Former Secretary General and international speaker Momodou Sabally has called for a return to the basic tenets of our cultural and religious ethos in inculcating discipline in young people.
He made this remarks at the graduation ceremony of the West African Senior Secondary School (WASS), on Friday June 28, 2019, as Chief Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker.
Speaking on the theme “Combatting the High Increase of Indiscipline Among Teenagers in School” Sabally asserted:
“The topic is indeed of relevance without any shadow of a doubt.
Yet the question must be asked: ‘What went wrong? Where were we; what used to obtain in the past? And how did we find ourselves in this mess.’
“My first diagnostic premise is that we went for western education whole scale without making sure our cultural value system was fully integrated into the stuff we were feeding into the minds of our young people.
“The abandonment of initiation rites both for male and female has played a major role in the deterioration of the attitude of our young ones. Add to that the proliferation of the global media input into the minds of our youths, and then the now widespread use of social media with its obvious and unmistakable influence on the young fertile minds of our youths and you will clearly see the path we took to arrive at our current situation.
“We must correct these errata or face the consequences. What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. We need to solve this problem, NOW!”
“How can a high court judge stoop so low as to interfere in a simple disciplinary matter at school level? Where are we heading as a country?
“And one more thing: Where are the fathers of the teenagers? Where are we? We cannot abdicate our responsibilities and leave all the burden of raising our children to our wives. This is totally unconscionable.”
He then called for close collaboration between all stakeholders in a bid to solve the problem of indiscipline.
“The problem of indiscipline can only be solved when parents, school authorities and government officials come together to work in partnership.
“We must look back at our past and try to correct ourselves by bringing back to the fore everything that is good and relevant and teach our young ones our authentic culture and religious ethos.
This is the way forward!”
Sabally then shared his experience and how education helped transform his life for the better. He advised the graduates to espouse the culture of lifelong learning and to play positive active roles in their communities and the country.
UDP leader Ousainou Darboe has called on President Adama Barrow to look into the issue of non-Gambians serving on the public service commission.
Mr Darboe also called on President Barrow to rectify the issue of public service commission officials being members of political organisations and involving in political activities.
The UDP leader made these calls on Saturday during a meeting with supporters in Wellingara.
Mr Darboe said: “I want to call on President Adama Barrow to look into the public service commission, to see whether those who are there are qualified. Because anyone who is not qualified to be a national assembly member is not qualified to be a member of the public service commission.
“The law says that anyone who is a member of the national assembly is not qualified for to be a member of the public service commission. What the constitution says is that members of the public service commission should not take part in politics, they should not be hold positions in political groups.
“We know that there are people at the public service commission who are also members of certain groups, groups that are engaged in politics. President Adama Barrow should look into that, to rectify the situation because after all, the constitution of this country must reign supreme. This country cannot continue to be ruled on the whims and caprices of individuals. After all, that what we fought. That why we fought Yahya Jammeh.
“There are people there who are not citizens of this country because they hold the nationality of other countries. We cannot accept people who forsake Gambian citizenship and become citizens of other countries and come [to The Gambia] to holding positions like those in the public service. That’s illegal.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Heads of State and Government in the West African sub-region to tackle insecurity head-on.
The Nigerian President, who is the current Chairman of ECOWAS, called for joint action by all the member states to combat insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and other forms of cross-border crimes.
Buhari stressed that until insecurity was addressed in the sub-region, its stability, economic prosperity and development would remain a mirage.
He spoke in Abuja at the 55th Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS.
The event is taking place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He stated, “We should send a strong and unified message to the perpetrators of violence that we are resolute in our collective determination to confront and defeat them.” (Punch)
Musa Batchilly almost walked out of the show “Nyohobai Show” on Saturday after a heated argument with host Pa Ousman Joof.
The Gambia Action Party leader’s appearance on the Nyohobai Show on Gambia Talent Promotion TV was for him to clear the air on allegations he is on the run over a D300,000 debt he owed a woman. He was also quizzed on a number of other fraud allegations that have been made against him including him go about hiring taxis and refusing to pay.
“Mr Joof, I wanna to tell you something. I have heard all those allegations you are asking. To be honest with you, I am not interested to answer that question. I am not interested to listen to that. If you wanna to say it, you say it but I am not interested to listen. I am not interested to answer it. So if you wanna continue, let me take this out and then good day,” the Operation Nyayelleh champion told Joof who was asking him about allegations he owed taxi drivers, artistes and even ordinary Gambians.
Mr Batchilly made headlines this week following a story by The Voice newspaper that he is on the run over a D300,000 debt he owed a woman.
“The allegations that I am on the run is false. I have left everything with my lawyer and he will take care of that. The Voice, we will deal with them,” Batchilly said of The Voice story as he vowed to take legal action against the paper.
Earlier in the interview, Batchilly denied allegations levelled against him by a former member of GAP that he is into politics because of money.
