A 24-year-old man arrested last year over alleged involvement in kidnapping, violent extortion, and rape of women within the Greater Banjul Area and Kanifing have appeared in court, according to The Standard.
Banjul native Ismaila Ndong was arrested in December last year after his alleged victims described how he looked to police.
Ndong appeared in court on Tuesday but pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and five counts of robbery with violence which occurred in different locations, The Standard reported on Wednesday.
His case will come up at the high court in Banjul again next week.
Ex-AFPRC top military leader Yankuba Touray is set to open his defence in his murder trial after his no-case-to-answer submission was rejected.
The former army captain is standing trial for the 1995 bludgeoning to death of former finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. The alleged murder allegedly took place in Mr Touray’s house.
High court judge Ebrima Jaiteh ruled on Monday Mr Touray has a case to asnwer after his lawyer argued that his client had no case to answer to.
The Mile Two detained former lands minister will open his defence when the case comes up next week.
President Adama Barrow has no power to extend his own state of public emergency declaration, prominent commentator Madi Jobarteh has claimed.
“The President has no power to make more than 1 SOE declaration one after the other consecutively without parliamentary approval in between. Having declared an SOE on May 19 to expire on June 9 cannot be extended unless approved by the National Assembly,” Mr Jobarteh said barely hours after the government spokersperson released a statement announcing that President Barrow has declared a fresh 21-day state of public emergency.
Mr Jobarteh added: “In other words the President has no power to extend his own SOE declaration. When a current SOE declaration expires only the National Assembly can extend it.
“The President has power to issue an SOE declaration only once at the first instance whether the National Assembly is sitting or not. This was done on March 18 and extended on April 3 by the National Assembly.
“The next time the President can issue an SOE declaration on his own is when the National is not sitting or when sessions have ended. He did that on May 19.
“In a nutshell, anytime the President makes an SOE declaration it cannot be extended the next time by him alone but he has to have the approval of the National Assembly.
“Therefore the May 19 SOE declaration which expired on June 9 require parliamentary approval for its extension. If the National Assembly is not sitting then they must be called in an emergency session to sit over the motion to extend the SOE.
“Therefore this declaration today is utterly unconstitutional and must be thrown out!”
President Adama Barrow has declared 21 days of State of Public Emergency effective 10 June. The declaration affects the entire country.
The government through spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh said: “In exercise of the powers vested in him by section 34(6) of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, His Excellency President Adama Barrow declares that a state of public emergency continues to exist in the whole of The Gambia.
“This further declaration shall last for a period of twenty-one days pursuant to section 34 (2), with effect from today 10th June 2020.
“Therefore, all the Emergency Regulations issued under the Emergency Powers Act shall continue to apply during the period of the state of public emergency.”
The proclamation means The Gambia has now entered a 12th week of state of public emergency since it was first introduced in March.
America’s top diplomat in The Gambia has said his country has contributed its modest mound towards The Gambia’s COVID-19 response.
“I have to tell you that we received along with the rest of the international community the government’s strategy to respond to COVID-19,” Ambassador Richard Carl Paschall told The Fatu Network on Tuesday in an exclusive interview as he responded to claims America isn’t interested in giving money to countries where its interests are not vast.
Ambassador Paschall added: “We have worked with the international financial institutions in particular, by providing strong support to the world Bank and IMF programs to essentially meet all of The Gambia’s needs.”
The World Bank in April gave $10 million to The Gambia to support the country in its coronavirus response effort.
America is one of IMF and World Bank’s biggest financiers with the country in 2015 contributing nearly $2 billion to the banks, that leveraged over $120 billion in additional resources to support sustainable development.
When US Democrats in Congress proposed legislation to reform the police following weeks of protests over the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of a white officer, commenters on social media only wanted to talk about one thing: what they were wearing.
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and other Democratic lawmakers were draped in scarves made from a cloth of colourful geometric Ghanaian designs called kente.
It turned out to be quite a controversial sartorial choice.
This congressional group meets to pursue legislative goals around greater equality for black people.
For the Democrats kente cloth is about African heritage
“The significance of the kente cloth is our African heritage and for those of you without that heritage who are acting in solidarity,” Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporters on Monday.
“That is the significance of the kente cloth – our origins and respecting our past.”
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have worn kente at other occasions, including events last year to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans to America and President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018.
Over the years, kente has been used in the US to reflect a pride in African heritage, including at graduation ceremonies for students in historically black fraternities or sororities.
What is kente and where it from?
