Information reaching The Fatu Radio news desk has confirmed that The Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh has ordered the Ministry of Interior, Ousman Sonko and Landing Jarju, the new Acting Director of Immigration to not issue travel documents to the recently pardoned prisoners.  According to sources, the ex-prisoners, most of whose nationality documents have expired, have been crisscrossing between the various departments within the Immigration Headquarters, only to be told that they have to wait until further instructions are received from the President’s Office.

For now, most, if not all of them, essentially have no ID card or passport, rendering them stateless and restricting their freedom of movement.

This bad news came on the heels of yet another terrible news for Gambian’s without valid Identity Cards – for months now, ID cards have not been printed because the government owes GAMBIS, the company responsible for printing them, more than a hundred million dalasi ($2,564,102).  This lack of payment, according to our sources resulted to the company running out of the materials needed for these documents.  “Immigration officers promised that it will take three months to print ID cards again, but it’s been well over that and there is still no word” the source added with a frustrating tone.

According to the sources, people go to the immigration department to take their photos, fill out application forms and submit their forms and wait until GAMBIS can afford to buy materials to start printing again. As for the pardoned prisoners, they haven’t been allowed to even go through that process.

Observers have noted that the main reason for this delay and denial of documents to the pardoned prisoners is the trepidation that the Jammeh regime has with regards to the leaking of information on human rights violations and torture which many of the prisoners went through. The observers went on to say that the government does not want information out about the deplorable prison conditions and the false charges brought against many of those pardoned.

This new development is said to be causing a lot of concern among family members about the fate of their loved ones.  Knowing how unpredictable dictator Jammeh is, he could throw them back in prison within the blink of an eye.  Security sources have also hinted that the movements of the pardoned prisoners are being monitored and that they should be advised to avoid night outings.  Meanwhile, many are questioning why someone will be pardoned and not allowed travel documents, implying that they still haven’t secured their freedom.

In another development, Dictator Jammeh is also said to have ordered that any piece of land in Kanilai that is not developed should be seized.  Notorious for land grabbing, this new move my Yahya is making the villagers very nervous.  They will all potentially lose all their farm lands to him very soon.  Very sad state of affairs.

The Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh picked the podium of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2013 as the launch pad for his crusade against homosexuals. He was quoted saying that his government, “will fight these vermin called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively. Homosexuality is anti-humanity. I have never seen homosexual chicken or turkey.” He made good on this promise by taking the same hateful message back home with him and institutionalizing in the country.

He introduced an anti-gay legislation during his opening of the parliament speech in 2013, and the lawmakers subsequently enacted some of the most discriminatory laws ever heard of in any part of the world. The criminal code of the country was also amended last August to include a life sentence for “aggravated homosexuality”. This move was condemned by Human Rights groups and the international community as harsh and unjust.

In November of last year, the Gambian authorities conducted raids all over the country and arrested everyone suspected of being a homosexual. Mr. Alieu Sarr who was convicted for Aggravated Homosexuality and sent to prison in November of 2014 alongside Mr. Morr Sowe and Mr. M.L. Bittaye for being gay, was released last week and we have information that he has fled the Gambia and is currently working on obtaining political asylum in neighboring Senegal.

He expressed his sincere gratitude to the media for applying and maintaining pressure on the government until their subsequent release. “At first I thought we will disappear like in the case of Ebrima Chief Manneh”, said Mr. Sarr. The three of them were badly tortured during their detention at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). The notorious torture team called the Junglers usually pay them visits at around 2am, and forcing confessions out of them. They are also forced to identify other homosexuals in the community.

During some of their Torture sessions, the Junglers take off their clothes, hold their hands and legs and beat them up.  No one could hear them screaming, not that it would have made any difference. The Junglers would tell them to speak up or they would kill them and no one would know because they do that all the time.  Mr. Borry Bojang, the former NIA operative who is currently himself in detention at the NIA for his alleged involvement in the December 30^th attempted coup, was especially cruel to them during their incarceration, saying to them that the President hates them and that he wanted to use them to set an example. Mr. Seedy Camara, an NIA operative, made them kneel down on stones, Mr. Alasana Baldeh, Mr. Foday Bojang and Mr. Kalilu Janneh took their statements during their torture sessions.

