By Lamin Njie

The man allegedly at the centre of persecution against the Seckens of Ker Mot Ali this morning told the TRRC the people of the Upper Saloum village were branding Serign Ndigal God.

Former governor of Upper River Region Ganyi Touray is accused of spearheading gross tyrannisation against the Seckens whose version of Islam doesn’t include the five daily prayers. Their leader, the late Serign Ndigal reportedly got instructions from God to stop praying.

A student of Mr Ndigal Yunusa Ceesay last week appeared before the TRRC and told the probe Ganyi Touray was bringing police to Ker Mot Ali – who would beat and force them to pray.

Mr Touray today began explaining his own side of the story claiming people in Ker Mot Ali were calling Mr Ndigal God.

“If you get to Ker Mot Ali, all you hear is, ‘he (Serign Ndigal) is God’,” Mr Touray told the TRRC.

His testimony continues.

By Lamin Njie

Former Inspector General of Police Ensa Jesus Badjie has been appointed commissioner of police.

The former police chief in November last year wept at the TRRC as he detailed how former President Yahya Jammeh masterminded his 2010 arrest and jailing. He was then dismissed from the police.

Mr Badjie has now been reappointed by the Personnel Management Office as Commissioner of Police, police spokesman Lamin Njie told The Fatu Network on Wednesday.

“He will be working in the Crime Department of the GPF under the Crime Management Coordinator (CMC) who is an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG),” he added.

Mr Badjie is not the Crime Management Coordinator but a police commissioner who will be working under the CMC.

By Lamin Njie

Top political analyst Dr Ismaila Ceesay has said the failure and inability of the Barrow administration in solving the country’s basic problems has been established a ‘long’ time ago.

The senior political science lecturer at the University of The Gambia stated this in an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network on Wednesday.

Dr Ceesay said: “I have graduated from discussing the failure and the inability of this government to solve our basic problems. That has already been established a long time ago. If some people beginning to realise that now, well, wake up from your slumber.

“I have realised a long time ago that this goverment doesn’t have what it takes, they lack the ability and what it takes to solve our basic problems. So for me that’s not the debate now.”

The United Nations have branded female genital mutilation a human rights violation, revealing that five in every ten girls in The Gambia between the ages of zero and 14 years going through the procedure.

UN twin agencies of UNFPA and UNICEF have rolled out a joint programme on Accelerated Abandonment FGM, the largest global programme to end this harmful practice, currently focusing on 17 countries including The Gambia and also supports regional and global initiatives.

And as the world commemorates the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on Thursday 6 February 2020, UNFPA and UNICEF have issued a joint statement calling for an end to FGM.

The agencies said: “When Mariama was growing up in rural Gambia, most of her peers were subjected to female genital mutilation – a human rights violation that 5 in every 10 girls in The Gambia between 0-14 years have gone through. Yet Mariama remains unharmed, thanks to her parents’ refusal to subject her to the practice, despite the enormous social pressure.

“On the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, we join with Mariama and young people in The Gambia who are standing up for their rights with urgency and energy. They are engaging their peers, families, communities and the government with a call to end this harmful act of gender-based violence once and for all, as promised by the international community in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“While significant progress in eliminating the practice has been made in the last decade, in The Gambia, thousands of girls and women alive today have had their genitals mutilated. This can lead to long-term physical, psychological and social consequences.

“Support for the practice is dwindling. Up to 49% of women in The Gambia believe that female genital mutilation should stop. Evidently, young girls are at much lower risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation than their mothers and grandmothers were – 75% of women between 15 and 49 years old have undergone FGM/C, compared to 50% of girls between 0-14 years old.

“As the dominant demographic force in The Gambia, young people can play a critical role in ending FGM. Unleashing the power of youth means investing in youth-led movements to champion gender equality, an end to violence against women and girls and the elimination of harmful practices. This requires including young people as partners when designing and implementing national action plans, building relationships with youth-led organizations and networks that work to end female genital mutilation and recognize it as a form of violence against women and girls, empowering young people to lead community campaigns that challenge social norms and myths, and engaging men and boys as allies.

“But this is not a goal young people can achieve alone, nor can it be addressed in isolation from other forms of violence against women and girls. It also requires strong political commitment and the participation of all stakeholders including communities and the private sector.