The freshly dismissed managing director of National Water and Electricity Company, Nawec, has said a number of World Bank officials have expressed their dissatisfaction over his sacking.
“Some of them [World Bank officials] called me with concern when the heard about this. They actually expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision but what I told them is that I am an employee and my employer has the right and the prerogative to relieve me of my responsibilities but the institution stays. I am only a person among the lot,” Baba Fatajo told West Coast Radio in an exclusive interview.
Baba Fatajo was sacked as head of Nawec by President Adama Barrow last Tuesday. President Barrow did not give any reason as to why he sacked Mr Fatajo who has been the managing director of Nawec since 2017.
World Bank recently awarded 66 million dollars in grants to Nawec under the Ecowas regional electricity access project. Mr Fatajo said the support was due to Nawec’s performance in the implementation of the GESP project.
“So all these are positives that I hope my going out of the institution will not trigger anything that will impeded the support the World Bank and other funding agencies are giving to the utility,” Fatajo added.
We’ve heard the whispers, and the wind has carried them everywhere. The weekend parties at Kanilai and endless functions populated by young Gambian women and other married women who left their husbands behind. Goloh thought he had a free rein on women – young or old, single or married. This is what being a psychopath and heavily intoxicated with power can create. In his twisted head, Goloh was convinced neh mor morm daykabi and everything in it was at his disposal, including all the young women.
Toufah’s case is your classic victim grooming scenario. Victim grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation. The installation of plumbing in her family’s home, the buying of furniture, driving her sick relative to doctors, showing particular interest in her project, and the employment offer (protocol officer). These are the emotional tools Goloh used to groom Toufah.
Imagine a president using a Ramadan beauty pageant event as a pretext to lure an 18-year-old lady for sex. Better yet, imagine a president raping an 18-year-old lady at the State House while nyungey wachey kaamil right outside. Just imagine that! And it was all facilitated by Jimbee The Pimp, the number one accomplice in this alleged rape case. This was all about power, not sexual desire. According to Toufah, Goloh told her that a woman has never rejected him and he could have any woman he wants. So sex was not the issues here! Goloh wanted to use the power of rape to punish Toufah for rejecting him, which he claims never happened. The motivation here was the need for dominance and control.
As the saying goes, “what goes up must come down”, and Goloh is on his way down and will crash and burn. He was drunken with power and thought he was flying, but his Chaya is now caught on an electric light pole, and that electric light pole is Fatou Toufah Jallow. In Toufah I see strength, in Toufah I see courage, and in Toufah I see a fighter! I hope more young women will come out and share their stories regarding any horrific encounter they had with Goloh, The Ramadan Rapist! Apparently, there was an elaborate system in place.
The Gambia Police Force has announced it will commence a massive operation on Monday targeting drivers.
A statement from the office of the Inspector General of Police says beginning Monday 1st July 2019, the police will “conduct operations to scrutinize drivers’ license, number plates and other motor vehicle requirements to ensure compliance with the Motor Traffic Act and Regulations.”
The statement signed by police spokesman APS Lamin Njie added: “Accordingly, all drivers are urged to carry along their drivers’ license when driving to avoid unnecessary delay at various check points.
“Equally, vehicle owners and drivers are reminded to never permit individuals without prescribed categories of licenses to drive their vehicles as that amounts to an offense under the Traffic Laws and regulations.
“Similarly, vehicles registered with private number plates and are currently used for commercial purposes are strictly warned to desist from such practices as any driver found wanting will be dealt with according to law.
“In this regard, the office of the Inspector General of Police solicits the cooperation of all drivers to ensure safety on our roads.”
Fatou Jallow said Friday former president Yahya Jammeh told her it was fun when she screamed that she was dying.
The 23-year-old beauty queen has stunned the nation by claiming Jammeh raped her. She told The New York Times in an exclusive interview that was published on Tuesday that the incident happened in 2015 at State House.
On Friday, Ms Jallow who is now based in Canada met with Gambian journalists, explaining in detail how the incident happened.
Ms Jalow explained: “A day before Ramadan, a night before Ramadan. Think about whatever Ramadan means to you. Jimbeh called me and said there will be a gamo, Quran recitation at the State House and I should come. This was around 6 in the evening.
“I said, ‘okay, where are the other girls?’ She said, ‘oh they have already gone, you’re late but a car will come and pick you up.’ I said, ‘fine.’ I put on my dress, a free [flowing] dress, I put on my leggings underneath it and I put a scarf over my head. The driver came, Landing. [He] drove me. We got to Banjul. The first gate opened, the garden was filled with Oustasses and white gowns and women fully dressed ready to braced the month of Ramadan.
“And Jimbeh told me the president is coming to take a seat. So at this point, cars are not allowed to drive through, neither are people allowed to move around. So people had to stay back and move until the president takes his seat then you can come and have your seat as well. Then the drive drove into the second entrance, into the residence.