Their phones, emails and other social media accounts were closely scrutinized and monitored. They were tortured for a little over a week between the 9th and the 17th of November 2014. This was when their captors said they had everything that they wanted, and they were going to be transferred to Mile 2 Prison. On the statement of confessions fabricated by the NIA, they claimed that Mr. Sarr engaged in a homosexual act with one Mr. Dodou Bobb when he was about 10 years old, Sarr denied knowing anyone by that name. They also claimed he (Sarr) has had similar affairs with Mr. Modou Boy Jallow, a Gambian fish seller, and Mr. Sereign Mboob, a Senegalese national based in Holland, whose numbers they found in Mr. Sarr’s phone – again; all made up by the NIA. Mr. Sarr was also forced into confessing to passing information to Ms. Fatu Camara of Fatu Radio Networks, even after finding no evidence of such in his email communications or other social media accounts.

Eight days after being detained at The National Intelligence Agency, the men were moved to the Mile 2 Central Prisons in the outskirts of Banjul. They were met by the Operations manager of the Prisons, Mr. M.L. Sowe, who told them that as homosexuals, they should be sent directly to the maximum security wing – completely ignoring the fact that they were not charged with any crimes at the time. They were kept in confinement in the notorious Mile 2 prison without conviction, instead of the temporary holding cells of the Remand Wing to await the outcomes of their trials.

While in prison, they were kept under the most inhumane conditions. They slept, ate and used the toilet in the same space. Their cells were dark and infested with roaches and mosquitoes. They were given Chamber pots to use as toilets.  They were not allowed outside for two months and the only time they saw sunlight during that period was when they come out to empty their chamber pots in the morning, at 8A.M, which lasted only 5 minutes per day. They even had to negotiate with their jailers at times for this “privilege.”
Mr. Sarr was later admitted to the hospital under the constant watchful eyes of two armed soldiers and two prisons officers. He was admitted once for three weeks and the second time for two months. His relatives and friends had to pay bribes to these officers in order to visit him in the hospital. He was denied medication because the hospital did not have any, and no one was allowed to obtain it for him from any other source. It was after the intervention of his lawyers that he was able to have access to his medication.

The conditions under which the prisoners at the notorious Mile 2 prison are kept are nothing short of deplorable by any measure. The food is barely fit for human consumption. The shortage of medication and the presence of inmates with tuberculosis and other communicable diseases pose serious health risks to the rest of the prison population. There are also untreated mentally challenged individuals languishing in the prison.

The Court cases during their trial was always held in chambers, this according to sources was because there was no evidence and the State did not want the media to pick up the story, especially the international media.

 Mr. Alieu Sarr and Mr. Momar Sowe were later acquitted and released, but Mr. Modou Lamin Bittaye still has an ongoing court case and he remains out on bail.

 The family of Mr. Kemo Sanneh, the 17 year old teenager who was arrested alongside these three, was able to scrape together D50, 000.00 to pay off the two NIA operatives, Mr. Seedy Camara and Mr. Alasana Baldeh to secure his release. The young man was released with another young woman, who was subsequently arrested again. This young woman was said to have been subjected to severe torture and she was covered in blood during one of those sessions. The NIA operatives asked her to take off her clothes so they could see where she was bleeding from.

The Gambia’s iron fist ruler Yaya Jammeh has reacted irritably to last week humiliating defeat by the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) in the Lower Saloum National Assembly seat by- election. The autocratic President who is also the leader of the ruling party has unanimously decided to dissolve his party’s structures in the Lower Saloum constituency with immediate effect. In the same vein, Mr. Jammeh has ordered the closure of the party’s regional office based in the town of Kaur.

This came in the wake of 6^th August, 2015 by-election conducted by the country’s electoral commission to replace a seat left vacant after the explosion of the occupant of that seat from APRC and by extension, the National Assembly.

Jammeh who believes in using his unchecked powers to arm-twist and manipulate people into total submission to his wishes and dictates is said to be unhappy with the people of Lower Saloum who have decided to vote for Modou Bamba Gaye, an NRP candidate to represent them in the APRC dominated Assembly. Dictator Jammeh, the Governor of Central River Region, the APRC Secretary General and National Mobilizer, Omar Khan, Minister Bala Garba Jahumpa and Yankuba Colley respectively are all said to be very disappointed and embarrassed with the outcome of the results. Jammeh was quoted to have said he could not believe that the people of Kaur, a town he sees as his home and has held meetings at during his country wide tour can side with an opposition and not his candidate.

