jasseh had a full heart on Monday as he recalled how he got his first cold drink in six years.

Jasseh got 20 years after being convicted over over the March 2006 coup. He spent six and a half years at Mile 2 before being pardoned by former President Yahya Jammeh.

“We were taken from there (Mile 2) directly to the airport and we had to dress in the clothes we had six years earlier that was so out of style. Not that I cared,” Jassey recalled laughing.

He then said amid a full heart: “And for the first time for six and a half years, I had a cold drink. Then I realised you don’t ever take anything for granted. Nothing!

“Who would care about a cold drink? But when you have it for the first time after six and a half years, you realise God can give it to you and take it any time he wants.”

US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson made a case for Jassey and Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh following his 2012 trip to the country. The duo hold American citizenship and were released.

Tamsir Jassey who got 20 years over the March 2006 coup has told the TRRC former head of the army never left the country following his misfiring coup.

“There is one thing I want the nation to know: Ndure Cham never left The Gambia,” Tamsir Jassey told the probe on Monday.

When asked how he knew that, Jassey said: “I was talking to Ndure Cham about twice or three times a week from an Africell phone number in his location outside Farafenni. He would even send me money.”

According to Jassey, Cham lived with a guilty conscience which caused him not to live on asylum in Germany.

“He told me on several occasions he wants to organise a prison break. I talked him out of it because I felt he was speaking more out of guilt and a lot of people would have died had been any form of an armed attack of the prison,” Jassey said.

Cham headed the military but was eliminated following an unsuccessful coup he masterminded in March 2006. A jungler told the TRRC they put a plastic bag over his head and suffocated him to death.

A group of concern Gambians on Monday presented a dossier containing a petition signed by thousands of Gambians calling for the renaming of the Independence Stadium in Bakau – ‘Biri Biri Stadium’, the ministry of youth and Sport said in a statement on Monday.

The ministry’s statement said: “The submission of the petition was handed over to the Minister of Youth and Sports Hon. Bakary Y. Badjie in a presentation ceremony held in his office in Banjul.

“The delegation led by Musa Sise, President of the Sports Journalists Association of the Gambia (SJAG) who double as the spokesperson of the group urged the Minister of Youth and Sports to plea with the government through his Ministry for the Stadium to be renamed to Alhagie Momodou Njie. This move he said if approved will reflect the Gambia legendary footballer’s immense contribution and sacrifice for Gambia Football in particular, and sports in General.

“He recalled that the petition to rename the stadium after Biri Biri started in 2011 with signatories collected from the diaspora including USA, England, Sweden and Norway.

“Mr. Sise noted that due to unavoidable circumstances, the petition drive could not be completed until June 2020.

“Honourable Bakary Y. Badjie, Minister of Youth and Sports expressed delight and appreciation of the efforts by independent Gambians proposing such efforts to recognise Biri Biri with the renaming of our national structure.”

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday said that 79 illegal migrants have been rescued and 8 others went missing off the Libyan coast.

“IOM staff are providing emergency assistance to 79 migrants returned to Libya by the coast guard today,” the UN body tweeted.

Among the rescued migrants were 13 women and 7 children, it said.

Libya has been mired in the chaos following the ouster and killing of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants who intend to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe.

Thousands of illegal migrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by the authorities, remain detained in overcrowded detention centers in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers. (XINHUA)

CA presidential candidate Dr Ismaila Ceesay has said his party is marching into the December election thinking ‘confidently’ of victory.

Dr Ceesay made this disclosure during an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network – his first since his election as CA leader.

Dr Ceesay said: “We stand a very strong chance. We are not going into this thinking that we are going to lose. We are going into this thinking confidently that we are going to win this elections.

“We have a very clear agenda and a very realistic agenda that we are selling to the Gambian people.

“We will sell it effectively to the Gambian people and we hope that the Gambian people will buy our agenda and give us the mandate to govern come [December] 2021.

“So yes we believe that we have a very big chance of winning the next election.”

The Gambia Refugees Association -Europe Branch has said it is concerned with the resumption of deportation of its “members, brothers and sisters in Germany in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic”.

“On 18th November, 2020, a group of Gambians numbering 20 were deported from Germany and details surrounding their deportation have still not emerged.

