By Lamin Njie

Gambians living in Angola have called on the President Adama Barrow government do something about Gambian immigrants who are currently languishing in prisons in Angola.

It comes as the Gambian consul in Angola, Haji Jawara, early November told The Fatu Network that Gambians were being arrested in that country.

A Gambian immigrant in Angola speaking to The Fatu Network on Monday said “three Gambian citizens are arrested and been imprisoned in a province in Angola called Malange.”

“These Gambians have been arrested since October 3. We are really concerned about them since they have no one to stand up to their case,” the Gambian immigrant speaking on condition of anonymity said.

According to him, the Gambian consular to Angola is aware of the issue but has so far failed to take any steps.

“Mauritanians living in Angola were faced with a similar problem but their government has intervened. We want our own government to come to our aid,” he said.

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow on Monday said the 50 kilometres road and four bridges he flagged off in the Upper River Region is the beginning of a ‘lot of great things that we shall achieve together.’

President Barrow at the weekend travelled to Basse, URR where he presided over the official commencement of a number of developmental projects among them roads and bridges. His supporters say the projects once completed will turn around the country’s fortunes.

“A 50KM road and four bridges for Upper River Region! This is the beginning of a lot great things that we shall achieve together. Join me in building a GAMBIA FOR ALL!” the President said on his official Facebook page on Monday.

The president’s Monday comments come after a number of speeches he gave at various meetings held in the Upper River Region.

By Lamin Njie

Leader of People’s Progressive Party Omar Jallow has urged members of opposition APRC to thank God and keep quiet.

“I did an interview some time ago in response to Yankuba Colley and I said ‘if I were an APRC, I should thank God and keep quiet. Because if they talk about press freedom, in the last 18 months how many journalists have been detained in this country? How many journalists have been imprisoned or tortured in this country? How many journalists have run away to be refugees in other countries? During Yahya Jammeh’s time, that was the norm under APRC,” Mr Jallow speaking at a press conference organized by PPP on Monday said.

Opposition APRC at the weekend accused the President Adama Barrow-led government of seizing their properties even as they called for former President Yahya Jammeh’s ‘unconditional’ return.

But reacting to the APRC’s claims on Monday, Mr Jallow who served as a minister in the Barrow government said “I think only Gambians who have lost their memories can go and support APRC.”

“Gambians are forgiving people but let them not push people to the wall. For I have said I have forgiven him after being imprisoned for 22 times, after losing my left eye through torture. And so many other things they have done in this country. For Fabakary Tombong Jatta to stand there… When they shot 14 students in this country, armless students where were they?” he said.

Mr Jallow also said what goes around comes around as he reacted to the APRC’s claims that their properties have been seized.

“Sometimes they say he wants to come back, that they seized their property… [But Jammeh] six vehicles of the PPP and gave it to his party. You’re telling me about seizing your property? Come on man, what goes around, comes around,” he said.

Former president Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara will attend the People’s Progressive Party’s national congress to be held later this month, party officials have said.

PPP will hold a three-day elective congress starting December 28 with about 530 delegates including senior party officials expected to attend the event, party leader Omar Jallow told journalists at a press conference held at the party’s office in Latrikunda on Monday.

According to Mr Jallow, ex-president Jawara, 92, will attend the event alongside other past leaders of PPP.

They will discuss the party’s future and also elect a new national executive.

The People’s Progressive Party will hold a three-day elective congress later this month, the party has said.

About 530 delegates including senior party officials will meet at YMCA in Kanifing for a party congress that will start on December 28, party leader Omar Jallow told journalists at a press conference held at the party’s office in Latrikunda on Monday. They will discuss the party’s future and also elect a new national executive.

According to Mr Jallow, the event will be the first of its kind since a ban that was imposed on the party by the military junta was lifted.

National Assembly Member for Jimara constituency Alhagie Sowe has said that he has learnt with ‘great shock’ the political campaign currently embarked upon in some villages in his constituency by some members of the ECOMIG forces believed to be Senegalese soldiers and also some Gambian soldiers attached to the security of President Adama Barrow’s mother, Aja Juma Jallow.