“I got off, walked up like four stairs. Jimbeh told me to sit inside and wait. [That] once the president is seated, I will go take my seat at the rest of the garden. I sat there with her. She went out and came back and said, ‘ let’s move to the second room because there is a meeting that is coming to happen in this room.’ We moved to the second room and she stayed for like 10 minutes and she said she was going to go in to get water.
“I was in this room by myself. As I was sitting there, the president walked into that same room – definitely not dressed ready to go for the gamo. He wasn’t holding the Quran or the sword or whatever that thing is that he ever holds. He didn’t have a hat on, neither his nyeti garang boob. It was his last piece under the haftan. And when he walked in this time around, it wasn’t the Puel-jola joke, it wasn’t the father figure joke.
“It was of anger and rage and frustration at the fact that maybe I had said no to him too many times. He said to me, ‘who do you think you are?’ That was the first thing he said to me. And for the past four years, I have been trying to answer that question: who do I think I am? And today, I am here speaking to him and to Gambians because I want to tell him who I am. That I am the survivor who have come back to haunt him and men like him. That’s who I am.
“So I hope he hears that answer, that answer I never gave him on that night. He said to me that it would have been nicer if I had just said yes, [that he] would make sure I regret why I ever said no. [He] pulled me into a room, used every derogatory word that you can throw at a Gambian woman. I pleaded an I beg and I screamed and he told me not to scream because no one is gonna hear me. Because we could hear every word from the recitation from that room.
“And all those oustasses and imams were waiting for him to come out and grace their religious occasion. But he had to be himself inside first before he came out with the fake persona. I pleaded, I begged, I screamed. I said, ‘I’m sorry’ – a thousand times – ‘do not do this.’ I was fighting back and pulling my hands and pulling my feet, pushing him off. He will hold my dress and pull it back forward.
“The hardest part of my healing is that at some point I stopped fighting, that I gave in. I did give in. I stopped fighting, I did not fight back anymore and that has been a very hard part in my healing process. He did what he had to do. He put me on my stomach, my legs were dangling on the floor and when I screamed that I was dying, he said to me, ‘no, it’s fun.’”
The President Adama Barrow has made a personal donation of 1000 bags of rice worth over one million dalasis to be distributed to victims of last week’s deadly windstorm in the Central River Region and Upper River Region, State House press secretary Amie Bojang Sissoho has said.
A powerful windstorm Tuesday last week swept at least 600 houses in the two regions, displacing thousands of people.
“President Barrow delegated the Vice President to visit the victims of the recent windstorms disaster in the CRR and URR over the weekend to show solidarity with the victims,” the president’s spokeswoman Amie Bojang Sissoho told journalists at State House on Thursday.
She added: “It was reported that during a rapid appraisal of the situation, the NDMA has done its initial assessment of the destruction to prepare a relief plan. It was reported that 600 properties have been affected in the URR alone.
“The President has made a personal donation of 1000 bags of rice, worth over a million Dalasi to be distributed to the victims. Efforts are being made to mobilize D35 million as estimated amount required to provide relief.”
On June 21, 2019, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo released the 2018 version of the annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom – the International Religious Freedom Report – that describes the status of religious freedom in every country. The report covers government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies to promote religious freedom around the world. The U.S. Department of State submits the reports in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
This year’s report on The Gambia details a climate of broad religious tolerance and acceptance. The report includes U.S. Embassy efforts to decentralize and expand outreach to religious communities. In remarks at an Iftar hosted during the Holy Month of Ramadan this year, Ambassador Paschall noted that just as The Gambia is a leader in religious tolerance and acceptance, it can be a leader on many other significant human rights issues.
While it is indeed painful to witness a key perpetrator like Yankuba Touray easily walk out of the TRRC it is necessary to point out that indeed the Constitution, from sections 13 to 17of the Second Schedule have protected members and other persons acting in the name of the notorious AFPRC from accountability. In their criminal minds the junta seemed to have considered that a day of reckoning would one day arrive and therefore they crafted these entrenched clauses to protect themselves. However, it must be noted that these AFPRC members shall not escape justice for long hence Yankuba was ill-advised to invoke those provisions.
What did those sections say?
Section 13(1) clearly protects members of the AFPRC or their ministers or appointees from answering before any ‘court or authority or under the Constitution or any other law’ for anything they did or failed to do in the ‘performance of their official duties’ in the name of the junta. While torture and murder are indeed not an official duty, however the drafters of the Constitution smartly covered up this matter with subsection 4 which states that even if such action was taken not in ‘accordance with any procedure prescribed by law’ it cannot be questioned.