“The deportees arrived in the Gambia early morning of November 19 and were received at the Banjul International Airport by security personnel, IOM officials, the German representative in the Gambia, the EU Ambassador to the Gambia, among other officials. Information received indicates that the flight which departed from Frankfurt in Germany had no indication of arrival point on the information boards at the Frankfurt airport,” the group said in a statement shared with The Fatu Network.

The group’s statement signed by PRO Yahya Sonko added: “Reliable information gathered from the Gambia Airport officials also indicated that there was no indication of any flight coming from Germany on 18th November on the arrival boards. This sounds interesting and we believe the authorities were hiding the deportation move.

“Additionally, deportees claimed they were escorted in handcuffs by German police in the flight until they arrived in the Gambia. Our association denounced this form of humiliating and inhumane treatment and calls for an immediate stop to it during the process of deportation.

“The rate at which the German authorities are deporting our Gambian migrants is alarming and we are deeply concerned about the fate and perspective of our brothers and sisters.

“The Gambia Government is mute over the deportation and since then, there are reports of Germany planning to deport at least 20 Gambians every month.

“Already, Germany has planned to deport over 4000 Gambians whose asylum claims were rejected. In the German region of Baden Württemberg alone, there are over 15000 registered Gambian asylum seekers out of whom, over 4000 are rejected. This is a huge number and we don’t think deporting them will be a good idea.

“The Gambia Refugees Association has in September 2020, developed a Position Paper on the fate of rejected Gambian asylum seekers and for the deportees. This Position Paper has been submitted to the German and Gambian authorities to look into and decide what is possible, instead of deporting the youths.

“Our association has done a lot of efforts and will continue to do so for the interest of Gambian migrants and asylum seekers. We will continue to engage both the governments of Germany and The Gambia to find a peaceful solution to this problem.

“The Gambia Government on the other hand must understand that there are better options than accepting the deportation of its citizens especially people who are law abiding, well integrated and are working and paying tax in Europe. We are calling on the Gambia Government to equally take good care of the deportees and to make sure their re-integration process becomes a reality and a top priority.

“We therefore urge The Gambia Government to quickly intervene and take positive steps that will re-prioritize or minimize deportation before it is too late.”

President Adama Barrow has charged that ‘party leaders’ are ready to sell off the nation, in extraordinary comments on Sunday.

The president in a meeting in Brufut on Sunday explained how some party leaders dealing with criminal businesspeople making ‘big’ promises to them. He said he has documents in his possession.

The president said: “Those fighting are doing it for their own interest. The time for politics will come and we will say things that are happening. People who are ready to sell off Gambia. We know a lot of businesspeople who are big criminals and they are dealing with them, making big promises to them.

“I have seen some businesspeople who they promise to hand the entire petrol trade when they win. And it’s that same people who are saying that and that was what was happening in this country. We refused that and that is why they couldn’t get any way.

“We have seen people who made documents with businessmen to sell positions. I have those documents and it’s people who signed them and they’re party leaders. They are into criminality with many businesspeople in this country. We sent away businesspeople in this country but they are dealing with all those people.

“The time I became president in 2016, the Narr called Muhammed Bazzi was the only person responsible for fuel importation, no one else other than him. It was a deal. They want to bring that kind of a thing again in Gambia.

“When the time for politics, we will say them. Let’s just go. You know they say President Barrow doesn’t talk but the time for talking will come. When the time comes, Billahi Wallahi if I talk, some people will flee this country or they tear up the ground and we bury them.”

Baba Malabé Mbackéroukhou Lahi of Bourouco, Kolda has said the order for them to pray in Fula came last year.

Speaking in a rare interview with Senegalese media, the prophet said: It was Allah Ruh (revelation) that came down. The book is called Jam Jam Padar. The being who gave us the book and where we got it is where we got the instruction to pray in Fula. It’s now we started praying in Fula. We wrote the book for 16 years but the time still did not arrive for us to pray in Fula. We started last year.

“When the Messenger was sent by Allah to the people of Macca, they were not listening, they thought he was a mad man. I have heard people say we have gone against the Quran.

“That [praying in Fula] will not mean going against Islam. Because it’s not today that we became Fulas. We never thought we will pray in Fula.”

Mam Nderry Touray has been appointed new deputy executive secretary of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr. Touray had served as the Commission’s Director of Human Resources since September 2018. His appointment comes following the resignation of Musu Bakoto Sawo.

The TRRC in a statement this morning said Touray played a key role in the setting up of the Commission’s headquarters at Dunes Resort and has been instrumental in ensuring the efficient functioning of the TRRC’s human and other resources.