Our source indicated that the decision to dissolve the structures is due to misinformation given to Yaya Jammeh by his trusted men including Hon. Sainey Mbye of Upper Saloum and the Regional Governor that the Constituency Committee submitted Kabba Touray as the choice of the people, an information they knew was false and thus led to APRC losing their once stronghold, amidst spending almost half a million dalasi during their campaign.

Analysts say that The Gambia’s dictator in a violation of the country’s constitution and demonstration of his political immaturity and lack of respect for Gambian tax payers has once again said he will not approve any project meant for constituencies that vote for an opposition candidate. In a televised speech last Tuesday, President Jammeh, while addressing his cabinet in a retreat in his village of Kanilai threatened to cut off the people of Lower Saloum constituency from any development project, the same way he did with Kiang in the past.

News coming from the Gambia concerning the conditions under which Modou Njie, Sarjo Jarju, Abdoulie Jobe and others charged in the failed coup of December 30 are very disturbing.  To think that there is a place in this century where even animals, let alone human beings are being kept in such conditions can only be deemed a dream.  If we didn’t know any better, we would have dismissed such information as propaganda.

The questions that beg for answers are: why does Yahya Jammeh think that Gambia deserve such inhumane treatment?  What have the people of this once peaceful country done to deserve this?  Why is the International Community ignoring such atrocities of Biblical proportions?  Could the answer lie with our culture of silence?  Has Yahya Jammeh finally succeeded in terrorizing Gambians to a point where crimes of such magnitude are seen as normal?

We hope that we will find answers to these urgent and vexing questions soon enough to address our current predicament. One that cannot wait, for every minute of every day is critical – someone is either dying or dead. But back to the Modou Njie and Co’s conditions.

The just recently released prisoners that Faturadio spoke to describe the deplorable conditions that Modou Njie lives under like this:

First, he is not allowed any visitors at all.  This means that families, lawyers, friends, and doctors are not allowed to visit him under any circumstances.  This contravenes so many local and International laws – every prisoner has a right to visits from especially lawyers, family members, and doctors.  These sources have confirmed that he is currently sick but hasn’t been given medical checkup or medication since doctors are not allowed to visit him.

Second, he is held in solitary confinement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  He is essentially kept in a dark room all the time and not allowed to come out.  According to the sources, this is also done to make him mentally unstable.

Third, both his hands and feet are in chains.  As if that is not enough punishment, he is chained to a metal pole in his cell where he is kept in solitary confinement.  The cell is too small to even stretch one’s legs.  His hands were broken during his torture and the chains are aggravating the pains.

Fourth, because he is in chains, and chained to a metal in this dark room, not allowed to come out, he goes to the toilet in the same place where he is chained, using a small cup that the guards will put under him.  Once he is done, the cup is left there, with him having no ability to dispose it off or cleaning himself.  He is basically sitting on his own feces 24/7.

Fifth, the food in Mile 2 have been one of the subjects of UN Special Rapporteur’s report.  The indictment of the food conditions leaves no doubt that meals in that place amount to nothing but poison.  Many prisoners who can afford to, do avoid the food.  But unfortunately for Modou Njie and colleagues, they don’t have a choice.  This food is one source of his sickness according to the sources.

Sixth, to serve as a mental torture, these prisoners are all kept in black uniforms to remind them that they could be executed any day.

Modou Njie was alleged to been a member of the group that launched the failed December 30 coup.  He was shot and wounded during their attempt to take over the State House.  He has since been Court-martialed with Sarjo Jarju, Buba Bojang, Abdoulie Jobe  and others in what was a secrete proceeding widely criticized by human rights groups and governments around the world as a sham.  They were all given the death sentence and have since been languishing in Mile 2.  Their families were hopeful during the just recent prisoner “pardon” by President Yaya Jammeh, but those hopes were dashed when it was soon realized that even other political prisoners like Amadou Sanneh were not going to be released.

The families of these prisoners, human rights groups, and activists are now pinning their hopes on the International Community to intervene on behalf of these prisoners to improve their conditions in prison and to make sure they are given a fair trial in a competent court of law.