These actions have been listed in subsection 2 as actions leading to or subsequent upon the July 22 military coup which includes the overthrow of the PPP Government, suspension of the 1970 Constitution or the establishment of the AFPRC. Section 13 went further to state in paragraph 3 that no person acting on behalf of the AFPRC shall be questioned for any act in any proceedings and therefore no court or tribunal shall have the power to make any decision on account of these acts. Furthermore, under paragraph 5 it stated that no court or tribunal shall ‘entertain an action’ against any person acting on the instructions or authority of AFPRC even if such action violates any law during the tenure of the AFPRC.
To further concretise their protection from accountability the Constitution went ahead in Section 17 to state that even the National Assembly ‘shall have no power’ to amend or repeal Section 13 and other sections which seek to prevent any court to challenge the decisions of the commissions of inquiry set up by AFPRC (Section 11) or Section 12 relating to the succession of AFPRC to the properties of the former government or Section 14 which also relates to preventing anyone challenging the confiscation of properties or penalties imposed by AFPRC. Only a referendum can amend or repeal these provision!
In light of the above one can see that Yankuba has a firm ground to refuse to testify as that would mean an ‘authority’ or a ‘proceeding’ is questioning his actions and inactions as a member of the AFPRC. While the TRRC is essentially a fact-finding exercise, and not a court or tribunal, as set out in its objectives in Section 13 of its Act, it must be noted that such inquiry focuses on the actions and inactions of individuals who might be members of AFPRC or their ministers or appointed persons. The recommendations of the TRRC are indeed decisions that would may lead to other decisions being subsequently taken by any authority on the actions or persons connected with AFPRC.
Section 14 of the TRRC Act states one of its functions as investigation of human rights violations that took place between 1994 and 2017. These violations indeed would definitely be actions or inactions committed by AFPRC persons who are already protected by Section 13 of the Constitution from being questioned by anyone. The powers of the TRRC under Section 15 of its Act further emphasise the extent to which it can go to investigate including forcing a person to testify as they did with Yankuba Touray by subpoenaing him.
Section 19 of the TRRC Act gives the power to the Commission to recommend amnesty for perpetrators who apply for such. This means where the TRRC does not give amnesty to a perpetrator then such a person stands the risk of prosecution. Therefore, in view of Section 13 (2) of the Constitution this means the actions or inactions of an AFPRC member or minister are potentially subject to question or decision by some authority contrary to the Constitution.
The question now is what is to be done?
We must bear in mind that a review of Section 13 of the Constitution focuses only on acts and omissions ‘relating to, or subsequent upon’ four events. These are the overthrow of the PPP Government before the formation and after the establishment of the AFPRC and the suspension of the 1970 Constitution as well as the establishment of the 1997 Constitution. This means therefore actions beyond 1996 are not covered by the Constitution for which AFPRC members, ministers and appointed persons do not enjoy any constitutional immunity.
In my view therefore TRRC should focus on the period after 1996 for those AFPRC members who refuse to cooperate by invoking Section 13 of the Constitution. This is one option for TRRC to consider. Otherwise arresting these individuals would be unconstitutional and certainly difficult to prosecute. It will serve to derail the Commission and potentially lose its cool. We must avoid that.
The other option would be to challenge the constitutionality of the immunity clauses in Section 13. I do not think this is also a wise option as Section 13 is indeed part of the Constitution as an entrenched clause. Consequently, it would be strange to question the constitutionality of a provision of the Constitution. Constitutional experts may wish to interrogate the idea of how the Supreme Court could question a provision of the Constitution against the Constitution. What I know is that the Constitution is the basic law and therefore it is other laws and actions or omissions by natural and legal persons that are interpreted in their relation to the constitution. But to question the constitution against the constitution would be a contradiction in terms in my view.
Having said that it is important to highlight that after all AFPRC persons cannot escape justice. This is because sooner than later the 1997 Constitution will be repealed as we usher in a new constitution for the third republic. That dispensation therefore opens the floodgates to now prosecute AFPRC persons without any hurdles. This is where Yankuba would now come to realise, albeit too late though that his actions before the TRRC were ill-advised.
I wish to therefore urge the TRRC to order the release of Yankuba Touray and rather subpoena him to testify on other issues beyond 1996. Failure to testify for those issues would directly violate the TRRC Act as he would have no constitutional immunities. Therefore, the Commission would have a legitimate ground to seek his arrest and prosecution of he refuses to testify.
As citizens there is no need to despair or act unlawfully because of the unfortunate actions of Yankuba. Anywhere Yankuba goes in this world he cannot escape justice because he has indeed committed crimes that are against humanity hence international crimes. That Yankuba Touray would act in such a way must not be found surprising. Such actions by perpetrators are a normal occurrence in truth commissions around the world.
For that matter no one would have any reason to question or doubt the power, competence, integrity or relevance of the TRRC. This unfortunate action cannot in any way prevent other witnesses from testifying. I am sure many such persons would rather advise themselves properly to realise that it is in their own personal interest to come forward to testify as we saw how Sanna Sabally, Alagie Kanyi, Alagie Martin and others did.