“Uncle Mam, or Master as he is fondly referred to by TRRC staff, is everyone’s ‘banter mate’, to borrow a popular phrase from Musa Manneh, the Commission’s Lead Interpreter. He combines a very friendly disposition with machine-like efficiency and a keen sense of responsibility,” the commission said.

“We are very lucky to have a professional of Mr. Touray’s caliber,” said TRRC Executive Secretary Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow. “I’m not sure we could have run the Commission as smoothly as we have without his dynamic leadership and dedication. He has both the professional competence and the institutional memory required to help us finish our work and wrap up this year.”

Mr. Touray assumed his new role as Deputy Executive Secretary on January 1, 2021.

A Brikama father has died after his mentally distressed son allegedly hit him on his head with a hammer.

Ansumana Konjira died on Sunday after son Malang Konjira smashed his head with a hammer.

Sources told The Fatu Network the victim’s alleged killer son has been battling mental illness since his deportation from Germany ‘some five’ years ago.

Former Member of Parliment Bory S Colley has nudged back at any suggestion Kampasa is not in The Gambia.

GDC national youth president MC Cham Jnr charged this past Tuesday foreigners were transported to President Barrow’s meetings in Foni Jarol – citing villages such as Kampasa.

“The political interference that happened yesterday in Foni is nothing but a betrayal to our founders who gave us a sovereign state to protect. The importation of people from Kambusema, Kambasa, Giyokel and Pateh in Cassamance who claims to be GDC supporters to fill up the meeting venue for the NPP was totally uncalled for,” Cham Jnr had said.

Former MP Bory Colley told The Fatu Network Kampasa is in fact one of the 17 villages in Foni Jarrol.

“It’s not true. Me I am a Gambian. I am born in Kampasa and Kampasa is in Gambia. Foni Jarol has 17 villages and Kampasa is part of that villages,” Colley said.

Asked whether he could comment on claims foreigners were brought to the president’s meeting in Foni Jarrol, the MP said tersely: “I was not there.”

The United Kingdom has abolished the 5 percent rate of value-added tax (VAT) on menstrual products, known as the tampon tax.

Meaning, from January 1, period products will no longer be subject to VAT.

The UK government said the change was made possible by the end of the Brexit transition period, and freedom from an EU law that mandates VAT on sanitary products.

“I’m proud that we are today delivering on our promise to scrap the tampon tax,” said UK finance minister Rishi Sunak, who committed to the change in his March budget.

“Sanitary products are essential so it’s right that we do not charge VAT,” he said in a statement.

Campaigners had been calling for the end of the tax, labeled “sexist” and “outdated,” for years.

“It’s been a long road to reach this point, but at last the sexist tax that saw sanitary products grouped as non-essential, luxury items can be consigned to the history books,” Felicia Willow Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, the UK’s oldest charity campaigning for women’s rights and gender equality. (CGTN Africa)

(With input from agencies)

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore says that the children who were born on the 1st of January 2021 enter a world far different than even a year ago, and a New Year brings a new opportunity to reimagine it.

The Pacific island nation of Fiji will saw the first baby of the new year and the United States the last one.

Over half of these global births are estimated to take place in the 10 countries of India – 59,995; China – 35,615; Nigeria – 21,439; Pakistan – 14,161; Indonesia –12,336; Ethiopia – 12,006 – US (10,312), Egypt – 9,455; Bangladesh – 9,236; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 8,640.

In total, UNICEF estimates an 84-year average life expectancy for the 140 million children it projects will be born throughout 2021.

The year will also mark the 75th anniversary of UNICEF.

Over the course of 2021, UNICEF and its partners will be commemorating the milestone anniversary with events and announcements celebrating three-quarters of a century of protecting children from conflict, disease, and exclusion, and championing their right to survival, health, and education.

“Children born today will inherit the world we begin to build for them today”, reminded the UNICEF chief.

“Let us make 2021 the year we start to build a fairer, safer, healthier world for children”, she added.

Meanwhile, as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to soar, so do the needs of children and their families, the UN agency said.

From delivering life-saving health supplies to building water and hygiene facilities, to keeping girls and boys connected to education and protection, UNICEF is working to slow the spread of the pandemic and minimize its impact on children worldwide. (CGTN Africa)

(With input from UNICEF)