By Omar Wally

The Proprietor of The Standard Newspaper, has said that Gambian journalists are facing new challenges adding that their readers, listeners, and other targets are will be demanding more from them.

Sherrif Bojang, a veteran journalist, made these remarks, Wednesday during Gambia Press Union’s Journalism School orientation for diploma students.

Bojang, a former information minister during the Jammeh regime said, looking at the newspapers in The Gambia, including his own newspaper The Standard, the quality of the English has to improve.

“English is crucial to your work, that is why your mastery of the English Language is quite important”.

In order for you to be productive and bring out good products, your tool must be sharpened and must be the right tool said Bojang.

Bojang added that readers and listeners will demand that journalists write better and dig things that are buried. “The dynamics of journalism in The Gambia, has changed from ‘the he said she said’ kind of reporting, to digging deeper beyond the surface and bringing out the quality of journalism.”

That cannot be done if you are not properly trained Bojang concluded.

The former Director General of the notorious National Intelligence Agency NIA, Yankuba Badjie who is standing murder trial along with 8 other officers fell sick at the remand wing of the State Central Prisons of Mile 2 in Banjul.

These revelation was made by his lawyer C. E Mene before Justice Kumba Sillah Camara of the Banjul High Court.

The nine former National Intelligence officers standing trial are Yankuba Badjie, former NIA Director General, Louis Gomez, former Deputy Director General, Sheikh Omar Jeng, former Operations Director, Yusupha Jammeh, Tamba Massireh, Babucarr Sallah, Haruna Susso, Lamin Darboe and Lamin Lang Sanyang. They are changed with the murder of Solo Sandeng, a political activist who was allegedly arrested and tortured to death under custody. All the accused persons have pleaded not guilty and are currently remanded at the state central prisons.

When the case was announced this afternoon after almost three months vacation, the first accused (Badjie) was absent but his lawyer explained to the court about his health problems.

The prosecution team headed by the Prosecutor General, Antouman Gaye has informed the court about filing additional charges of 26 counts but an objection was made by the defense saying it was not service on time and would need time to look into it to advise their clients. The court decided to uphold the objection till the next adjourned date. Subsequently, the case was adjourned till on  October 25, 2017.

I have seen some folks attempt to circumvent this issue in defending this illegal acceptance of vehicles by Barrow by claiming that the president is not a public officer. That’s a very unfortunate and myopic view that clearly shows that one is not interested in defending the best interest of the country but rather see Barrow as an individual first and foremost. This kind of position is the same position we had seen taken by unconscionable elites and supporters in defense of Jammeh. It did not benefit The Gambia at all.

That a president and ministers and parliamentarians are public officers is a forgone conclusion in any democratic republic. But yes in The Gambia the Despot made that change in Section 166 purposely to put himself above the law and public scrutiny.

Hence when we reach this stage, I for one will be utterly ashamed to defend Barrow and this gift on the basis of that undemocratic and criminal provision.

In fact this provision might have been changed following the Prof. Gumbo Touray trial when his lawyers challenged his charge of giving false information to a public officer in 2013. But the government later sought to change this provision because many petitions were being sent to OP yet they cannot charge those people for giving false information to a public officer. Hence it might be possible that that amendment was done. It’s needs to be confirmed because the Despot has inserted lot of provisions into our constitution without due process.

That aside, I am utterly shocked that our president would receive gifts today only to have the same Gambians come to defend that on the basis of Section 166. These were the same Gambians that had lambasted Yaya Jammeh for receiving gifts in similar manner.

In fact in many other parts of the constitution there are provisions which, in spite of Section 166 point to the fact that the president or ministers or parliamentarians are public officers. For example the president’s salary is derived from the consolidated fund. Any expenses from this budget point to the public service.

I hope all of our citizens would see The Gambia first and foremost before seeing the president or any politician or part.