“Last year, at the Nairobi Summit on the International Conference on Population and Development, governments, including The Gambia Government, civil society, faith-based organisations and the private sector recommitted to ending gender-based violence and harmful practices – such as female genital mutilation – in 10 years, the same timeframe for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

In March, we mark 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, a global commitment to advance women’s rights across 12 critical areas, including the elimination of all harmful practices against girls and women. This year, we will announce the creation of a new Generation Equality to drive further investment and results for gender equality.

“Now is the time to invest, translating the political commitments already made into concrete action. Now is the time to do more and do it better and faster to end the practice once and for all. Now is the time to keep our promise to Mariama and all girls of reaching zero female genital mutilation by 2030.”

A huge fire has erupted in the bush in Alla Kunda spreading to Kanilai, an army commander has confirmed.

The fire started from the Alla kunda, a village near Kanilai, end of the forest and entered through Woni, the former President’s home, since on Tuesday 4 February 2020, Lt Col Krubally the head of troops in Kanilai said.

“With the help of fire fighters stationed in Kanilai, GAF soldiers and residents of Woni, they succeeded in putting the fire out by late nighfall, just for the fires to restart this afternoon,” he added.

Gambian bushes are particularly prone to bush fires in winter and the Kanilai fire comes amid comments by the spokesman of the Gambia Fire and Rescue Service that their fire engines are not built to battle bush fires. It followed claims that they are not doing anything about the frequent outbreak of bush fires.

President Adama Barrow on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 received a Special Envoy of the Muslim World League, led by its Secretary General, Abdulqader Ahmed Abobaker Al-Mashhor at the State House in Banjul.

The delegation is in Banjul to convey the gratitude and appreciation of the League for The Gambia’s case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, and for the significant step of obtaining provisional measures that will now save more Rohingya lives.

Speaking to the press after the audience, Mr. Almatter reiterates the League’s efforts to peaceful resolution of the Rohingya case and other conflicts affecting Muslim countries around the world.

“We assure the President that we will stand by The Gambia in its efforts… that MWL as the leader in the Muslim world, is concerned and committed to use all peaceful means to solve this problem,” he said, noting that they are prepared for the next steps in this endeavour.

The Envoy also expressed a strong desire by the MWL to work closely with the Government of The Gambia to assist the Rohingya in Myanmar, Bangladesh and the entire Muslim Umma in general.

The delegation, comprising Director General of International Relief Organisation, Mr. Abdulrahman Mohammed Almatter, were led to the State House by the Gambian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the OIC, Omar Gibril Sallah. (State House press)

By Lamin Njie

The amir of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Baba Trawally has said bigotry against the jama’at began in June 1997 when then-State House imam started castigating the sect.

Ahmadis in The Gambia have been on the receiving end of sustained prejudice and bigotry with most mainstream Muslim Gambians viewing them as non-Muslims.

Imam Fatty has been an outspoken critic of the sect and has in many occasions used his sermons to demand that they be banned in The Gambia. Ahmadis are accused of holding the belief that a new messenger would come after the Prophet Muhammad.

Baba Trawally appeared before the TRRC on Wednesday and told the probe the hate campaign against his sect started in 1997.

Mr Trawally said: “It was Friday 6 June 1997 when the Imam of State House that time Imam Abdoulie Fatty started castigating, attacking the Jama’at, saying so many things. That Ahmadis should be taken to the McCarthy Square to be killed.

“[That] they will recant or be killed. This was said by him. So this process went on for quite a well. From June up to September and beyond. And he claimed that we are not Muslims.”

Ousainou Darboe said on Tuesday he sent a letter to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubacarr Ba Tambadou over the banning of Operation Three Years Jotna.

The Gambia government announced last week Sunday that it was banning Operation Three Years Jotna from ever operating in The Gambia amid clashes between the police and the anti-Barrow activists at Sting Corner on 26 January.

The UDP leader has shared a copy of a personal letter he wrote to the Attorney General on on 3 February his official Facebook page. It reads:

“My Dear Colleague and Brother,

“Let me once again congratulate you for filing a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for that country’s violation of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention 1948. Even if the ICJ had ruled against The Gambia on the issue of locus standi, the mere fact of filing the case is sufficient to prick the conscience of all decent human beings. With the unanimous ruling of the ICJ, the issue of the Rohingya Muslims can no longer remain unaddressed by Myanmar and the International community. Thanks for this historic service to humanity.