“This is not only a professional misconduct from the soldiers (both ECOMIG and Gambian soldiers) in this practice but also a provocation to us as politicians responsible for the Constituency, Mr Sowe who is an opposition lawmaker said in a statement made available to The Fatu Network.

Jimara constituency is in the Upper River Region and it’s where President Adama Barrow comes from.

Mr Sowe: “Gambian soldiers and ECOMIG forces must stop the campaign immediately without delay. They are assigned by their superiors and the authorities responsible to provide security only for the president’s mother but not to assist her in campaigning for her son, the president of the Republic.

“In my capacity as the Honourable National Assembly Member for Jimara, I condemn the act and urged the concerned soldiers to desist from such practice immediately. Soldiers in general especially ECOMIG forces should not interfere in our country’s politics.”

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow has vowed to engage a controversial socio-political group that has been set up in his name.

President Barrow Youths for National Development was set up in February 2018 to help push President Barrow’s development agenda. However, the group continues to face severe criticism in some quarters. Supporters of the United Democratic Party accuse members of the group of trying to undermine their party. Leader of UDP Ousainou Darboe earlier this month said his party will not recognize any other group or movement aside the party’s youth wing in what was a sly dig aimed at the group.

But speaking at a meeting in Foday Kunda, Wuli East on Sunday, President Barrow said he will do anything he could to support President Barrow Youths for National Development.

“Be aware that we are pleased with you and we will stand by you since you are not doing anything that is against the law. You have been building boreholes for people. You have been delivering gardens for people. You are constructing public toilets for people. You are providing grinding machines for people. That only complements the efforts of the government,” Mr Barrow said.

“So anyone who criticizes that, then you have another agenda. You have another agenda because all the organizations in this country are many. Every community you see has an organization. Every party you see has an organization. Every ethnic group has an organization. We have all these organizations but it’s only one organization that they mention, that they smear so as to dismantle it which is President Barrow Youths for National Development.”

By Lamin Njie

The president of the Gambia Press Union has called on Minister of Justice Abubacarr Tambadou to refuse being used by politicians.

“Interests are there but your conviction as a human rights defender, your conviction as a somebody who believes that every Gambian right matters, every Gambian life matter, I expect and I have no doubt in my mind that anything for press freedom you will safeguard that and hopefully if politicians say no that, we will see you tendering your resignation again and then this time not even Barrow will stop you from walking out,” Sheriff Bojang Jnr told the Justice Minister at a press conference held at Tango on Sunday in commemoration of the 14th anniversary of the death of Deyda Hydara.

Deyda Hydara is a Gambian journalist who was assassinated on December 16, 2004 as he returned home from work.

Mr Bojang commenting on the life of Mr Hydara said “we should keep on fighting for those draconian laws to be completely wiped out from our law books so that we have conducive atmosphere to operate as journalists, to live as journalists, to live as Gambians but also to keep the hopes of Deyda Hydara alive.”

“At Gambia Press Union, we will not relent. We will work with partners, with stakeholders. The government is not our enemy. We work together based on mutual understanding, based on mutual respect, based on mutual interest,” he said.

By Lamin Njie

Former president Yahya Jammeh has been named chairman and supreme leader of opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, APRC.

It comes as hundreds of delegates converged on Fatima Senior Secondary School in Bwiam for the 6th national congress of APRC. It’s the first time the party is holding such a high profile event without its founder, Yahya Jammeh.

The event which started on Saturday also churned out a new leadership with delegates agreeing to maintain Fabakary Tombong Jatta as the party’s interim leader. Mr Jatta returns to a position he has been in since former president Jammeh abandoned it.

Delegates have also voted to maintain Ousman Rambo Jatta deputy interim leader.

A special committee has also been set up by the congress to revisit the APRC constitution.

By Lamin Njie, in Bwiam

Fabakary Tombong Jatta has said that the APRC doesn’t want Gambians to be misled with regard to the coalition’s memorandum of understanding.

In 2016, seven political parties came together to form a united front to take on President Yahya Jammeh in the December presidential election. The alliance was brought about after the parties agreed that anyone they choose as their leader would contest as an independent candidate and serve for only three years. The parties are now at loggerheads over the deal.

Speaking at the APRC’s national congress in Bwiam on Saturday, Mr Jatta who is the interim leader of the party said “the coalition team now looks to be in fragments with some of its composing political parties no longer seeing eye to eye.”

