The ministry of health has said it has found one person that bolted after testing positive for coronavirus.

“…a hitherto absconded case was found and taken to a treatment center,” the health ministry said on Wednesday.

It comes as the ministry announced the country has registered 20 new cases. It means the country’s total cases of the disease now stands at 132.

The apprehension of the coronavirus man also now means two are yet to be found.

The nation’s coronavirus fatalities have hit five after Case 094 died of the virus.

Case 094 is a 45-year-old Gambian man who got infected locally and self-reported upon manifestation of symptoms, the health ministry said in its situation report No. 101.

His death comes as the ministry said on Wednesday 20 new cases have been registered – the highest reported in a single day.

“Of these, 8 (40%) are healthcare workers – 6 from EFSTH, 1 from Medicare and another from WHO,” the ministry said.

The 20 new cases have now taken the country’s total cases to 132.

Gambia Alliance for National Unity leader Sheikh Tijan Hydara has insisted he has advantage over his political rivals, speaking as he party holds its first rally since its registration last month.

“Experience matters in everything. I was an attorney general and minister of justice. I am well-sounded in administration, and I worked for the African Union. I was a high commissioner and I was a lecturer at the law faculty and I am a lawyer. So I think it is something of an added advantage and I don’t think other political parties have the same experience,” Mr Hydara said on Sunday in Brufut.

Thousands on Sunday attended GANU’s maiden rally in Brufut; Brufut is the hometown of Mr Hydara.

The families of more than 50 Ghanaian and other West African migrants killed in Gambia and Senegal 15 years ago have yet to learn the full truth and obtain justice concerning the massacre, 11 human rights organizations said today.

A press statement by TRIAL International said: “Amid growing evidence that the murders were carried out by Gambian security force members acting on the orders of then-president Yahya Jammeh, the groups called for an international investigation of the massacre.’’

“A credible international investigation is needed if we’re ever going to get to the bottom of the 2005 massacre of West African migrants and create the conditions to bring those responsible to justice,” said Emeline Escafit, legal adviser at TRIAL International.

“Until now, information has come out in dribs and drabs, year after year, from different sources.” On July 22, 2005, Gambia security forces arrested the migrants, who were bound for Europe, after their boat landed in Gambia, on suspicion of involvement in a coup attempt. Over the next 10 days, almost all the migrants, including about 44 Ghanaians, 9 Nigerians, 2 Togolese, and nationals of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, were killed in Gambia or taken across the border into Senegal and shot and their bodies dumped in wells. “I have been fighting for 15 years for truth and for justice for my companions who were killed,” said Martin Kyere from Ghana, who jumped into the forest from a moving truck carrying other detained migrants who were killed shortly thereafter.

When Kyere returned to Ghana he began rallying the victims’ families. “African leaders say that migrants should be treated with dignity but for us, honoring their memory means justice, not lies and cover-ups.” While several Gambian soldiers have confessed to the murders and said they acted on Jammeh’s orders, the chain of events leading to the killings is unclear.

There is still no information on exactly where migrants were buried in Senegal nor are all the victims’ identities known, including eight of the nine Nigerians. Gambia returned six bodies to Ghana in 2009, but the families question whether the bodies were those of the murdered migrants.

The groups said that because the crimes took place across two countries – Gambia and Senegal – involve victims from six countries, and a primary suspect, Jammeh, now resides in Equatorial Guinea, an international investigation would be best placed to uncover all the facts. They said that if neither Gambia nor another country like Ghana would conduct a transnational investigation, they should support an independent inquiry that could investigate in all the countries concerned.

UNSUCCESSFUL INVESTIGATIONS

Previous efforts to investigate the massacre have repeatedly been stymied or flawed, the groups said. Following initial campaigning by Kyere and Ghanaian families and rights groups, Ghana attempted to investigate the killings in 2005 and 2006, but was blocked by the then-Jammeh government. In 2008, the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) formed a joint investigative team, which produced a report in April 2009.

The UN wrote that the report concluded that the Gambian government was not “directly or indirectly complicit” in the deaths and disappearances, blaming it on “rogue” elements in Gambia’s security services “acting on their own.” The joint report has never been made public, however, despite repeated requests by the victims and by five UN human rights monitors . The Gambian and Ghanaian governments have said that they do not have copies.

A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International, based on interviews with 30 former Jammeh-era officials –including 11 directly involved in the incident– cast serious doubt on the UN/ECOWAS conclusion, however. Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International found that the migrants were detained by Jammeh’s closest associates in the army, the navy, and the police, and then summarily executed by the so-called “Junglers,” a unit of Gambian soldiers operating under Jammeh’s orders.