Modern kente is characterised by intricately woven and richly colourful geometric designs. You are most likely to see it in bold shades of yellow, blue, green, red and orange.
Kente is often weaved from silk and cotton
It is associated with the Ashanti people in central Ghana and is linked with special occasions as it is expensive to make.
The skills of the finest weavers are reserved for the use of Ashanti royalty – and certain patterns are reserved for the king.
Kente cloth is reserved for special occasions
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is the current king, or Asantehene, who ascended to the throne in 1999.
A revered figurehead, he adjudicates in disputes and is closely involved in local issues. However, like other traditional leaders, he is barred by the constitution from taking part in Ghanaian politics.
What has the reaction been?
The word “kente” was trending on Twitter in the US on Monday, prompting laughter from some celebrities.
The drummer for the Roots, Questlove, tweeted his disbelief, saying at first he thought he was being pranked when he was told about it:
Everyone was texting me these Kente Cloth photos, I had to come here to make sure the Roots weren’t pranking me. I just…
The singer John Legend was particularly tickled about how life had imitated art as last month he had taken part in a comedy sketch in the US about Black History Month, which included a satirical song about adding kente cloth to your outfit.
The reaction in Ghana has not been as noticeable, reports the BBC’s Thomas Naadi from the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
Instead, he suspects Ghanaians will be happy with the opportunity to promote the cloth.
However, Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola saw the Democrats’ use of kente as an insult to Africans, saying: “We are not your props.”
Stop using Africans and African cultures as props to deflect criticism. We are not your props.
Others in the US complained that talk about the cloth was diverting attention from proposed reforms, with one tweeter saying, “Now is NOT the time to learn the history of kente cloth. I assure this too is a distraction.”
What are the proposed reforms?
The Democrats want sweeping legislation to reform the police in America to make it easier to prosecute officers for misconduct, ban chokeholds and addresses racism.
It is unclear whether the Democrats will get the support for their proposals
As she unveiled the bill, Mrs Pelosi read the names of black men and women who have died at the hands of police in recent years.
However, it is unclear whether Republicans, who control the US Senate, will support the proposed Justice in Policing Act of 2020.
US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that “the Radical Left Democrats want to Defund and Abandon our Police. Sorry, I want LAW & ORDER!”
Kombo Yiriwa Kafo has written to President Adama Barrow to ‘draw his attention’ to the ‘many’ land disputes in the Kombo part of the country.
“The issue of land matters has been simmering in the Kombo area for a quite a while now with little or no policy decision to resolve the situation,” the Alhagie Conteh-led group told President Barrow in their letter.
A number of Kombo towns continue to make headlines amid land disputes that have gripped them.
The latest town is Sukuta where a government demolition squadron last month descended on and tore down structures on a land the government says is reserved.
Kombo Yiriwa Kaffo said in their letter to President Barrow: “Your Excellency, recent events in various parts of Kombo namely; Brufut, Gunjur, Sukuta and earlier on in Faraba Banta and Bakau among others are enough proof of what lies ahead if no concrete actions are taken to address the growing disenchantment with the abuse of power by different public officials with little regard for sentiments on the ground.”
The Sukuta Salagi demolition exercise saw a number of people arrested and charged after they allegedly obstructed the officers who were accompanied by riot police.
Kombo Yiriwa Kaffo in their letter to President demanded their ‘unconditional’ release and the dropping of charges against them.
The group demanded from the president in their letter: “…the leadership of Kombo Yiriwa Kaffo, on behalf of the citizens of Kombo, wishes to engage your government and all other stakeholders for a meaningful dialogue and immediately demand the following; the unconditional release of all the Sukuta youths arrested and detained at the Brusubi Police Station and to drop all charges preferred against them; the security forces stop immediately the harassment of the affected communities on land matters throughout Kombo. We consider the so-called press release from Physical Planning Department very provocative and the officials of the department must stop immediately the demolition of structures in their so-called layouts…”
The group in their 15-point demand also asked for a meeting with the president.
“As a matter of urgency we call on the president to meet the executive of Kombo Yiriwa Kafo to table the above sporadic land conflicts in Kombo,” the group said.
President Adama Barrow has written greeting letters to 17 leaders around the world on the occasion of 2020 Ramadan and Eidul Fitr.
According to State House on Tuesday, President Adama Barrow renewed congratulations and best wishes of health and wellbeing, as well as peace and progress to Muslim leaders around the globe.