He said: “The coalition has now completely disintegrated. Some key figures who were engaged as the voice of the coalition no longer believe or trust in the coalition administration and do not form part of the executive now. The reshuffle of the cabinet is a clear indication to an Adama Barrow-controlled government.

“This was confirmed in a speech where he addressed the press stating that he does not need anyone or any political party in completing his five-year term mandate as stipulated in the constitution. This goes against the Memorandum of Understanding which stipulates a three-year term and we as a party… Yes the constitution talks about five year term, a limit of five years.

“But we don’t want Gambians to be misled. It does not mean that when you are elected you cannot serve less than five years. President Adama Barrow can resign today. It’s not in violation of the constitution. So what we are saying is… Nobody forced them. They said to Gambians, ‘we are coming for three years, at the end of three years we are going to elections.’

“Then we were not in agreement with them. They told Gambians. That’s why you see us taking the back seat a little bit. But what we do know is it’s no escape to say the constitution says five years. The constitution says five years but it does not say you cannot leave before five years. If he says he is going for three years, it’s constitutional. He can go away and we go into elections.”

By Lamin Njie, in Bwiam

The interim leader of the opposition APRC Fabakary Tombong Jatta has called on the government of President Adama Barrow to let former president Yahya Jammeh return to The Gambia.

Mr Jatta made this call on Saturday as hundreds of party delegates gathered at Fatima Senior Secondary School in Bwiam, Foni Kansala for APRC’s sixth national congress. The congress which will hold across three days will churn out a new leadership for the party for the next two years. It’s the first of its kind since ex-president Jammeh left The Gambia for Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 following his shock electoral loss in the December 1, 2016 presidential election.

The party’s interim leader Fabakary Tombong Jatta addressing delegates as he declared open the congress said “the involvement of national and international bodies made the peaceful departure of our party leader through self-exile to Equatorial Guinea.”

“A joint declaration was negotiated with the government, Ecowas, AU, United Nations and representatives of President Jammeh and agreed upon. Therefore, we call on all parties to honour and respect the MOU. And we call on the government of President Adama Barrow for the unconditional return of the former president and to unfreeze and return to him all his assets,” Mr Jatta said.

Mr Jatta also said the Barrow government has not stopped at freezing the ex-president’s assets, it has also frozen assets that belong to the APRC.

He said: “We also call upon the coalition to return and unfreeze all APRC assets and bank accounts. And our APRC accounts don’t belong to president Jammeh. They are accounts that I contribute to, all national assembly members contribute to, all the executive contribute, all party supporters contribute. We do our fundraising. It has nothing to do with President Jammeh.”

By Lamin Njie

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Mamburay Njie on Friday said the Gambia government remains committed to prudent macro-economic policy management.

Mr Njie stated this as he tabled the national budget for the 2018/2019 financial year before the National Assembly. The 2018/2019 budget amounts to 25 billion dalasis.

“The Gambia has registered some positive economic gains during the period under review. However, our fiscal position remains critical. Maintaining macro-economic stability continues to be our main objective going forward which will require aligning our expenditure strictly with the budget and the financial regulations,” Njie said in his budget speech.

According to him, “as we recover from a difficult transition, macro-economic stability becomes a pre-requisite anchored towards national development objectives as enshrined in our national development plan.”

“Currently, our public debt to GDP is about 88 percent highlighting an unsustainable trajectory. This requires close attention to bring it down to a level that meets the potential limit of 40 percent which is the desirable position for a developing country. It is therefore important for all the relevant stakeholders associated with revenue collection to be more efficient in the tax collection,” he said.

President Adama Barrow has departed departed Banjul for Basse to lay the foundation stone for a 50KM road and four bridges in the Upper River Region.

The road and bridge projects for Basse-Koina road, Basse – Wuli and Fatoto–Passamas crossings, Chamoi bridge, and Suduwol,  respectively, constitute the first major infrastructural development project of the Barrow administration, following months of institutional reforms and empowerment of the transitional justice mechanisms of the country.