One would have expected that today all Gambians would demand best democratic practices and adherence to the highest standards of good governance. But it is so disappointing that there are still some Gambians who are ready and willing to suppress sacred values and standards and the best interest of the country in favor of an individual as president.

I hope our president Adama Barrow would reject such individuals and their unpatriotic positions!

Our national anthem is called ‘For The Gambia Our Home Land’. But do we all see The Gambia as our Home Land first and foremost or do we see it as our Home Land secondary to politicians and the government.

For me The Gambia is primary and supreme to the president or any politician and any party and indeed any citizen.

God Bless The Gambia

By Omar Wally

Bakary Badjie, an independent candidate vying for Kanifing Municipal Council mayoral seat, has said that if he wins, he will close down the Bakoteh dumpsite which poses serious health risks to the people in the area. ‘We will move it to a better location’ Badjie said.

He disclosed that he has plans to speak to companies outside the country that are interested in coming to The Gambia to work with them, so that waste will be properly managed and turned into a resource that can be transformed into energy.

He made these remarks Friday during a press conference, at Banjul International Airport upon arrival from The United States, where he lived for almost a year.

Badjie’s candidacy was launched on July 17, 2017, to run for the KMC mayoral elections backed by people from different political parties. “My candidacy is youth driven with lots of people behind me, they include young people, women and men who are interested in having a municipal council that manages resources and give back to the people what they are supposed to get.”

He said Kanifing Municipal Council, should be able to sustain itself even if they don’t receive subventions from the government.

‘It is over fifty years since Gambia gained independence, there is no reason why KM the biggest municipality in terms of population and revenue, should not be developed, he said.

He added that this is the reason why young people like him without hesitation stepped in with new ideas to change the status quo.

He said the major issues right now are garbage collection, fixing the bad roads amongst others.

“I was born and brought up in Ebo-Town, so there is nobody who can tell me the daily sufferings of the ordinary man and woman within the municipality.”

According to Badjie, his candidacy as it stands right now is based on an independent group adding that he is supported by young people from different political parties.

“We are right now consulting, once we are done, we will make a final decision as to wether we want to go on a political party ticket or remain independent he said. “But again even if we go under a political party ticket, we want it to be based on our ideas and manifesto if they agree.”

He noted that his priority areas include environment, tax reform among other things.

An elected president in a democratic republic is not a cultural or religious leader. A president has a job description laid out in his or her oath of office and the constitution and other laws of the Gambia. Hence the president’s decisions, actions and relationships are guided by the rule of law. They are not based on his or her whims and caprices or intuition and must not be influenced by cultural or religious ideas just like that. Gambia is a multicultural and multireligious society hence no one culture and religion must be used to influence or dominate public policy.

The ongoing issue of the 57 vehicles said to be obtained from a ‘philanthropist’ and donated to Pres. Barrow is completely unconstitutional and outside of the laws of the Gambia. The president’s advisers must tell him that a government is not run based on one’s individual ideas and feelings, rather the government is run based on rules that are well specified in our constitution and laws. Thus the issue about these vehicles is not about how kind and considerate Barrow feels about public institutions; rather the issue is what does the law say about gifts.

The Gambia Constitution is clear on gifts under Section 222 on the code of conduct of public officers. It says under subsection 11 that public offices must not ask or receive gifts for anything in terms of their official duties. It went further to state that a gift from anyone having a contract or negotiating a contract with the government must not be accepted. Subsection 12 went further to require that when a gift is received it must be surrendered to the office, department or agency of that public officer. In light of these constitutional provisions, Pres. Barrow must declare and surrender these vehicles.

If a permanent secretary had received this gift he or she must surrender it to the Minister. If a director or a junior officer receives a gift he or she must surrender it to the permanent secretary or his or her immediate supervisor. Hence the question is, to whom should the president surrender such a gift? Given that the president is the highest position holder in the Executive he cannot surrender to himself. The president is answerable only to the National Assembly; it therefore means that Pres. Barrow must surrender the vehicles to the parliament. This means he should inform the parliament who gave the vehicles and for what purpose.