He expressed joy in seizing the occasion of Eid–Ul-Fitr to register his gratitude and appreciation for the friendly relations between The Gambia and their respective countries, as well as for the solidarity and support in the fight against COVID -19 pandemic, State House said in a statement.
The leaders President Barrow wrote to are; Saudi’s Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jabeer Al Sabah of the State of Kuwait, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the Republic of Turkey, Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of the Republic of Mali, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Muhammadu Bahari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhamadou Issoufou of the Republic of Niger, Abdelmadjid Tebboune of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Kais Saied of the Republic of Tunisia, Alpha Condé of the Republic of Guinea, Alassan Ouatarra of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire, and Umaro Sissoho Embaló of the Republic of Guinea Bissau.
Sukuta resident Lamin Cham who the government claimed compensated by giving him 37 plots of land after taking his land elswhere in the town has denied the claims.
“The allegation levelled against me by Buba Sanyang the PS is that they compensated me with 37 plots [of land], something that is not true,” Mr Cham told reporters on Sunday while responding to the claims which were made at a news conference last week.
Lamin Cham added: “If the government doesn’t dissolve the committee [at ministry of lands], they will make Adama Barrow fail because those people are land criminals.
“They take people’s land, give it to real estate agencies who would sell it for them and then they would give those people government allocation letters.”
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza, aged 55, has died after suffering a cardiac arrest, the government says.
He was admitted to hospital on Saturday after feeling unwell, his condition improved but on Monday he had a cardiac arrest and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, the government says.
Mr Nkurunziza was due to step down from the presidency in August.
In 2015, the announcement that he would run for a third term plunged the country into chaos.
On his death, he had been president for 15 years.
After a change in the constitution, he was able to run for a further term in last month’s election but he decided to retire and was to be known as the “supreme guide to patriotism”.
Two people both male have tested positive for coronavirus taking the number of cases registered in the country to 28.
“One of these is the first confirmed case reported from North Bank West Region,” ministry of health’s Modou Njai told reporters on Monday, as its revealed the two people involved are both Gambians aged 20 and 38.
He added: “Both cases were in quarantine for having a recent travel history to locations with ongoing community transmission – their respective neighbours reported their issue to the COVID-19 response team through the 1025 Hotline.”
According to the ministry of health, both cases are imported.
It comes as the government announced an easing of lockdown measures including the reopening of places of worship and markets.
The Gambia government has unmasked two men to be behind claims of a coup in The Gambia.
Audios emerged online on Sunday filled with claims of a coup in the country. Some of the people mentioned to be behind the act included Essa Faal, Abubacarr Tambadou, Lamin Sise and army spokesman Lamin Sanyang.
The government said in a statement on Monday signed by spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh: “In the wake of malicious and subversive audio messages circulating on Social Media warning The Gambia Government of a looming coup plot allegedly being hatched by some private citizens, senior government and military officials, the public is hereby informed that these are outrageous and baseless allegations.
“In total, all these audio messages being circulated are orchestrated by detractors and agent provocateurs who do not in any way wish The Gambia well contrary to what they claim in their audios.
“Their intention is to inject fear, panic general apprehension and discord in public and within government circles.
“Therefore, no sooner had the audios hit the airwaves yesterday than the various security and intelligence services—SIS, Police, Military and ECOMIG, conducted joint investigations to establish their veracity across the country.
“The Government is pleased to announce that the totality of these tapes is false; they constitute fake news calculated to destabilize our fledgling democracy.
“Unlike the past dispensation where such wild allegations could have landed innocent citizens in unwarranted arrests and other forms of trouble, The Gambia Government exercised utmost maturity in handling these potentially incriminating recordings.
“As such, not a single officer or civilian was questioned, arrested or interrogated as the audios had intended the Government to do. Also, no weapons were found nor the vehicle they claimed carried the cache of weapons for the imaginary coup operation.
“Preliminary investigations have established that two Gambians, Omar F.S. Sanneh aka Baitulah and Momodou Marong are complicit in the recording and subsequent dissemination of these provocative audios that have succeeded in sending fear and general apprehension among some Gambians both at home and abroad.
“Omar F.S. Sanneh (alias Baitulah), is an ex-soldier who in 2018, reportedly jumped bail after he was accused of ‘communicating threats’ via WhatsApp and fled to Cassamance, where he is now believed to be a resident fugitive from justice.
“Like Sanneh, his colleague, Momodou Marong is believed to have left The Gambia using illegal migration routes and currently lives in Italy from where he too, has been involved in the prolific production of malicious and subversive audios.