For the Gambia Our Homeland
The writer, Madi Jobarteh, is a renowned Gambian political commentator
While it is indeed painful to witness a key perpetrator like Yankuba Touray easily walk out of the TRRC it is necessary to point out that indeed the Constitution, from sections 13 to 17of the Second Schedule have protected members and other persons acting in the name of the notorious AFPRC from accountability. In their criminal minds the junta seemed to have considered that a day of reckoning would one day arrive and therefore they crafted these entrenched clauses to protect themselves. However, it must be noted that these AFPRC members shall not escape justice for long hence Yankuba was ill-advised to invoke those provisions.
What did those sections say?
Section 13(1) clearly protects members of the AFPRC or their ministers or appointees from answering before any ‘court or authority or under the Constitution or any other law’ for anything they did or failed to do in the ‘performance of their official duties’ in the name of the junta. While torture and murder are indeed not an official duty, however the drafters of the Constitution smartly covered up this matter with subsection 4 which states that even if such action was taken not in ‘accordance with any procedure prescribed by law’ it cannot be questioned.
These actions have been listed in subsection 2 as actions leading to or subsequent upon the July 22 military coup which includes the overthrow of the PPP Government, suspension of the 1970 Constitution or the establishment of the AFPRC. Section 13 went further to state in paragraph 3 that no person acting on behalf of the AFPRC shall be questioned for any act in any proceedings and therefore no court or tribunal shall have the power to make any decision on account of these acts. Furthermore, under paragraph 5 it stated that no court or tribunal shall ‘entertain an action’ against any person acting on the instructions or authority of AFPRC even if such action violates any law during the tenure of the AFPRC.
To further concretise their protection from accountability the Constitution went ahead in Section 17 to state that even the National Assembly ‘shall have no power’ to amend or repeal Section 13 and other sections which seek to prevent any court to challenge the decisions of the commissions of inquiry set up by AFPRC (Section 11) or Section 12 relating to the succession of AFPRC to the properties of the former government or Section 14 which also relates to preventing anyone challenging the confiscation of properties or penalties imposed by AFPRC. Only a referendum can amend or repeal these provision!
In light of the above one can see that Yankuba has a firm ground to refuse to testify as that would mean an ‘authority’ or a ‘proceeding’ is questioning his actions and inactions as a member of the AFPRC. While the TRRC is essentially a fact-finding exercise, and not a court or tribunal, as set out in its objectives in Section 13 of its Act, it must be noted that such inquiry focuses on the actions and inactions of individuals who might be members of AFPRC or their ministers or appointed persons. The recommendations of the TRRC are indeed decisions that would may lead to other decisions being subsequently taken by any authority on the actions or persons connected with AFPRC.
Section 14 of the TRRC Act states one of its functions as investigation of human rights violations that took place between 1994 and 2017. These violations indeed would definitely be actions or inactions committed by AFPRC persons who are already protected by Section 13 of the Constitution from being questioned by anyone. The powers of the TRRC under Section 15 of its Act further emphasise the extent to which it can go to investigate including forcing a person to testify as they did with Yankuba Touray by subpoenaing him.
Section 19 of the TRRC Act gives the power to the Commission to recommend amnesty for perpetrators who apply for such. This means where the TRRC does not give amnesty to a perpetrator then such a person stands the risk of prosecution. Therefore, in view of Section 13 (2) of the Constitution this means the actions or inactions of an AFPRC member or minister are potentially subject to question or decision by some authority contrary to the Constitution.
The question now is what is to be done?
We must bear in mind that a review of Section 13 of the Constitution focuses only on acts and omissions ‘relating to, or subsequent upon’ four events. These are the overthrow of the PPP Government before the formation and after the establishment of the AFPRC and the suspension of the 1970 Constitution as well as the establishment of the 1997 Constitution. This means therefore actions beyond 1996 are not covered by the Constitution for which AFPRC members, ministers and appointed persons do not enjoy any constitutional immunity.
In my view therefore TRRC should focus on the period after 1996 for those AFPRC members who refuse to cooperate by invoking Section 13 of the Constitution. This is one option for TRRC to consider. Otherwise arresting these individuals would be unconstitutional and certainly difficult to prosecute. It will serve to derail the Commission and potentially lose its cool. We must avoid that.
The other option would be to challenge the constitutionality of the immunity clauses in Section 13. I do not think this is also a wise option as Section 13 is indeed part of the Constitution as an entrenched clause. Consequently, it would be strange to question the constitutionality of a provision of the Constitution. Constitutional experts may wish to interrogate the idea of how the Supreme Court could question a provision of the Constitution against the Constitution. What I know is that the Constitution is the basic law and therefore it is other laws and actions or omissions by natural and legal persons that are interpreted in their relation to the constitution. But to question the constitution against the constitution would be a contradiction in terms in my view.