The Gambian government also destroyed key evidence before the UN/ECOWAS team arrived. TRIAL International is a non-governmental organization fighting impunity for international crimes and supporting victims in their quest for justice. TRIAL International takes an innovative approach to the law, paving the way to justice for survivors of unspeakable sufferings. The organization provides legal assistance, litigates cases, develops local capacity and pushes the human rights agenda forward. Media Contact Jean-Marie Banderet [email protected] +41 79 192 37 44 www.trialinternational.org @trial In July 2019, three former “Junglers” testified publicly before the Gambia Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that they and 12 other “Junglers” had carried out the killings on Jammeh’s orders.

One of the officers, Omar Jallow, recalled that the operation’s leader told the men that “the order from […] Jammeh is that they are all to be executed.” The groups said that even though the United Nations and ECOWAS had delayed the search for justice for 10 years by wrongly clearing Jammeh in 2009, the fall of Jammeh combined with the new revelations provide the opportunity to move forward.

“The United Nations and ECOWAS can make a real contribution now by releasing their report and working with Gambia, Ghana and Senegal to uncover exactly how this crime was committed so that the victims can have justice at long last,“ said Reed Brody, senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, and an author of the 2018 report. “With Jammeh out of power, getting to the truth is just a matter of political will.”

In a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding between Ghana and Gambia following the UN/ECOWAS report, the two countries “pledged to pursue through all available means the arrests and prosecution of all those involved in the deaths and disappearances of the Ghanaians and other ECOWAS nationals. “Now that several people have testified as to their role and that of others, political will is needed for arrests and prosecutions”, the groups said.

Families of the Ghanaian victims have called for Ghana to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killings under its laws against enforced disappearances. The Ghanaian government announced on May 27, 2018 that it had “tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department to study [the matter] and explore the full extent of its legal and diplomatic implications and also advise the government on the way forward.”

The Gambian government has pledged to cooperate with any investigation by Ghana. However, no concrete actions have been taken by the affected countries. “In 2005, about 44 Ghanaians were cruelly murdered in a foreign country,” said William Nyarko, executive director of ACILA, who coordinates the “Jammeh2Justice” campaign in Ghana. “We now know who some of the direct perpetrators of these killings were and that the evidence points to Jammeh as having given the orders. The time has come for the government of Ghana to act.”

In December 2019, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, responding to growing impatience from victims, members of the Ghanaian Parliament and West African civil society, told the media that he knew in 2005 when he first sought to investigate the case as foreign minister that Jammeh’s government was “complicit” in the killings. He added that following the confessions by the Junglers, the Gambian government should “instigate the trials” of the people who had been named. He said that he had spoken to President Adama Barrow of Gambia, who he said answered “Things are still insecure, please give me time.” The Gambian government has stated that it is awaiting the recommendations of the Truth Commission, expected in 2021, before deciding on which Jammeh-era crimes to prosecute. The commission has announced that, in addition to the Junglers who testified in July 2019, it will hold hearings on the migrants case this year.

The groups urged the Commission to hear the testimony of three Ghanaians who survived the massacre as well as former Gambian officials involved in the incident and the subsequent coverup, and the UN and ECOWAS experts who worked on the report. The groups making the call were the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) , African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances, Amnesty International Ghana, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Human Rights Watch, Media Foundation for West Africa, POS Foundation, and TRIAL International.

The ministry of health on Monday received 10 ambulances after they arrived in the country from Turkey.

The ambulances are part of support World Bank is giving to The Gambia amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of health Dr Ahmad Lamin Samateh said at the airport on Monday: We have never seen this before. I had never seen ambulances like these in this country before in my life.

“Today we received these kinds of ambulances that are state-of-the-art, that are ready for use for the provision of quality healthcare delivery services in The Gambia. The people of this country deserve the best.

“We do not deserve any sub-standard care. Our bars are very high and we want to reach those bars because the human body is the same whether it is in The Gambia or it is in Europe or it is America. What is good for people in those communities is exactly what is good for our people here.”

The health ministry said on its official Facebook page the ambulances were conveyed by the world’s second largest cargo plane, Antonov AN-124 Ruslan plane.

The ministry of health on Monday confirmed three people who have tested positive for coronavirus are still on the run.

“Three confirmed cases are is still on the run despite being active cases,” the health ministry said in its report as it also confirmed that 19 new cases have been registered.

The ministry then recommended that the search for confirmed cases who continue to be at large needs to be intensified in order to halt the potential spread of the virus by them.