“Accordingly, members of the public, the Consular and Diplomatic Corps are urged to go about their normal businesses as there is no cause for fear or alarm over these malicious audio messages intended to undermine The Gambia’s peace and security.”
The investigation into the Barra boat incident is completed and a report submitted to the Attorney General’s Chambers for legal advice, the police have said.
“Ousman Bahoum wasn’t around at the time but immediately he returned, he was arrested and appropriate actions were taken,” police spokesman Lamin Njie (not the author of this story) said.
He added: “He is currently granted Police bail while the case awaits legal advice.”
Survivors and parents of those who died in a migrant shipwreck in December last year have been raising questions after the owner of the Ousman Bahoum returned to Barra. They say they want him arrested.
The police are however warning against vigilantism.
“We wish to implore on the people of Barra to contain their impatience and allow the due process of the law to take its course. They must not allow getting provoked into taking the law into their own hands. We assure the general public especially the people of Barra that justice will be served,” the police spokesman said.
The nation’s top corrections officer Ansumana Manneh has told the TRRC his predecessor was engaged in tribalism and nepotism.
“It was not just tribalism but nepotism since it’s his relatives that were closest to him, they were the people in his kingdom. His immediate deputy was the former deputy director Modou Jarju,” Mr Manneh who made it very clear he doesn’t like talking about the issue of tribalism told the probe on Monday.
The GPS chief is the first person to testify before the TRRC after the investigation was forced to abandon its public hearings due to the coronavirus pandemic.
His testimony centred around the country’s prisons – as they were allegedly used by the former president to punish political opponents.
According to Manneh, former President Yahya Jammeh called Mile Two prisons his ‘five-star’ hotel.
“It was no secret, it was in the media,” he said.
Manneh has extensive knowledge as a prison officer but faced unjust treatment which saw him shipped out to the ministry of interior. The Barrow government takeover found him at interior.
“I was not responsible for anything regarding prisons there [at interior]. It was a ploy to push me out,” he told the TRRC.
There was drama at the Ussifiyya Mosque in Kumasi after the Imam paused his sermon during the Friday prayers and asked one of his congregants to leave the mosque for failing to put on a face mask.
The mandatory wearing of the face mask was part of measures announced by the government prior to the reopening of Mosques and Churches after COVID-19 induced restrictions were eased.
Although some religious leaders have declared their intentions not to reopen their places of worship despite the easing of the restrictions, majority of mosques in Kumasi on Friday reopened for the first time after a ban on social gathering due to COVID-19.
The various mosques set-up a task force which was enforcing the measures at their premises.
Members of the task force ensured that persons coming to the mosques washed their hands, used sanitizers and their body temperature also checked before they were allowed into the main auditorium.
Posters containing COVID-19 sensitization inscriptions were also placed at entrances of mosques and other vantage locations to educate congregants on how to prevent the spread of the virus.
At the Kumasi Central Mosque, an ambulance was stationed with paramedics and personnel from the National Disaster Management Organization(NADMO) stationed to attend to emergencies.
Imam of the Ussifiyya Mosque, Sheik Yussif Alhassan Umar, who ensured that all the measures announced by the Government were adhered to by attendees at his mosque, used part of his sermon to reiterate the need for all to ensure compliance with the guidelines.
While delivering the Friday sermon and noticed that a member of his congregation was not wearing the face mask which has become mandatory at his mosque, he paused and walked him out.
“There was a meeting after directives by the Government and I told all the members that we have to try as much as possible to do what we can do to apply the directives because it is prevention for all of us. And we are denying people entering the mosque without the mask, how can you a member enter the mosque without the mask?”
“No one is above the law. If you are commanding somebody not to enter the mosque without the mask, how can you enter without the mask? You have to lead by example. That is why I sacked him. And when I sacked him, he went out to get the mask before I allowed him to sit in the mosque,” Sheik Ussifiyya explained.
Muslim leaders have said they will try their best to sustain the enforcement of COVID-19 prevention measures announced by the government.
The European Union has announced it is expanding its support to young Gambians by enabling the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) to venture into new, well-needed activities, and extending its implementation period to November 2022.
The Youth Empowerment Project is implemented by the International Trade Centre as part of the Tekki Fii Programme, a flagship initiative of the Government of The Gambia with the aim of increasing job opportunities and income prospects for young Gambians.
According to the EU, the additional support will help more young entrepreneurs and small businesses to create and sustain jobs and income in view of post-crisis recovery.