Having said that it is important to highlight that after all AFPRC persons cannot escape justice. This is because sooner than later the 1997 Constitution will be repealed as we usher in a new constitution for the third republic. That dispensation therefore opens the floodgates to now prosecute AFPRC persons without any hurdles. This is where Yankuba would now come to realise, albeit too late though that his actions before the TRRC were ill-advised.
I wish to therefore urge the TRRC to order the release of Yankuba Touray and rather subpoena him to testify on other issues beyond 1996. Failure to testify for those issues would directly violate the TRRC Act as he would have no constitutional immunities. Therefore, the Commission would have a legitimate ground to seek his arrest and prosecution of he refuses to testify.
As citizens there is no need to despair or act unlawfully because of the unfortunate actions of Yankuba. Anywhere Yankuba goes in this world he cannot escape justice because he has indeed committed crimes that are against humanity hence international crimes. That Yankuba Touray would act in such a way must not be found surprising. Such actions by perpetrators are a normal occurrence in truth commissions around the world.
For that matter no one would have any reason to question or doubt the power, competence, integrity or relevance of the TRRC. This unfortunate action cannot in any way prevent other witnesses from testifying. I am sure many such persons would rather advise themselves properly to realise that it is in their own personal interest to come forward to testify as we saw how Sanna Sabally, Alagie Kanyi, Alagie Martin and others did.
Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou on Wednesday said the ministry of justice will vehemently prosecute Yankuba Touray.
The former AFPRC junta topshot was at the centre of dramatic scenes on Wednesday after he appeared before the TRRC but refused to testify to the commission. He was later arrested by the police.
“I was actually shocked by his behavior, by his contemptuous conduct towards not just the commission but the commissioners for whom he had total disregard. His actions today were really shocking and there is no excuse for this kind of behavior in any civilized society,” Mr Tambadou told GRTS Wednesday afternoon.
The Justice Minister added: “I can assure you that his defiance will not go unchallenged. It it as sure as daylight that my ministry will act in the most serious manner in supporting the commission’s important work for the country.
“We will not entertain or tolerate this kind of behavior from anyone including Mr Touray and we will set an example so that those who are even imagining they can do something like this and get away with it will think twice.”
Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou on Wednesday slammed former president Yahya Jammeh saying the former leader abused his position as head of state to the detriment of many Gambians including the sexual assault.
Fatou Jallow a 23-year-old Gambian based in Canada has told various news outlets including New York Times that former president Yahya Jammeh raped her. Ms Jallow claimed the incident happened in 2015 at State House.
On Wednesday, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubacarr Tambadou issued a statement praising Ms Jallow’s courage for ‘speaking up and sharing her story with the world.
Mr Tambadou said in his statement: “The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has followed with keen interest the recent publication on 25 June 2019 of an interview by the New York Times of Ms Fatou Jallow, a Gambian national, who was reportedly raped by former President Yahya Jammeh.
“The Attorney General salutes the courage of Ms Jallow for speaking up and sharing her story with the world and for exposing yet another serious allegation of reprehensible conduct by former President Jammeh who abused his position as head of state to the detriment of many Gambians including the sexual assault of Ms Jallow, a young and brave girl.
“I take this opportunity to call upon all women and girls in the country to emulate Ms Jallow by speaking up about their own experiences with former President Jammeh and to do so in any manner that they see fit including through testimony before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC). It is only through speaking up and exposing such despicable acts especially by those in positions of power can we effectively combat the scourge and menace of sexual violence against women and girls in our society.”
The subpoenaing of Yankuba Touray by the TRRC turned chaotic when the former AFPRC junta leader stormed out of the hearing room of the investigation.
Yankuba Touray was at the centre of dramatic scenes on Wednesday after he was subpoenaed by the TRRC to testify to the commission.
Drama started as early as 10:00am when Mr Touray first reported to the commission, engaging in a long back and forth with TRRC officials. During the standoff, Touray made it clear he was not comfortable testifying publicly.
At about 11:30am, Touray finally came out of the witness room and took his seat in the hearing room but once asked by the TRRC counsel Essa Faal to stand up to swear to the Quran, Touray refused. Touray then sat and said, “Mr chairman, I think we have a problem. I am leaving”
The chairman of the commission Lamin Sise read a statement shortly after Touray stormed out, saying: “The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission has issued multiple subpoenas to Mr Yankuba Touray to appear before the commission to testify as a person adversely mentioned for his involvement in human rights violations between 1994 and 1996.
Chaiman Sise then added: “All those subpoenas were postponed and the last subpoena was issued on the 24th day of June 2019 for his appearance and testimony before the commission today.
“During a meeting this morning between Mr Touray, the chairman and the commission’s staff members, Mr Touray indicated his refusal to honour the subpoena. He is presently within the premises of of the TRRC but as just been seen, he has clearly refused to appear and testify before the commission pursuant to the subpoena.
