By Lamin Njie

The 1,031 capacity conference centre which will be the centrepiece of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit to be held in The Gambia in 2022 will be inaugurated on Saturday 11 January.

President Adama Barrow in September 2017 laid the foundation stone for a conference centre as The Gambia braced to host last year’s OIC summit. That planned failed after the imcompletion of the building and the country later allowed Saudi Arabia to host the Muslim-nations-only gathering.

Chinese constructors have now completed work and the building is set for inauguration. The complex cost 50 million dollars and the money is a grant from China.

The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure in a statement said
ICC will be inaugurated by President Adama Barrow on 11 January.

The ministry said: “The ICC, which is a grant by the People’s Republic of China, is a state-of-the-art facility consisting of a plenary hall with seating capacity of 1,031, four adjoining conference halls, VIP rooms, bilateral rooms, press room, meeting rooms, offices, banquet halls and entertainment spaces with beautiful fauna and sea view. The ICC is a symbol of the friendship and cooperation between The Gambia and The People’s Republic of China.

“The Ministry further informs the public that the International Conference Centre will be named after the former president, ‘Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre’.”

By Lamin Njie

Top figures of pressure group Three Years Jotna vowed to remove President Barrow from power after police barred them from holding a fundraising event.

Scores of Three Years Jotna members late Friday gathered at Serrekunda East park for a major fundraising event ahead of their planned protest later this month but police barred them from holding the event. Police commissioner Kalilu Njie told members of the pressure group they needed to be issued a permit before they could hold the event.

Frustrated Three Years Jotna members shouted ‘we’re going to remove him’ as senior officials told The Fatu Network the move came as a surprise to them.

“We have witnessed people holding programs without permit, so now we will make ourselves CIDs and wherever there is a program, if they do not go through the permit process that will be something else,” Three Years Jotna chairman Abdou Njie told The Fatu Network.

Prominent Three Years Jotna figure Sheriffo Sonko said they will not be intimidated in their fight to end Barrow’s rule.

“We’re going back [to the streets] on the 19th or on the 20th [of January] and demand that he resigns and he will resign because the power belongs to us,” Sonko said.

The officials said they will write to the Inspector General of Police to request a permit to hold their fundraising event.

By Lamin Njie

Madi Jobarteh on Friday bashed coalition top figures as he reacted to President Adama Barrow’s decision to form his own political party.

The IEC on 31 December 2019 registered President Barrow’s National Peoples Party, bringing to an end months of speculation as well as the existence of a coalition government.

Outspoken commentator Madi Jobarteh has shared his view on the move saying what the creation of the NPP demonstrates is the ‘disgraceful’ failure of leadership of the parties and their leaders who created the Coalition.

“Political parties are primary governance structures whose mandate is to hold the Government and each other accountable. Hence the political parties must not stay as bystanders or flip-flopping on issues that carry the destiny of the country. Unfortunately, this is what the Coalition parties did exactly,” Mr Jobarteh said.

He then added: “For example, just as Adama Barrow reneged on his own word we saw how UDPs’ Ousainou Darboe and his entire party also flip-flopped on the Agreement by standing with Barrow for five years until they fell out. It was utterly wrong for Mr. Darboe to dismiss that Agreement on the basis that it was not signed when in fact he knows that it was on the basis of that Coalition Agreement that Adama Barrow campaigned and got elected. As the largest party in the Coalition as well as the biggest beneficiary of the regime change brought about by the Coalition UDP had both moral and political obligation to ensure that the Coalition Agreement stands to the letter!

“Similarly, we also saw how PPP’s OJ Jallow jumped back and forth between the three and five years’ agenda only for his entire party to finally side with Barrow in disregard of the Coalition Agreement. As a leading senior political figure who had earned the respect and admiration of many Gambians for his consistent and brave stance against tyranny, OJ should have remained as that voice of conscience to defend the Coalition Agreement and not to betray it. The rest of the Coalition members – GPDP, NRP and NCP – remained indifferent therefore betraying the Coalition Agreement just because they hold positions in the Government.

“Meantime GMC only came to reject Barrow because their party leader ‘left’ the Government. Until then they knew very well that Barrow has already betrayed the Agreement but never said anything. While PDOIS leaders spared no opportunity to eloquently explain the rationale and processes of the Coalition yet they also washed off their hands thus leaving Adama to decide as he wishes. For Mrs. Fatoumatta Tambajang and Dr. Isatou Touray, one wonders whether they ever knew if there exists something called ‘Conscience’?”

One of President Adama Barrow’s fierce critics Madi Jobarteh has said he will devote 2020 to fighting for the rights of his people.