“It will support a number of young entrepreneurs in critical sectors such as transport and logistics and address other supply chain disruptions by facilitating market linkages. To facilitate access to finance for fast growing companies, the project will provide co-investment grants in collaboration with the Gambia Angel Investors Network (GAIN). It will also facilitate support from the Gambian diaspora.
“Further support will be extended through technical and vocational training to boost the skills and employability of young Gambians while enhancing the institutional capacity of training providers. This includes support to operationalizing a new training centre in Ndemban, West Coast Region in collaboration with Gambian skills providers. YEP will also continue to support Gambian authorities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including through awareness raising and prevention, mitigation measures and other post-crisis recovery support,” the EU said in a statement today.
The EU Ambassador Attila LAJOS said: “The European Union remains strongly committed to supporting young Gambians by boosting their employment opportunities and income prospects, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.”
Launched in early 2017, the Youth Empowerment Project, in partnership with more than 40 national implementing partners has demonstrated positive results. 1,800 jobs have been created or sustained, 2,400 youths have been supported through technical and vocational training and 2,900 youths through entrepreneurship support, including 120 returnees.
Over 700 small businesses have been supported to improve their competitiveness through enhanced packaging, food safety and quality, innovation and product development, increasing production capacity, and business linkages and more than 300 companies have benefitted from access to finance.
TRRC chairman Lamin J Sise has revealed the investigation has seven main themes remaining to the end of its public hearings.
The TRRC today resumed its public hearings after the coronavirus lockdown saw it shelve the tedious exercise back in March.
Chairman Lamin J Sise said in a statement: “As at this point, we wish to remind the public that the main themes remaining on the Commission’s work plan include the following: the former president’s HIV/AIDS and other diseases alternative treatment programme; enforced disappearances; the case of the 44 Ghanaians and other West African migrants who were killed in The Gambia in July 2005; the April 2016 incidents involving the NIA and resulting in the death in custody of UDP member Solo Sandeng; institutional hearings on the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Judiciary, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA; additional hearings on sexual and gender-based violence, and the Junglers (part two).
“In view of the loss of two weeks of public hearings as a result of the lockdown, the Commission intends to conclude its public hearings during the last, rather than the first week of October 2020. As and when required, occasional public hearings may be convened as work proceeds on the final report.”
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has strongly criticised President Donald Trump’s handling of anti-racism protests, saying he has “drifted away” from the constitution.
The Republican, a former top military officer, is the latest to condemn Mr Trump’s response, including his threats to use the army to quell rallies.
He said he would vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in November’s poll.
President Trump responded by calling Mr Powell “highly overrated”.
Mr Powell, the only African American so far to have served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has joined a growing list of former top military officials to have launched scathing attacks on President Trump.
It comes amid days of nationwide protests against racism and police brutality sparked by the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on 25 May.
On Sunday, nine of 13 Minneapolis City Council members pledged in front of hundreds of protesters to dismantle the local police department and instead create “a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe”.
Meanwhile, security measures across the US were lifted as unrest started to ease. New York ended its nearly week-long curfew, and Mr Trump said he was ordering the National Guard to start withdrawing from Washington DC.
Referring to President Trump, the retired four-star general said: “He lies about things, and he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable.”
Mr Powell also said the president’s rhetoric is a danger to American democracy and said, referring to this year’s presidential election: “I certainly cannot in any way support President Trump this year.”
He added: “I’m very close to Joe Biden in a social matter and political matter. I worked with him for 35, 40 years. And he is now the candidate, and I will be voting for him.”
Mr Powell, who is seen as a moderate Republican, did not vote for Mr Trump in the 2016 poll.
In the interview, he also backed America’s military leaders who had criticised Mr Trump in recent days.
Gen Martin Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman under Barack Obama, told ABC’s The Week earlier on Sunday that the president’s words had hurt relations between the US public and the military.
On Twitter, Mr Trump said Colin Powell was “a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars”, referring to the 1990-93 Gulf War and the US-led invasion in Iraq in 2003.
Mr Biden also took to Twitter to hit out at Mr Trump’s handling of the protests, saying he had “callously used his [words as a president] to incite violence, stoke the flames of hatred and division, and drive us further apart”.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CBS News’ Face the Nationthat she would like Mr Trump to “put tweeting aside for a little bit” and have a conversation with the American people.
“Not everyone is going to agree with any president, with this president, but you have to speak to every American, not just to those who might agree with you,” she said.