“Mr Yankuba Touray claims that he has immunity from prosecution for all human rights violations that occurred between 1994 and 1997. It must be noted however that even if this immunity claim were to be accepted which is not the case, he cannot lawfully refuse to appear before the commission and answer questions that do not directly violate the immunity he claims.
“Mr Yankuba Touray has also been informed on several occasions that failure to respect a subpoena issued by the TRRC constitutes a contempt of court and is therefore liable to be referred to the high court for prosecution. In the light of this, the commission has to act firmly and within the parameters of the law to ensure that actions of this nature are dealt with with the full force of the law. I therefore have no choice but to order the immediate arrest of Mr Yankuba Touray pursuant to Section 15, 1(A) and 15, 2(B) of the TRRC Act of 2017.”
TRRC counsel Essa Faal intervened once the chairman of the commission finished reading a prepared statement, asking the investigation to give Yankuba Touray another chance to testify. Touray later emerged but only after another back and forth with Faal in the witness room.
At the hearing room, Touray was asked to swear by the Quran which he did. Five minutes into his testify, Touray again showed his stubborn side.
“I am not going to testify regarding that please. I invoke my constitutional immunity on all those issues,” Mr Touray told Essa Faal after the lawyer asked him about the problems that the Gambian army faced in the 1990s. Touray then stormed out after another back and forth with Essa Faal, leaving the counsel scrambling for options.
A 23-year-old former beauty queen in The Gambia, Fatou Jallow, has said she was raped in 2015 by ex-President Yahya Jammeh when he was in office.
Her testimony is part of a Human Rights Watch and Trial International report that details another alleged rape and sexual assault by Mr Jammeh.
The BBC tried to contact Mr Jammeh, who now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea, about the allegations.
A spokesman for his APRC party denied the accusations made against Mr Jammeh.
“We as a party and The Gambian people are tired of the steady stream of unfounded allegations that have been reported against our ex-president,” said Ousman Rambo Jatta, in a written statement to the BBC.
“The ex-president has no time to react to lies and smear campaigns. He is a very respectable God fearing and pious leader who has nothing but respect for our Gambian women,” the deputy APRC leader said.
Ms Jallow told the BBC she wanted to meet Mr Jammeh, 54, in court so he could face justice.
Fatou Jallow
“I’ve really tried to hide the story and erase it and make sure it’s not part of me.
“Realistically I couldn’t so I decided to speak now because it is time to tell the story and to make sure that Yayha Jammeh hears what he has done.”
She said she also wanted to testify before The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), which has been set up by President Adama Barrow, who won elections in December 2016.
The TTRC is investigating human rights violations alleged to have been committed during Mr Jammeh’s 22-year rule, including reports of extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention.
He was forced from office in January 2017 after regional powers sent in troops when he refused to give up power.
‘Marriage refusal’
Ms Jallow said she was 18 when she met Mr Jammeh after winning a beauty pageant in 2014 in the capital, Banjul.
In the months following her coronation, she said the former president acted as a father figure when they met, offering her advice, gifts and money, and also organising for running water to be installed in her family home.
Then at a dinner organised by an aide to the president, she says he asked her to marry him. She refused and rebuffed other enticements from the aide to agree to the offer.
Yahya Jammeh: At a glance
Seized power in a coup in 1994 aged 29
In 2013, he vowed to stay in power for “a billion years” if God wills
He also ordered the execution of criminals and political opponents on death row
Claimed in 2007 he could cure Aids and infertility with herbal concoctions
Warned in 2008 that gay people would be beheaded
Denied his security agents killed journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004
Forced from power in January 2017 by regional powers after losing elections in 2016
Ms Jallow said the aide then insisted she attend a religious ceremony at State House in her role as beauty queen in June 2015. But when she arrived, she was taken to the president’s private residence.
“It was clear what this was going to be,” she said, describing Mr Jammeh’s anger at her for rejecting him.
Ms Jallow says he slapped her and injected her in her arm with a needle.
“He rubbed his genitals in my face, pushed me down to my knees, pulled my dress up and sodomised me.”
‘Protocol girls’
The young woman says afterwards she locked herself at home for three days and then decided to flee to neighbouring Senegal.
Once in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, Ms Jallow sought the assistance of various human rights organisations. Weeks later, she was approved protection status and moved to Canada, where she has been living since.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Trial International say Mr Jammeh had a system in place to abuse women, where some were put on the state payroll and worked at State House as so-called “protocol girls”, who had some clerical duties but were mainly on call to have sex with the president.
The BBC could not verify the allegation, but a former Gambian official, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said he was aware of “inappropriate things” happening at the presidency: “Protocol staff were mostly women and they were hired to satisfy the president’s fantasies.”
He remembered seeing Ms Jallow at State House, sometimes at “odd hours”.