“But a few days after the ICJ agreed with you that the actions of the Myanmar Government where in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, our own government, on 26th January 2020 at about 3pm, by proclamation/declaration banned the 3 Year Jotna Movement (Movement) which in my view is not in accordance with the provisions of the Societies Act 1970, Cap 50:01 Laws of The Gambia (the Act).

“In an interview with Mr. Gomez, host of ‘Coffee Time with Peter Gomez’, the Honourable Minister for Information and the Government Spokesperson advanced reasons why the Movement was banned. Amongst these are the fact that the Movement was engaged in subversive actives and that it was un-registered. Despite its non-registration the government in good faith and guided by our democratic credentials accommodated and dealt with the Movement.

“I do not wish to comment on the validity/veracity of the allegation that the Movement was engaged in subversive activities. I however take liberty to state that the non-registration of the Movement does not vest authority in the executive branch of the Government to issue a banning Order on the Movement and make consequential orders for the implementation of the banning Order.

“Section 2 of The Act defines ‘society’ to include ‘any club, company or partnership whether registered under any law or not, or any group or association of two or more persons’. I am of the firm view that the Movement is a group/association of two or more persons. Its non-registration cannot be a valid and justified reason for banning it.

“But a more serious and fundamental flaw is that the conditions precedent for a legitimate banning (proscription) order have not been satisfied. Section 3 (1) of the Act informs us that one or more of the activities mentioned in the subsection most occur before a society can in law be considered as an unlawful one.

“It does appear to me that it is not the pronouncement or declaration by the executive that renders a society unlawful. There must be a trial under the Act for a contravention of the provisions of section 3 (1) to justify the proscription or banning of any society.

“Section 3 (2) of the Act provides ‘A Court trying an offence under this Act may, during the pendency of the prosecution, order the suspension of the society and prohibit its office-bearers and members from engaging in any of its activities’.

“Further Section 3 (3) states ‘The court may, after finding that a society is formed for any of the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section, or after its formation has indulged or engaged in any activities mentioned therein, make an order declaring the society to be unlawful and any order so made shall without delay be transmitted to the Minister’. It is clear from the language of Section 3 (2) and (3) that the legislature has reserved to the courts the power and authority to suspend a society or declare same unlawful because of its contravention of any of the prohibited acts specified and enumerated in section 3 (1) of the Act. Unless the conditions stipulated in section 3 (3) of the Act are satisfied the executive does not in my view have the power or authority to declare any society including the Movement unlawful and proceed to ban same.

“Of course the legislature recognizes that the responsibility for the administration of the Act is entrusted to the Minister (executive). And for this reasons Section 3 (4) provides “The Minister shall on the making of the order referred to in subsection (2) of this section, by Order published in the Gazette proscribe such society and thereafter that society shall cease to exist”. I believe the reference to subsection 2 must be the printer’s error. It cannot be doubted that the subsection intended to be referred to is subsection 3 of section 3.

“My dear Colleague and Brother knowing your passion for strict adherence to, and compliance with procedural rules that affect the liberty of individuals and their constitutional right to freedom association, I am convinced that this serious and fundamental disregard of the provisions of the Act by the executive would not have occurred had you been consulted. I also entertain no doubt that since your attention has been drawn to the relevant provisions of the Act, you will take, or cause to be taken, appropriate measures to remedy the situation-a task that will involve a choice between doing what is morally right and what is legally correct.

“Whilst assuring you of my highest consideration and personal esteem, I remain always your Colleague and Brother in the service of the law and justice.”

By Adama Makasuba

Sheikh Alioun Secka has said he is not prepared to have the Seckens return to Upper Saloum village of Ker Mot Ali.

Barely a week ago, Yunusa Ceesay, a student of Serign Ndigal, appeared before the TRRC and told the probe how the cleric’s followers were made to leave the town for new settlers under the leadership of Sheikh Alioun Secka.

Serign Ndigal, real name Mahamadou Habibullah Secka, was a true man of God who was instructed by God in 2002 to stop praying, Yunusa Ceesay had told the TRRC.

“Ndigal was following the Sarihatul Mutahhar (the version of Islam that involves praying), that was the way all of us were following. When it was time for prayers, by the time nine minutes have added to the prayers time, that would have found that all of us have prayed. Anyone who knew us knew no one could match us,” Yunusa Ceesay had told TRRC.

The Seckens later faced persecution after they stopped praying. Sheikh Alioun Secka was then allegedly imported from Senegal and installed as the new leader of Ker Mot Ali. The Seckens then had to flee to Senegal.