Minister of Defence Sheikh Omar Faye has restated that his ministry will continue to afford the army needed support in line with the nation’s defence and security reform agenda.

“The Honourable Minister of Defence Ambassador Sheikh Omar Faye assured the Gambia Armed Forces of his Ministry’s Support at all times,” the defence ministry said in a statement as the defence minister last week Thursday met the army chief.

The chief of defence staff was at the ministry of defence to brief the minister on issues affecting the army.

The ministry said further: “He (defence minister) asserted that with continuous support from the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Gambia Armed Forces His Excellency Adama Barrow his Ministry will further create the enabling environment necessary for the improvement of people’s lives and for the development and progress of the nation.

“Accordingly, an overarching goal of his Ministry would be the consolidation of civil control over the military, which is one of the characteristics of a truly democratic society. He further advised them, to remain focused and avoid any distractions as we have a nation to build.”

NAWEC’s acting managing director Nani Juwara has warned that it will take time before his company could find an answer to the country’s power woes.

Electricity supply in the country in recent weeks has mostly been epileptic, and Nani Juwara has been acting as head of NAWEC since the sacking of Alpha Robinson earlier this month.

And Mr Juwara exclusively told GRTS regarding the country’s power mishaps: “We will do everything possible in the short term to ensure that we bring normalcy in the operations of the company. It will require time because the spare parts that we would need, need to be imported.

“Unfortunately, up to last week, some of the orders for the spare parts have not even been placed with the suppliers, much more to talk about the payments. So we are just banking on the goodwill of our suppliers, to have a common understanding knowing that we have a very precarious situation and we would bank on their understanding to speed up the processing of our orders to get these spare parts in the country as soon as possible.

“It might interest for some of you to know that last year this time, July-August, at the Kotu Power Station, we had four generators that were operating but today as we speak, we only have two generators operating at the Kotu Power Station. Two of the engines that were due for maintenance have been shut down and there are no spare parts available, even the ones that are running one of them is due for maintenance.

“At one of our power plants in Brikama which is Brikama Power Station 1, last year this time we had five generators running. As we speak, we only have two. And again of them is also due now for maintenance and probably will be shut down any time soon.”

Karpowership which provides electricity to the National Water and Electricity Company on Sunday gave out 60 rams to persons and institutions in the country, the first company in the country to do so.

During the presentation ceremony at the Turkish energy company’s offices off Kairaba Avenue, country manager Yankuba Mamburay said the donation of the rams is a further testament to Karpowership’s commitment to living up to its corporate social responsibility.

The Karpowership top official said Sunday’s event was the second time in as many years that his company has donated rams to needy people and institutions on the occasion of eid-ul-adha (the Muslim festival of sacrifice).

He said in response to the government’s call for help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and amelioration of the economic and health hardships it brought about, Karpowership purchased five ventilators worth millions of dalasis for the Ministry of Health made donations including food and sanitary materials to the Gambia Police Force, the Banjul City Council, Kerewan Area Council and Mansa Konko Area Council.

Manager Mamburay underlined that although electricity generation is the core business of Karpowership, its corporate philosophy is hinged on giving back to the community.

He explained: “That is why our interventions are holistic. Since Karpowership signed a power purchase agreement with Nawec and started operations in 2018, we have managed to stabilise the electricity supply in the country by providing at least 30MW in the national grid. In our corporate social responsibility interventions, we have periodically given out hundreds of bags of rice and sugar and drums of cooking oil to boarding schools housing indigent children, orphanages and needy individuals.

“We have spent over a million dalasis to fix the water problem at the children’s wing at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital; we have refurbished, expanded, reequipped and restocked the Gambia National Library branch at Brikama; we have spent hundreds of thousands of dalasis to buy fishing gear and other materials for fishermen and fisherwomen in Banjul; and we have helped the National Environment Agency in marking key events in its annual calendar like the National Environment Day and International Coastal Clean-up Day among other things.”

Mr Mamburay thanked the management of Karpowership in Istanbul, Turkey, notably the regional director for Africa, Emre Durmuşoğlu, for expediting requests for corporate social responsibility activities.

Natoma Jammeh, one of the recipients of the rams, thanked Karpowership for coming to the aid of needy people like herself in these straitened times compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

The presentation ceremony was chaired by Sheriff Bojang, a public relations consultant for Karpowership.

Rohey Malick Lowe on Saturday toured Banjul after heavy downpour left the city submerged.

The mayoress at a news conference held on Sunday expressed regret over what her people had to go through because of the flood as she said ‘several’ issues need urgent intervention to alleviate the plight of the residents of Banjul.