Another woman, hired as a protocol officer at the age of 23, told HRW she was forced to have sex with Mr Jammeh in 2015.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said that one day the president called her into his room: “He started undressing me and saying that he was in love with me, that he will do anything for me and my family, that I should not tell anyone because if I do I will face the consequences.
“I felt I had no choice. That day he slept with me without protection.”
‘Some felt honoured’
Another woman who worked as a protocol officer said that they knew if one of them was called it was for sex.
“Some wanted it. They felt honoured or wanted the money,” she told HRW on condition of anonymity.
She described how she was sexually assaulted by the president at his summer house, Kanilai, in 2013 when she was 22: “One evening, a presidential aide called me and told me to come with her to the president’s private apartment. He asked me to undress.
“He told me that I was young and needed protection so he wanted to apply spiritual water on me.”
In an encounter the next day, she started crying as Mr Jammeh began to touch her body. He became angry and sent her away.
She says she was later sacked and a promised scholarship cancelled.
TRRC Executive Secretary Baba Jallow has told the BBC that the commission, launched eight months ago, will focus on sexual violence in September.
“We are aware of allegations involving Jammeh but we have not heard victims on the record yet. Investigations have already started but at this stage we can’t say who is involved and how many victims there are,” he said.
The TRRC’s mission:
To establish a record of abuses committed during Mr Jammeh’s 22-year rule when it is alleged there were arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture against critics
Its 11 independent commissioners can grant reparations to victims
Backed by the UN and funded by international donors, it began hearing testimonies in November 2018
Ms Jallow wants to create an atmosphere where women will feel safer to talk about rape and sexual assault: “It’s a step-by-step thing and the first part is to acknowledge it happened.
“When many other women speak up and it becomes safer and safer,” she told the BBC.
President Barrow has said he will await the report of the TRRC before considering whether to pursue Mr Jammeh’s extradition from Equatorial Guinea.
President Adama Barrow has appointed Alpha Robinson as the new managing director of National Water and Electricity Company.
President Barrow on Tuesday announced the sacking of Baba Fatajo who has been in the role since 2017.
“His Excellency, President Adama Barrow in consultation with the Chairpersons of the NAWEC Board and the Public Service Commission has approved to relief Mr. Baba Fatajo from the post of Managing Director of the National Water and Electricity Company – NAWEC with effect from 28th June 2019,” a statement signed by President Barrow’s spokesperson on Tuesday said.
It added: “Mr Fatajo will be appointed in the Public Service as a diplomat in the Foreign Service. In the same vein, President Barrow has appointed Mr Alpha Robison as the new Managing Director of NAWEC 1st July 2019.”
A Gambian army lance corporal has been taken into custody after he ‘accidentally’ shot his colleague.
Lance Corporal Sylvester Gomez shot Lance Corporal Samba Bah in the thigh.
Army spokesman Major Lamin K Sanyang told The Fatu Network on Tuesday the incident happened on Monday at a military guard post in Kanilai.
Sanyang added: “It’s what we call in the military negligent discharge. That was what happened. It was between two of our soldiers at one of our guard posts around Nyeffie but a board of inquiry has been instituted and has started work to ascertain the circumstances surrounding it. He (Sylvester Gomez) is with the military police.”
Bah has since been admitted in hospital in Banjul.
Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham will get a major new role as both White House press secretary and communications director, the first lady tweeted Tuesday.
“I am pleased to announce @StephGrisham45 will be the next @PressSec & Comms Director! She has been with us since 2015 – @POTUS & I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country. Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest” Melania Trump tweeted.
President Donald Trump didn’t look far for his next press secretary in Grisham, who for the past two years has been the communications director for the first lady. Grisham will keep her current job too.
However, Trump has tweaked the job duties before handing the reins to Grisham, whose purview will include a larger scope of responsibility than that of her predecessor Sarah Sanders, and one as yet unprecedented in this administration. Trump has appointed Grisham both White House director of communications as well as press secretary, a senior White House official tells CNN. Grisham will be assuming the roles formerly held by Bill Shine, who departed as White House communications director in March, and Sanders, who has said her last day will be this Friday.
Additionally, Grisham will remain in charge of communications for the East Wing in addition to her new West Wing responsibilities, staying on as the spokeswoman for the first lady, says the official.
Grisham will be accompanying the President in her new capacity on his trip to Japan and Korea this week.
Grisham has been with team Trump longer than anyone currently in the White House, with the exception of Dan Scavino, both of whom started on the Trump campaign in 2015. Prior to that, Grisham worked as a spokeswoman and communications operative, mostly in Republican politics, in her home state of Arizona; in 2012, she briefly worked on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Before joining Trump’s campaign, she was operating her own public relations and communications company in Arizona, but decided to commit to the role of traveling press director after assisting with a July 2015 rally in Phoenix by then-candidate Trump. (CNN)
Samba Bah