This landmark development project, which would enhanced easy and fast communications between URR North and South as well as the rest of the country, forms part of the government’s policy of rebooting regional economies and fostering an all-inclusive development for all and sundry. The project, once completed, would have a positive ripple effect on the socioeconomic welfare and wellbeing of the people of the region, by boosting trade and facilitating easy access to social and economic services.

The URR Road and Bridge project is a grant from the friendly government of the People’s Republic of China in the tune of USD50 Million.

While in URR, President Barrow is expected to hold a gathering in Foday Kunda to galvanize support for his development agenda, as well as preside over the opening of a teacher training college in Basse.

Press Release

The Gambia Press Union and the family of Deyda Hydara are pleased to announce that all is set for the commemoration of the 14th anniversary of the murder of Deyda Hydara, a former president and one of the founders of the Gambia Press Union.

Mr Hydara, also a co-founder of The Point Newspaper, was assassinated on December 16, 2004. Fourteen years on, the killers of the prominent journalist have not yet accounted for their crimes.

Every year, the GPU marks December 16th in various forms, including procession and public lectures; to take a solemn look at the Life and Times of Deyda in order to keep alive his memory. The event also provides a platform to discuss issues affecting the journalism industry and to promote greater sense of responsibility and solidary among media professionals.

This year’s event will feature a series of activities, including a joint press conference on Sunday by the GPU President, Minister of Justice and Minister of Information. It will also feature the official launch of the Media Council of The Gambia and Professional Journalism Card Scheme.

The GPU President, Mr Sheriff Bojang Jnr., said: “Nothing is more fitting than launching the Council in honour of Deyda, knowing how hard he fought against the then National Media Commission and the fact that he paid the highest price.”

The main event will be held on Sunday December 23rd at the Djembe Beach Hotel, starting 4:00pm. It will feature the Memorial Lecture Series, which will be delivered by Dr Baba Galleh Jallow, the Executive Secretary of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. The theme is: ‘Safety of Journalists: National Response to End Crimes against Journalists.

Another important highlight of the commemoration will be the launch of the Media Council of The Gambia by the Minister for Justice, Honourable Ba Tambadou and the launch of the Professional Journalism Card Scheme by Minister for Information, Honourable Ebrima Sillah.

Both created by the GPU, the Media Council is a self-regulatory body for the media industry, charged to handle complaints against media while the card system introduces proper identification framework meant to facilitate the work of journalists.

The commemoration will bring together more than 200 media professionals and those concerned with press freedom and safety of journalists, including the government, civil society, students and members of the public. The events are being held in partnership with the Hydara Family, United Nations Democracy Fund and Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

By Lamin Njie

First Lady Fatoumatta Bah Barrow has called on Gambians living in Sierra Leone to continue exhibiting the exemplary behavior that Gambians are known for wherever they are.

“I have no doubt that wherever a Gambian goes to, a Gambian will be embraced because of the way we are back home,” Mrs Bah Barrow told the Gambian community at a meeting in Freetown on Thursday.

First Lady Fatoumatta Bah Barrow is currently in Sierra Leone at the invitation of her counterpart Madam Fatima Jabbi-Bio for the launch of the latter’s 2019 – 2022 strategic plan.

The plan themed, ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ is aimed at addressing issues like child marriage, teenage pregnancy, sexual and gender-based violence, child trafficking, cancer, and women empowerment, among others.

And Mrs Bah Barrow taking time to meet with Gambians living in Sierra Leone said “I have always said that Gambians are moderate people.”

“You don’t hear about Gambians creating trouble outside. It shows we are raised well,” she said.

According to the President’s wife, it’s fate that make people migrate from one country to another and “as far as we’re from Africa, we belong everywhere.”

“You people were born in Gambia and came to Sierra Leone. It’s because this is where you luck is and you have come to get it. That same way, we have Sierra Leoneans who have left this country for The Gambia,” she said.

Ealier, the Gambian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Ebraima Manneh said “Gambians are Gambians no matter where they are.”

“Gambians in Angola, Gambians in Nigeria, Gambians in Senegal, Gambians in Gambia, all are Gambians. We have the same right. We have the same privilege,” he said.

Alhaji Abubacarr a representative of the Gambian community in Sierra Leone said Gambians have no problem in Sierra Leone because they have been fully embraced by that country.

“I can assure you Madam First Lady that Gambians have no problem here because we are all one people,” he said.