The ruling APRC Party of Dictator Yaya Jammeh is divided after suffering a humiliating defeat in Lower Saloum National Assembly By-elections. Inside sources indicate that the party stalwarts and its leadership, while engaged in post-election analysis after the announcement of the results, were in a serious blame game and counter accusations of who and what contributed towards the defeat. The Governor of the region Mr Omar Khan was quoted to have said that he has never experienced such a loss in his life. Mr. Khan said the defeat of the APRC candidate, Mr Kabba Touray was due to sabotage by some supposed APRC loyalists, and that he knows those who are behind his party losing the once APRC stronghold to the National Reconciliation Party of Mr. Hamat Bah.

The desk officer for the region, Honorable Mr Sainey Mbye who promised victory was visibly terrified with the outcome. The APRC is said to have spent almost half a million dalasis during the nomination and campaign periods.

Mr Omar Khan who served as Governor of Upper River Region until his sacking in August 2013 was recycled back into the system and reappointed Governor of Central River Region in May 2014. He replaced Mr Ganyie Touray, who was removed from office and subsequently detained by he police. Both men were on the ground to canvass for votes for the unpopular APRC flag bearer Mr Kabba Touray.

Mr. Touray represented the people of Lower Saloum in the legislature between 2007 and 2012 and like many other uneducated APRC legislators, Mr Kabba’s presence in the national assembly was just physical in nature. He lacks intellectual substance and he never contributes during debates. His constituents complained that for the five years that he was in office, he did not lobby for any development programs for their constituency.  He was replaced in 2012 after one term in office by  Mr Pa Malick Ceesay, who himself was expelled from the party afte serving only three years of his five year term. He is currently on trial for abuse of office and economic crimes.

Mr. Yankuba Colley, the national mobilizer of APRC party, who was only seen on the ground on election day said in an interview with the national television that they have taken the defeat in good faith and would henceforth start working to correct the mistakes made and avoid a reoccurrence of such as well as prepare for the 2016 general elections. Mr. Colley however calls the results “a disappointment from the people of Lower Saloum”.

The election had a 56.8% registered voter turnout, and it was won by NRP’s Mr Modou Bamba Gaye who pulled 2764 votes while Kabba Touray of the APRC got 1618 votes.

The APRC Chairman Mr Yaya Jammeh who approved the nomination of Mr Kabba Touray as his party’s flag bearer is said to have issued a pre-election warning to his people to ensure that APRC retake the seat. In addition to approving a large sum of money to attain this goal, Dictator Jammeh has also dispatched three of his Ministers; Mr Bala Garba Jahumpa, Mr Omar Sey and Mr Benjamin Roberts to go and join the campaign. The current speaker of he National assembly Mr Abdoulie Bojang was on hand and so was the expelled former holder of the contested seat Mr. Pa Malick Ceesay.

This according to our analysis is a clear indication of how desperately Mr Jammeh and his APRC party wanted to keep this seat under their control.

In his tucked – tail retreat from travelling outside the Gambia and his cowardly movements between Kanilai and Banjul under heavy armor and the senseless military check points, Jammeh is given a taste of his own medicine of “living in fear”; thanks to the December 30, 2014 attack on the State House. Jammeh now more than ever before knows that we have driven him to the edge of the cliff of no return to join past neocolonial gangsters like him that wreaked havoc on Africa. The once paralyzing fear, never known in our beloved Gambia has finally evaporated into thin air.

Second to April 10 and 11, 2000; December 30, 2014 will be forever etched on our national consciousness.

Credible information has reached us that, no less than a thousand guards (GNA, NIA and his unofficial thugs) rotate monthly in defense of the State House in Banjul. The number of guards at the killing fields in Kanilai is open to anyone’s guess. This is the end game for tyrants who choose to be deaf, dumb and blind to peace and social justice. Jammeh doesn’t even trust himself, neither his shadow for a very long time. As the saying goes: “Baaken Jama la Bugga” – there is no soul that doesn’t yearn for peace; even Jammeh. But peace, he will never know for the rest of his devilish life. If anyone doubts his paranoia with paralyzing fear; watch the procession on the day of the Eid prayers. Inside the mosque, rows in front, beside and behind him stood plain clothes killers at guard while he “prayed”.

He’s been heard telling an American ambassador that, “he is not the monster people claim he is”. Joseph Mobutu, a poisoned fruit from the same tree as Jammeh once uttered: “I am not a monster”.