The reason why Barrow should surrender the vehicles and identify the donor is to ascertain whether or not the donor has any contract or negotiating a contract with the Gambia Government. If he or she is having or negotiating a contract then this gift is illegal. But we cannot know the facts unless Pres. Barrow declares the gift. Thus the fact that Barrow has failed to do that means he is currently violating the constitution, which is a reason for his impeachment.

This is why the president must seek legal advice at all times for his actions and decisions so as not to be in contravention of the constitution. Barrow has no excuse not to know and abide by the rule of law. He has all the resources to know the law and follow the law. Barrow must not allow people to use culture and religion to transform him into another typical bad leader. These politics of gifts and patronage were what fuelled the decay of the leadership of both presidents Jawara and Jammeh to their detriment. Barrow must not repeat such a bad practice.

I wish to therefore urge Pres. Barrow to declare to the National Assembly, hence to all Gambians the source of these vehicles. The name of the person or company that gave these vehicles must be made public. This is necessary to avoid conflict of interest and corruption of his person and office.

Our parliament and many public institutions need resources such as vehicles, computers and furniture among others. We cannot and must not exploit that argument as a cover up to perpetuate disregard of the rule of law. So let the Office of the President not try to play with our minds by creating the impression that Barrow is so much concerned about the plight of NAMs that he decided to give the vehicles to them. That is not the issue here. The issue is, the rule of law must be followed about these gifts.

I must say that I am disappointed at both the donor and Pres. Barrow in the way they handled this matter. If indeed this donor genuinely wishes to help the Gambia without any strings attached, why cannot he or she present the vehicles to the president or parliament publicly as his or her contribution to national development? After all, helping one’s country should not be a matter of secrecy rather a citizen’s individual contribution to national development must be public and a source of pride. In that way other citizens are also encouraged to emulate such good gestures.

Similarly if Pres. Barrow has no vested interests in this matter, why is he finding it difficult to disclose the source from the onset? As president he should have in fact advised the donor that so long as he or she does not wish to be known publicly then the Gambia Government cannot accept the gifts. This is the kind of leadership one would expect Barrow to provide especially given what was happening during the tenure of his predecessor.

God Bless The Gambia.

Madi Jobarteh

Yusupha Alieu Kah has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva, official sources said.

This is the first time Gambia is having an embassy in Geneva.

Geneva is very strategic place for multilateral diplomacy and Mr Kah as a very experienced and respected civil servant and economist is expected to champion The Gambia’s interest there.

He had worked in the Ministry of Economic Planning as Director of Policy Analysis Unit; Presidents Office and PS Finance in the first and second republics, etc.

He had also been Minister of Economic Planning and Industrial Development, and Trade, Industry and Employment.  He was also the Gambian ambassador to Brussels and France.

Source: Point newspaper

The Barrow government has finally decided that an indigenous Gambian technology solution company, Pristine, should work together with Semlex, a Belgian company engaged in the development and supply of technological systems in identification and authentication.

“Policy decision is that Ministry of Interior will have to work with Semlex and Pristine for the production of the national ID cards, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance for the procedures to be followed,” Presidential spokesperson, Amie Bojang-Sissoho told reporters yesterday.

On the details of the partnership arrangement between the two companies, especially when Pristine claimed to have had a valid contract for the same project that was later awarded to Semlex, by former President Jammeh, Mrs. Bojang-Sisoho, who referred this reporter to the Ministry of Interior for clarification, said it’s “an implementation question.”

However, multiple attempts to secure an interview with the Minister of Interior since July have so far proved futile.

In the same vein, separate attempts to speak with the Semlex company representative in The Gambia, Ted McEwan, were also unsuccessful. But Mr. McEwan assured that he would share interview questions with Semlex officials in Belgium, who will be in a better position to provide answers. However, this had never happened up till now, after six key questions were sent to him in August.