“…they are as follows: unclogging of all the drains by the contractor (of Banjul project) since debris from the work-site has clogged the waterways making evacuation of the water difficult; surveillances of Tobacco Road by the Department of Wildlife for the presence of alligators and crocodiles within the residential areas of Boxbar and Tobacco Road; evacuation of excess water from some homes to avoid the incidents of cholera and malaria in the city; [and] fast-tracking of the procurement of sanitary equipment for the city based on the earmarked funds within the Banjul rehabilitation project,” Mayoress Lowe said.

According to Mayoress Lowe, the procurement of sanitary equipment is advancing and Banjulians would ‘very’ soon see a massive boost in waste management in the city.

Saturday’s heavy downpour also saw a Senegalese resident in Banjul die after he reportedly fell in an open drain. Mayoress Lowe seized the opportunity to send her condolences to the family of the deceased.

“Our sincere condolences also goes to the family of a Senegalese national who lost his life in an accident that happened yesterday at the junction of Primet and Mosque Road and it was due to an uncovered drain, according to eye witnesses,” Mayoress Lowe said.

The mayoress also called on the donor community for assistance as she works tirelessly to position Banjul’s development.

She said: “I will end by appealing to the donor community for assistance to ameliorate the plight of the residents of Banjul considering the coronavirus pandemic and the recent floods encountered by the city.”

The initial deployment to Kerr Pateh of a platoon comprising 30 troops of Gambia National Army was completed a short while ago, army spokesman Lamin Sanyang has confirmed to The Fatu Network.

Border village Kerr Pateh in the North Bank Region has in the past weeks become notorious for armed robbery, with the criminals believed to be Senegalese.

The army said on Monday “in response to a request by civil authority to deploy our personnel in Kerr Pateh, the Gambia Armed Forces launched Operation FOX HUNT to defend and protect lives and properties of Gambians in this area of the border”.

“The Gambia National Army has been tasked to deploy troops to the area and to conduct vigorous patrols within the general area of Kerr Pateh in order to completely deter the armed robbers from harassing members of the community; and to allow economic and social activities to thrive without hindrance,” the army said in a statement.

A platoon comprising 30 personnel led by Lt Mamat Jobe from 2 Infantry Battalion in Farafenni have now been deployed to Kerr Pateh.

The nation’s top military official Yakuba Drammeh last week Wednesday met US Ambassador Richard Carl Paschall at the diplomat’ residence in Fajara.

“The visit is a continuation of the chief of defence staff’s engagements with strategic partners of the armed forces following his appointment as the eight chief of defence staff of the Gambia Armed Forces on 5 March this year,” the army said on its website on Monday.

Drammeh became the head of the army in March this year following the removal of Masanneh Kinteh.

Kinteh had been in the role for three years as Drammeh served as his deputy.

Army colonel Lamin Jammeh, Major Lamin Sanyang and Major Abdoulie Mboob were with the Drammeh as he met Ambassador Paschall.

The army announced today it is sending troops to Kerr Pateh to tackle the rising rate of armed robbery in the North Bank Region border village.

The past weeks have seen disturbing reports of armed robbery mostly from Senegal, crossing into the country to carry out their criminal deeds.

“The Gambia Armed Forces, at the request of civil authority, is deploying troops to Kerr Pateh following a spate of armed robberies in the community in the North Bank region,” the army said on its official Facebook page today.

Mamma Kandeh on Sunday was left unimpressed by celebration by MPs following the repealing of a piece of local government legislation asking, ‘is it worth celebrating?’

Majority NAMs backed Lower Baddibu MP Alhagie Jawara in his bid for a local government law that ties elected officials to their political parties to the scrapped.

Last Friday, Mr Jawara triumphed after the bill successfully passed, as photos of NAMs that are proponents of the bill emerged online showing them celebrating.

Mamma Kandeh on Sunday reacted to the development saying: ” Is it worth celebrating? So Gambians should know it’s not the national interest that made them pass that bill. It’s in the interest of those celebrating. But that law has never been a bad law.

“Because you cannot come and I put you forward in my party… You tussle with people just to be the candidate of my party, then go to the primaries and win and then become a candidate under a party ticket…

“If you had confidence in yourself that you are popular, then what are you doing in a party? The party then sponsors you and then campaigns for you until you win. And then you say those people are bad and then go elsewhere. Which party would sponsor its candidate until it wins and the sacks that person?

“But there are people that are not loyal, wherever they are. They are betrayers in everything they are part of. So if you happen to have such people in your party, whenever they get what they want, they would leave.”