Mr Jobarteh in 2019 criticised President Barrow and his government more than any other Gambian and in a write-up made available to The Fatu Network, the top civil society activist said: “My new year resolution is therefore to fight for the rights of my people by demanding that the Government of the Gambia is transparent, accountable, efficient and responsive to the protection of the rights and the fulfillment of the needs of the people of Boraba.

“My resolve is to expose the perennial lies and misinformation of the Government perpetuated by elected and appointed public officials; to combat corruption and abuse of power and to demand quality and affordable delivery of public services that are accessible and available to all of our citizens including Boraba’nkolu!

“It is 2020 today yet the Gambia Government’s Vision 2020 has only become Nightmare 2020. Despite its high sounding goals and lofty objectives, it is now clear that the Gambia Government led by elected and appointed public officials were only lying to citizens when they launched that development blueprint in 1996 because they know that they were not going to achieve that Vision 2020 anyway. The evidence is right here on 1st January 2020!

“Scores of Gambian citizens continue to die from preventable diseases. Scores of Gambian women die as they give birth to another Gambian. Those babies who are delivered successfully a lot of them die even before they get to five years due to preventable childhood illnesses.

“Scores of our youth perish in the Sahara and in the oceans because they are running away from home because home provides them no hope. Scores of Gambians continue to be discriminated and under-served because they have some form of disability or because of their sex or tribe or religion or because of some other status that makes them different from the rest!

“As a son of Boraba I am a true and direct witness of the failure of State responsibility. For more than 100 years of Colonialism and more than 50 years of self-government I have seen how a State not only fails to protect a people but even goes further to also oppress and exploit them. As a son of Boraba I know that each and every government of The Gambia has only cheated, exploited and oppressed my people over the decades and centuries more than they served them. For that matter I have no reason to trust and respect any government or politician until they prove otherwise!”

By Lamin Njie

The Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday announced it has registered a new political party, Gambia For All.

GFA is the latest political party to be registered as the country’s political space becomes increasingly saturated ahead of the 2021 race for State House. Former vice president Bakary Bunja Darbo is the party’s secretary general and leader, according to IEC.

It comes two days after IEC confirmed the president’s party, the National Peoples Party, has been ‘duly’ registered as a bonafided political party. IEC said President Barrow’s party had met all the requirements for registration under Section 105 of the Elections Act of 2009 as amended.

According to IEC, the symbol of Gambia For All is a swarm of bees and a corn cob. The colour chosen by the party is light blue and its motto is; ‘tesito (gird up one’s loins), justice, discipline’.

The Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Thursday paraded a 60-year-old suspected drug trafficker.

Babucarr Singhateh was paraded at Serrekunda Police Station alongside three other suspected drug traffickers.

Drug demand reduction officer at DLEAG Lamin Jobarteh told journalists the suspects were recently arrested in Banjul, Abuko and Dippa Kunda. They were allegedly in possession of cannabis and heroine.

The other suspects are Mass Senghore, 36, Alagie Cham, 34, and Bakary Njie, 26.

By Lamin Njie

Dr Ismaila Ceesay has reacted to news of Oley Dibba-Wadda joining UDP saying the 52-year-old former African Development Bank official’s decision to join the country’s biggest political party is ‘normal’.

“It’s normal. Everybody has the right to choose which party you want to go. I wish her good luck,” Dr Ceesay speaking in his private capacity said.

The Fatu Network understands the duo had previously discussed plans to set up a political party. It appeared Dibba-Wadda has now put those plans to one side after she officially joined UDP on Thursday.

The former African Development Bank human capital chief met with UDP leader Ousainu Darboe in Pipeline where she was officially unveiled as a member of the party.

Mr Darboe praised Dibba-Wadda on her decision to join UDP saying “when I read your profile, it became quite apparent to me that it’s people of your calibre of both sexes that one would need in a political organisation.”

“For us, our party is a government and certainly governments attend to the affairs of the state, and we think we can attend to the affairs of the state in a manner that is constructive but other would see it as opposition talk. But I think with people like you, your contribution would hardly be seen by anyone as just mere opposition talk,” the UDP leader said.

By Lamin Njie

Ousainu Darboe told Oley Dibba-Wadda ‘be visible and be heard’ after the 52-year-old politician joined UDP.

Dibba-Wadda, a former African Development Bank human capital chief, officially converted to UDP at a ceremony held in Pipeline today.

“Be visible and be heard so that those people in Nyakoi who have never seen Oley Dibba would say, ‘oh this is Oley Dibba’, or those people in Saloum would say, ‘oh this person is Oley Dibba’,” Mr Darboe asked of Dibba-Wadda, who is now the president and chief executive officer of Gam African Institute for Leadership, a non-profit organisation that works towards providing and equipping African youths with skills to grow into leaders.