But in a counter testimony on Tuesday, Alioun Secka said: “We didn’t drive them away. Kerr Mot Ali wasn’t owned by Ndigal.

“In fact, Kerr Mot Ali wasn’t own by his father who founded the village neither him.”

He however said he is not prepared to accept the sect back in the village saying “I am not prepared for them to come back and settle in the village.”

According to him, a mosque is built for worshiping God by praying, adding “so if they don’t want to pray let them not pray, and those who want to pray to continue praying and peace prevails.”

He explained that the tussle of the villagers and the Ndigal started when the sect said no one would pray again in a mosque built in the village.

By Lamin Njie

The father of Baby Aisha, the girl who was only a month old when her mother was arrested in 2016 has detailed how he told President Adama Barrow he was going to betray Gambians.

Muhammed Fatty is a member of Operation Three Years Jotna. He is also a member of United Democratic Party who was arrested in the party’s 2016 events that led to the arrest and incarceration of scores. He later was part of a group of people who met President Barrow shortly after his election victory.

Mr Fatty told The Fatu Network on Tuesday while attending the court session of leaders of Operation Three Years Jotna: “What we have entered into is worse than what we came out of. Because one should keep promises he makes to people. But Adama Barrow… I told him on the day they released us from prison.

“[At a meeting] when everyone spoke, I said I was going to speak too. They said no but I said I was going to speak. I spoke and I told him he was going to betray us and he said he was not going to betray us.”

By Lamin Njie and Omar Wally and Adama Makasuba

Lawyers in the case of eight Three Years Jotna leaders including one woman squared off on Tuesday as the embattled activists appeared at the high court for the first time since their arrest.

Abdou Njie, Ebrima Kitim Touray, Yankuba Darbo, Fanta Mballow, Karim Touray, Sheriffo Sonko, Muctarr Ceesay and Hagi Suwaneh were last week charged with rioting at the Kanifing Magistrates Court. The lower court later transferred the case to the high court upon realising it did not have the power to hear the case.

The seven men and one woman arrived at the high court on Tuesday around 11:30 as they smiled and waved and displayed three fingers resistance signs.

In court, state prosecutors led by Patrick Gomez quickly moved to apply that the case be adjourned, insisting it was only Monday that they received the file of the case from the police.

“We seek for an adjournment on this matter so as to review the file,” Gomez prayed.

The defence rejected any idea for the case to be transferred while also arguing that there were no proper charges before the high court against the accused persons.

“I wish to submit that there is nothing before this court that should warrant an adjournment,” Rachel Y Mendy, lead lawyer, fired back.

Mendy then moved to ask the court to grant bail to the accused persons after she accused the state of attempting to delay the case.

“The state cannot be allowed to abuse the process of this honourable court,” she said while referring the court to a supreme court ruling in the case of Henry Gabriel last year in which the top court granted bail to a man who was convicted on a manslaughter charge.

The deadlock then took a fresh twist after state attorneys rejected the defence’s argument and called on the court to not grant bail to the accused persons.

“We humbly submit that the state has no intention to delay this trial,” Patrick Gomez said.

He then added: “In relation to whether the offences are bailable, we argue that one of the offences which the accused persons were charged with at the lower court is not a bailable offence, that is why it was transferred to the high court.

“The offence in question is on court three on the charge sheet (rioters demolishing structures) which attracts life imprisonment.”

The state lawyer also said that it is the position of law in The Gambia that where offences attract life imprisonment or death sentences, bail ‘shall’ not be granted.

“In respect to the argument that the Supreme Court set a precedent by granting bail in respect to offences that attract life in jail or death sentences, there is no precedent set by the Supreme Court,” Patrick Gomez argued. He then said the Henry Gabriel case is quite distinct with the case before the high court in that it was ‘bail pending appeal’.

The defence replying on points on law slammed the prosecution’s argument that the Henry Gabriel case was a ‘bail pending appeal’ as ‘misconceived’.

“The issue brought up in the argument of the accused person (Henry Gabriel ) was whether the purported charges are bailable. Henry Gabriel was a convicted [but] the Supreme Court granted him bail despite his conviction of manslaughter,” Rachel Mendy argued.

The trial judge Amina Ceesay Saho then adjourned the case to 6 February for ruling on the defence’s bail application.

There is no legal instrument that says APRC should not exist or should be treated otherwise, the Inspector General of Police Mamour Jobe has said.