Yes, 21 years has been too damn long to have put up with AFPRC-APRC tyranny but our relentless fight has driven Jammeh to the end of his rope. Either he hangs himself or we will uproot him by any means necessary. For quite some time, Jammeh has realized that we had pierced through his “armor of invincibility”, rendering all his ghoulish sacrifices and amulets (“Jujus”) useless.

Like tyrants before him, the consequences of his reign of terror have begun to melt away the fear that his regime fed on for the past years. Now, Jammeh is drowning in the sewage of his repressive regime. After unleashing every imaginable act of terror against the people of our peace loving Gambia, he resorts to the oldest trick in the “book of tyrants”. Jammeh now resorts to deceitful acts of sympathy and questionable benevolence such as his recent presidential “massive pardons” of prisoners, the majority of whom were illegally imprisoned in the first place. He is at his desperate best to survive this catastrophe of his own making.

Jammeh never does anything at the goodness of his heart. If he did he would have had friends. Everyone that Jammeh so called befriended either ended tragic or in betrayal.

Additional pressure, aside from the resistance of the “diaspora” is bearing heavily on Jammeh from international organizations and governments to make gestures of “reconciliation”. It has been confirmed that Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, the sitting Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently visited Gambia and indeed met with Jammeh. Whether she gave him her own advice or conveyed advice from other sources to diffuse the mounting internal crises and begin laying down his “exit plan” or worst, preparing the grounds for the 2016 elections; Jammeh can never rule in the same old way he did.

 The “genie is out of the bottle”; it can never be put back. As the genie got out of the bottle, so did Ali Cham, a Gambian rapper, stage name “Killer Ace”, with his caustic relics (“Ku Boka C Geta G”) against the buffoon Jammeh regime. The bottled –up bitterness against the AFPRC – APRC regime is erupting like a hot blast.

But Jammeh has a lot more to answer to beyond the ceremonial release of “229 prisoners” under bizarre circumstances. Like most Gambians, I personally welcome the release of the prisoners but categorically not grateful to anyone, especially Jammeh. A mere scratch on the surface is not satisfactory. We must dig deep down into the rot that AFPRC-APRC has created during its reign of terror to come to a closure.

There are no doubts that the willfully ignorant sycophants of the regime and the advocates of “meaningless peace” will be at it again in their baseless defense of this dying but not yet dead regime. They have become masters at spinning reality wrong side up with their empty slogans “we don’t want any violence” and “Gambia is a peaceful country”. Where were these hypocrites for the past 21 years when violence was the only solution Jammeh applied in every situation? If you want meaningful peace, you must be willing to fight for it.

We will protest against any attempts to sanitize Jammeh for the sake of “meaningless reconciliations” at our expense. There must be a new beginning in our beloved Gambia which cannot co-exist with Jammeh.

 We demand:

.  An independent investigation into Koro Ceesay’s mysterious death.

. An investigation into the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, Saul Ndow,

   Mahawa Cham, Ndure Cham, Ebou Jobe, Mahmoud Ceesay and countless other

   soldiers and civilians.

. An investigation into the assassination of Deida Hydara.

. An inquiry in the torture chambers such as Fort Bullen and “Bamba Dinka”

    with testimony from torture and rape survivors.

. An open inquiry into the prison population at the Jeswang and George Town

    prisons.

     “FREEDOM FOR EVERYBODY OR FRREDOM FOR NOBODY”! JAMMEH MUST GO!

As part of activities marking Gambia’s 50 years of nationhood, President Jammeh changed the country’s currency by introducing new notes with his face printed on all the new notes, to make matters worst, the D200 (two hundred dalasis) note was also introduced much to the consternation of many versed in economic matters, who raised the signal of impending economic crisis. Readers would recall that when Dictator Jammeh took over power through a coup in 1994, one of the first things he condemned as excessive was what he labelled as lavish lifestyle of ex President Jawara and his entourage and Jawara’s face on the country’s currency, saying that the country does not belong to President Jawara and it was thus arrogance and excessive.