Mr Darboe then praised Dibba-Wadda on her decision to join UDP saying “when I read your profile, it became quite apparent to me that it’s people of your calibre of both sexes that one would need in a political organisation.”

“For us, our party is a government and certainly governments attend to the affairs of the state, and we think we can attend to the affairs of the state in a manner that is constructive but other would see it as opposition talk. But I think with people like you, your contribution would hardly be seen by anyone as just mere opposition talk,” the UDP leader said.

By Adama Makasuba

Six new-borns will grow up knowing a president’s wife visited them in hospital and gave them money and other items because they jointly hold the record for being the first babies born in The Gambia in 2020.

Families basked in joy on Wednesday after Karpowership and Gamtel/Gamcel in partnership with the First Lady’s foundation gave them 75,000 dalasis and baby clothes after their babies emerged first-borns of 2020. The First Lady Fatoumatta Bah Barrow led a tour of hospitals to meet with the babies.

The babies totalled six – three boys and three girls – and all of them are from the Greater Banjul Area.

Oumie Bah of Yundum gave birth to the first baby of 2020 (a girl) at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital. She arrived at 12:40am weighing 3kg.

Haddy Mendy of Sinchu Alagie gave birth to the next first baby at EFSTH, a boy, who arrived at 01:50am weighing 4.5kg.

At Serrekunda General Hospital, Binta Jarssey from Sukuta emerged first woman to give birth to the first baby, a girl, while Binta Bojang of Wellingara came second, giving birth to a baby boy.

At Bundung Maternal Hospital, Anamas Mendy from Brikama became the first woman to give birth to the first babies in the form of twins but one of the twins died after delivery.

Sise Saho emerged second giving birth to a baby boy that weighed 3.68kg.

By Lamin Njie

Women in Nianija in the Central River Region are having to wade in water at chest-point before they could get to their rice farms.

CRR is home to the country’s most fertile land but the farmers of the region mostly women have little support from the government.

In a video made available to The Fatu Network, women could be seen wading in water before they could get to their farms. A pregnant women reportedly died last year while using the dangerous route.

Watch the video below………..

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow was pressured into feigning excuses so that he can stay on as president, Three Years Jotna’s Yankuba Darbo has said.

President Barrow on Tuesday said, ‘I cannot accord the coalition agreement preference over the constitution,’ as he used his New Year speech to address calls for him to resign.

Yankuba Darbo reacted to Mr Barrow’s comments today saying the president has once again attempted to “feign excuses for justifications with the hope of cajoling the Gambian populace into embracing his apostasy of his Coalition 2016 MOU agreement with the Gambian opposition party supporters, which he reaffirmed in his 2016 political manifesto and campaign pledges to the Gambian people – to serve a 3 years transitional government.”

“It suffices to state that the President was simply pressured to make such response in the wake of recent popular protests headed by 3 years Jotna in The Gambia and a petition served on him requesting for his response,” Darbo, a lawyer, said.

He continued: “If anything it proves the sceptics wrong that pressure in the form of public protest does not work. In fact, it proves that with more sustained pressure, Barrow will have no choice but to yield to the power of his people. Thus more pressure is still needed to derail Adama Barrow from his one man mission to crash our 2016 Coalition success story for the New Gambia.

“The President’s address came on the heels of the announcement of the establishment of his newly formed political party named the National Peoples Party (NPP), which means he is not only seeking to extend his transition from 3 to 5 years, but to perpetuate his presidency for as long as he can, relying on the treachery of incumbency.

“Thus the excuse given by President Barrow in his address to the nation is disingenuous, for he claimed that he does not want to resign because the Coalition was spurned out of the sole desire to dislodge dictatorship and he had sworn to the constitution.”

By Adama Makasuba

Hospital officials were left scrambling for options after a woman gave birth to a baby boy and then abandoning it.

Haddy Njie allegedly gave birth to a baby boy at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital on 1 January 2020 but abandoned it and disappeared. Her baby is third on the list of the first babies of the year, after arriving at 6:35am.

Mariama Cham, a midwife, told The Fatu Network: “The third baby is an abondoned baby which was delivered off at 6:35 am. When I was wiping the baby, the mother said that she wanted to take bath.

“So I saw her the bathroom. She went to the bathroom but by the time I finished wiping the baby, then I called, ‘Haddy Njie, Haddy Njie, Haddy Njie’ is nowhere to be seen. So that’s how the mother just went.”