APRC supporters last month took to the streets to call for the return to the country of former president Yahya Jammeh, but the decision by police to grant the party a permit angered a cross section of Gambians most of them victims of the former leader.

The victims one week later also took to the streets calling on the Barrow government to impose a “ban or suspend the APRC party until the ongoing TRRC is concluded”. They’d earlier faulted the police for granting a permit to APRC.

Mamour Jobe in an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network said: “Let people understand one thing; the APRC is a legally registered political party.

“There are cases that are against the part but there is no legal instrument as far as I am concerned to say that the APRC should not exist or should be treated otherwise.”

By Adama Makasuba

A top Christian cleric Philip Saine has slammed the 2016 declaration of The Gambia as an Islamic State as ‘illegal and unconstitutional’.

In 2016, former president Yahya Jammeh declared The Gambia an Islamic State, a move that stunned not only Christian Gambia but the Muslim one as well.

Mr Jammeh then went on to pass a fiat for female government officials including security officials to cover their heads. The fiat could however not survive as it lasted only for a week.

Testifying before the TRRC on Monday, 69-year-old Philip Saine said: “The IS [Islamic State] proclamation was illegal.

“It was in opposition to the dreams and aspiration of the founding fathers of the modern nation-state of The Gambia, who had penned their legacy into us in the national anthem which reads ‘let justice guide our actions towards the common good and our diverse people to proof man’s brotherhood’.”

According to him, the IS declaration had led to the gradual but definitive erosion of constitutional guarantees, the deterioration of secularism, democracy and human rights in The Gambia.

The ministry of health has set up an emergency health committee to coordinate resources for response efforts regarding the deadly coronavirus.

The world is currently battling a new killer virus, the coronvirus. At least 8000 people have been infected with the virus in the Chinese city of Wuhan where it first emerged. Twenty Gambians are currently trapped in Wuhan most of them students.

The ministry of health said in a statement on its official Facebook page today: ” The Hon. Minister of Health Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh today Monday 3rd February 2020 presided over the inauguration or the National Health Emergency Committee charged with the responsibility to coordinate the implementation 2019 -nCOV (Novel Coronavirus) in The Gambia. The National Health Emergency Committee is multisectoral in nature comprising of government departments and agencies, non-governmental, private sector and civil society Organizations.

“The main objective of the National Health Emergency Commitee is to ensure the overall coordination and mobilize the needed resources for the Coronavirus preparedness and response operations at national and regional levels. The National Health Emergency Committee will be supported by the various sub-committees namely: epidemiological investigation, surveillance and laboratory testing; media/risk communication, social mobilization and community engagement; clinical/case management of patients; logistics and safety; [and] psychosocial support and research.”

Three one-month-old boys are fighting for their lives following the death of their mother Mariama Barry.

Mariama Barry of Missira in Jarra west gave birth to triplets, all boys, but died one week later. The boys were born on 26 December.

Mrs Barry’s aunt Mariama Sallah told The Fatu Network: “They are now being taken care of by my sister but things are very difficult.

“Their feeding is a huge problem. They cry a lot and they also have stomach ache.”

The family is asking for your support. Anyone who wishes to help the babies can contact 3851001

Comfort Quality Service, a reputable company in the production and distribution of aluminum vehicle number plates recently presented 100 QR sticker and Code scanners to the Gambia Police Force at the Police Headquarters in Banjul, the items are expected to help the police in identifying and managing motor vehicles on our highways.

Speaking at the presentation, Mr Njie the Chief Operations Officer of Comfort Quality Service said the new device is loaded with vehicle and owner information that will be revealed, when scanned on a hand held scanner which will be given to traffic officers. He further revealed that this development will ensure vehicles and motorbikes be correctly identified by the police to help in the fight against vehicle theft and other vehicle related crimes.

“This will ensure safer roads for motorists and pedestrians” Mr. Njie said.

The QR sticker is temper proof and cannot be transferred from one vehicle to another, it has no cost attached to it, just get the new aluminum number plate and a QR sticker will be printed free of charge.

Receiving the items on behalf of the IGP, AIG Ebrima Bah, police chief of Admin, hailed Comfort’s foresight and assured that these gadgets will go a long way in making our highways very safe.

“We are grateful to comfort for this important presentation which is part of the partnership package and rest assured that we will make better use of it. This is what good citizens should do, thinking of what to do for your country but not what your country can do for you” AIG Bah said.