On 9th August, Mr. McEwan was contacted to comment on the visit of their officials to Banjul for a scheduled meeting to negotiate the contract they believed they hold legally.

“Once the press team deems it appropriate to take interviews, I will revert. At the moment, we are dealing with loose ends and we don’t want to jump the gun. Let’s give the Government the courtesy to also make the relevant announcements,” Mr. McEwan said in an email response.

At a press conference in July, Minister Mai Ahmad Fatty said, The Gambia government was obliged to pay up to $100million to Semlex, the firm originally awarded with the national ID cards contract in 2016, should the contract be taken away from them.

Fatty said government does not have such kind of money and they do not want to go through an adjudication process with Semlex over the ID contract matter; so they were compelled to renegotiate.

“The contract was awarded by the former president, according to records,” Mr. Fatty said, adding that Semlex began importing technological equipment to implement the contract at the value of 10million. He said the machines that are supposed to do the process are still here in the country.

Notwithstanding, Semlex representative Ted McEwan has told The Point that their company does not want to fight with Pristine over the contract and so they were open to negotiations. Details are still not open to the public as we go to press.

Source: The Point Newspaper

By Yunus S Saliu

As part of ushering in the new tourist winter season in Destination Gambia, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture joined by officials from its satellite institutions – the Gambia Tourism Board; National Center for Arts and Culture and Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute; Chairman of the National Assembly selected committee for tourism; Tourism Security Unit on Wednesday embarked on a two-day tour of facilities in destination Gambia.

The tour was divided into two phase. The phase one of the tour covered tourism development area in Banjul, and Greater Banjul while the phase two will cover other regions in the country.

The Minister and his entourage were able to visit over twenty places during the two days. The places visited within Banjul and Greater Banjul Area included Laico Atlantic Hotel which will start operation first week of November after a two solid years break; Wedner Beach Hotel which has been abandoned over a decade presently under renovation; National Museum Banjul; Cape Point Hotel; Katchikally; African Village Hotel, Bakau; Fajara Hotel and Sun Set Beach hotel, Kotu.

With the new Gambia, the hoteliers are optimistic about the just started 2017/2018 tourist winter season.

The phase two of the tour which will start in earnest will take the Minister and his team to the hinterland to assess other facilities available and equip them with information about the tangible and intangible heritages and sites in The Gambia.

Meanwhile, the pre-season tour avails officials the opportunity to know about the level of preparedness of stakeholders for the season; assess the conditions and standards of operations of hotels, hunting camps, condition and welfare of employees in the industry and among other things.

Honorable Hamat Bah, Minister of Tourism and Culture who led the tour expressed satisfaction over the visited facilities. He took his time to share ideas with the hoteliers after listening to their constraints.

Police in Basse have arrested one Mr M Secka, a businessman for sleeping with a 17-year-old schoolgirl.

Secka, a married man with two wives is currently remanded at the Janjangbureh prison. The accused, according to our sources was under police surveillance as he was alleged to be always skirt chasing underage girls around the Basse metropolis.

Police spokesman Assistant Superintendent Foday Conta confirmed the development and said the matter was reported to the Basse police on 3 October.

PRO Conta said the accused was arrested after police detectives conducted investigations into the allegations. “The suspect, after being interrogated by the police, confessed to sleeping with the underage girl. The victim was then escorted to the Basse District Hospital were medical examinations were conducted on her, which revealed that, the accused had carnal knowledge of her,” Conta noted.

The GPF spokesperson explained that the accused was arraigned at the Basse Magistrates Court and remanded at Janjangbureh prison pending the final determination of the case.

This newspaper has reliably been informed that Mr Secka has stated that he intended to marry the 17-years schoolgirl. He is expected to stand trial at the Basse High Court on 23 October.