“We didn’t see her and we went to the security and the securities said that no one passed through the gate.”

According to the midwife, the lady didn’t come to the hospital with any family member neither did she come with an anti-natal card.

“She came with nothing, she only came with her three-quarter [pants],” she said.

“When I asked her to provide a contact of her family for communication she replied she couldn’t remember any contact to her family.”

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow insisted ‘I cannot accord the coalition agreement preference over the constitution’, addressing calls for him to resign by the start of 2020, for the second time in two weeks.

In his New Year message, Mr Barrow said ‘I swore twice by the Holy Quran in Dakar and in The Gambia to defend and act according to the national constitution’.

“Under these circumstances, I cannot accord the coalition agreement preference over the constitution,” the president said as he addressed calls for him to resign according to an understanding that ensured his presidency.

President Barrow in 2016 was backed by seven political parties after agreeing to preside over a three-year transitional government. He has changed his mind now saying he will serve a full five-year term. His U-turn has led to the forming of a pressure group, Three Years Jotna, and the group earlier this month staged a protest to demand that he resigns.

The president first reaction to the protest on QTV’s Kacha Dula where he said he won’t resign.

In his New Year speech on Tuesday, Mr Barrow doubled down on his decision to stay on until 2021.

“The desire to dislogde the dictatorship by all democratic means guided us in the development of the coalition agreement. After I took up office, the gravity of the institutional failures, abuse of office, human rights (sic) and bad governance became more apparent.

“Thus the need to fulfilling the coalition agreement and acting on the constitution I swore to uphold, the confidence and mandate entrusted upon me have subsequently guided my decision to respect the voice and will of the people by maintaining to serve the full constitutional mandate of five years,” the president said.

President Adama Barrow has declared Wednesday a public holiday in observance of the New Year.

Wednesday would mark the beginning of the New Year as a well as a new decade.

State House said in a statement on Tuesday: “The public is hereby informed that His Excellency, President Adama Barrow acting under Section 76 of the 1997 Constitution is pleased to declare Wednesday, 1st January 2020 as a public holiday throughout The Gambia, in observance of the New Year.

“On behalf of the First Family, the Government and the People of The Gambia, President Barrow wishes everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year.”

By Lamin Njie

UDP leader Ousainu Darboe said on Tuesday true reconciliation is not only about conceding civil liberties of the people, ‘it is also about political and economic transformation,’ in a New Year message to Gambians.

Mr Darboe insisted reconciliation means that “we should continue to use the capability of the state to improve the lives of the people, to have a tax regime that is progressive and public finances that are responsibly managed.” The UDP leader also said “reconciliation also requires that we have access to quality health care through, among other things, the introduction of a National Health Insurance.”

However, Mr Darboe argued “reconciliation is impossible as long as corruption continues, some individuals continue to sow division, the vast majority of our people continue to live in poverty, high youth unemployment which has led to a pervasive sense of hopelessness that is responsible for the tragedy off the coast of Mauritania early this month.”

“We must address the unfinished business of our democratic transition. We must close the festering wound of abject poverty that exists amongst our people. We must forge ahead with law reform and social development. We must continue to transform our workplaces and restructure our economy so that it benefits all.

“In this sense, reconciliation is a very practical undertaking. It is about the work that needs to be done to unlock investment in our economy, to reduce the cost of doing business and to promote growth. It is about the urgent measures we need to take to ensure a reliable supply of electricity to homes and businesses. It is about ensuring that our water resources are preserved and equally available to all,” Mr Darboe said.

By Lamin Njie

The TRRC on Monday called on the families of those who died while undergoing former president Yahya Jammeh’s bogus AIDS cure to reach out to the probe, as the investigation braces up for its 12th session.

The TRRC will commence its public hearings into former President Jammeh’s AIDS treatment program next month. Jammeh in 2007 shocked the world by claiming he had discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS. The treatment involves patients eating banana and drinking potions. Jammeh would also use his hand to rub ointment on the body of a patient. Most of them have however died.

The TRRC on Monday said its 12th session of hearings will focus on the former president’s alternative treatment programme “during which the rights of patients were violated”.

“The TRRC is continuing to take statements from complainants and is encouraging survivors to submit their statements. Family members of patients who didn’t survive the treatment are also encouraged to submit statements,” the probe said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

Last year, three survivors of Mr Jammeh’s treatment program sued him for damages. Ousman Sowe, Lamin Ceesay and Fatou Jatta were among the first Gambians who joined his HIV/AIDS treatment program in 2007. They jointly alleged that they were harmed by the program as they also seek a declaration from the high court that their human rights were violated.