Source: Standard Newspaper

The vehicles recently given to parliamentarians were provided by “a supporter” of President Adama Barrow who wants to be anonymous, Amie Bojang, spokesperson of the presidency told journalists yesterday.

President Barrow came under criticism after news emerged that he donated dozens of vehicles to lawmakers, a style that critics said was reminiscent of former president Yahya Jammeh.

“They were from a philanthropist who supported the president during his campaign. If you can remember, the two vehicles that were given to GRTS were part of the same sets of vehicles,” Bojang said.

“What happens was, these vehicles came in by sets, and when the president got the first support, he said he did not want to give some and deny others. So when everything was completed, that’s time the handing-over was done.”

However, despite the professed goodwill from the presidency, some lawmakers have questioned the president to reveal the source of the vehicles while the four PDOIS lawmakers turned down the offer.

“I have not been offered and I don’t know the conditions of the vehicles nor do I know the sources or conditions in which they were given,” Suwaibou Touray of Wuli East told this newspaper last evening.

“I am a member of the National Assembly and I should exercise an oversight role over the executive. The question is: Is it from the president or the government? I need a vehicle to do my job but I can’t take a vehicle the source of which I don’t know,” he said.

Declaration of assets

Following directives from the Office of the President, all cabinet ministers have finally declared their assets to the ombudsman, the presidential spokeswoman revealed.

Barrow, backed by seven political parties and an independent, has campaigned on the promise of transparency and accountability, which he said, will be the hallmark of his administration.

However, activists said the declaration of assets to another public institution, the ombudsman, which is not going to make them public, has defeated the purpose. But Bojang disagreed: “This office is completely committed to transparency because that is why we have voted for change,” she argued.

Electricity

One of the pressing issues facing the Barrow administration is energy inefficiency characterised by frequent power outages.
President Barrow visited the national energy company, Nawec, two weeks ago to see the works that are being done to provide electricity to the population following barrage of criticisms directed at his government.

Mrs Bojang said the energy company has recently received a lot of interest from foreign companies to fill its investment gaps.

“Regarding energy, a lot of proposals are on the table and the government has to look at all those proposals to see which one is in the best interest of the country,” she said.

Recently, some key players in the industry have expressed worry that government’s desire for an immediate solution to the energy crisis might have forced them into an unproductive deal with the Turkey-based Kinesis Company.

But Mrs Bojang denied any knowledge of a power purchasing agreement between Nawec and Kinesis, adding that there is a special committee that is vetting all companies that have expressed interest in investing in the state’s energy industry.

“Regarding Kinesis, a discussion is going on and there is a committee that was set up to work on all proposals that have been sent to government and that discussion is on.

“Kinesis is proposing a generator and not alternative or clean energy… Kinesis has expressed interest to work with The Gambia in the area of energy and we have been consulting with them for a long time with respect to Nawec,” she said.

“I cannot confirm if they were awarded the contract. I know there were several companies that have expressed interest in investing in Nawec and their proposals are being reviewed.”

Source: Standard Newspaper

By Omar WallY

The spokesperson for The Gambia Police Force, Assistant Superintendent Foday Conta, has confirmed to The Fatu Network, that there was no foul play in the death of Richard Brooks, a Dutch national.

Richard was found death on October 11, 2017, along the Tanji highway and the matter was reported to Sanyang Police Station by one Malick Jammeh.

“The body was recovered by the police and taken to Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital mortuary in Banjul.”

Police PRO noted that the matter was investigated and during the cause of the investigation it was reveled that there was no foul play in his death. “Our investigation has revealed that, a night before his death, he was found at a bar and was heavily drunk.”

From the bar he rode his bicycle back home, It was during that time that the incident took place around the bridge in Sanyang says Police PRO.

“Gambia Police Force is in contact with the Dutch consulate in The Gambia and they too are following the investigation process.” However, a medical examination will be conducted on his body to ascertain the cause of his death.