Fast forward 20years later, dictator Jammeh and his wife’s excessive lifestyle is one of the most disgusting affronts to Gambia’s ailing economy, their daughter 14 year old Mariam attends an $80,000 per annum exclusive boarding school in Manhattan USA, this is in sharp contrast to ex President Jawara’s children who attended public schools in Gambia and could speak the local languages, unlike Mariam who can not speak any of Gambia’s local languages. Dictator Jammeh’s wife and children together with their entourage holiday at the most exclusive hotels and yachts around the world, wasting millions of tax payer monies on lavish shopping sprees and private planes to ferry them around. Dictator Jammeh’s abuse of the Gambia’s central bank, monetary and gifts meant for Gambians and private sector businesses for his personal gain is widely documented and has led to the country’s near collapsed economy. Thus observers see his move to change the currency of the country and have his face on all new bills as pure hypocrisy on Jammeh’s part and a complete departure from his original statements that ex President Jawara does not own the country and should not have his face on the country’s currency. “The question that begs to be asked is therefore, what has changed? Is Dictator Jammeh now entitled to have his face on the country’s money because he now feels he owns the Gambia as he declared during his 2014 Eid speech to muslim leaders at State House?, is he planning to become a monarch as widely rumored?”

Many observers further raised the alarm when the introduction of the new dalasis notes did not automatically follow the recalling of the old notes in circulation, meaning that the market was being flooded with both the old and new currencies. This situation was not helped with the President dictator Jammeh issuing an executive directive, appreciating the dalasis against all major currencies. Many saw this executive interference in the money market as a sign of a weak dalasis and a departure from free market policies which would signal doom for an already weak dalasis and Gambian economy. The IMF report in June also further signaled economic crisis with a strict warning to the Finance Ministry and Central Bank to adhere to prudent fiscal discipline and lift the executive order appreciating the dalasis against major currencies to restore confidence in the market. IMF also reported that the Central bank was printing new money, which would leave the dalasis vulnerable to inflation.

The situation above led many to be very concerned and raised alarm bells about the economic situation in terms of inflation and fraud, when they saw two different D20 notes in circulation in Gambia. The one D20 note is printed by the official money printers for central Bank of the Gambia De la Rue Company, while the other is reportedly printed in Nigeria. Many are saying that the different D20 notes are open to fraud and could led the weak dalasis to collapse especially as the security features on the second D20 is weak and could easily be reprinted. “The question many are asking is why introduce two different D20 notes? and is the D20 notes the reason IMF said that Central Bank is printing extra money without following the proper policies and economic protocols?” asked an observer. “This is really strange” said another we spoke to, “why still keep the older notes which the new notes have replaced also in circulation?”.

As observers cite economic pressures as one of the reasons dictator Jammeh released some prisoners as part of his 22nd July 2015 celebrations marking his 21st year in power, many continue to believe that the ailing Gambian economy would be a major determining factor on whether dictator Jammeh can continue to cling on to power or be forced out through sheer frustration from a Gambian populace fast losing patience with the status quo of economic mismanagement and dictatorship. Regional and International isolation especially with cries for term limits and President Obama calling on African leaders to give up power instead of believing they should be President for life has made dictator Jammeh even more isolated and his position more untenable. The question that begs to be asked is what stimulus the movement for change will add to keep up the pressure on Jammeh for reforms and an end to dictatorship in Gambia and what tricks dictator Jammeh has up his sleeve to appease a regional and international community as well as civil and rights organizations fast losing patience with impunity, lack of respect for basic human rights and rule of law in Gambia. The proverbial chess game continues…….

In what seemed like an instant replay of an all too familiar movie, Yahya Jammeh has done it again – hoisting someone on a high horse only to force them to the ground employing his most humiliating snub. When Eumeu Sene defeated Bala Gaye in one of the most exciting wrestling duels in Senegalese history, fans in both Senegal and The Gambia were ecstatic!  True to form, sensing the huge popularity wave that the new Champ from Dakar was riding on, Yahya tagged along by inviting Eumeu to Banjul.  This was the same move he made when Bala Gaye defeated Yekinni in what was yet another combat for the history books.

Yahya is a typical dictator – they try to associate themselves with anyone who is enjoying popularity with the intention of stealing the show in an effort to make up for what they had already lost in public approval because of their brutal ways.  He is therefore notorious for inviting celebrities to The Gambia, showering them with lots of dollars, taking pictures with them, and parading with them on national TV to boost his ratings.  Unfortunately, these friendships with Yahya don’t last unbeknown to many of these unsuspecting celebs – once the popularity craze has waned, he dumps them for new up and coming ones.  Such was the fate of poor Eumeu who would have saved himself the headache had he had a small chat with other Senegalese celebs like Kumba Gawlo, Aida Sama, Vivianne or Bala Gaye before getting into such an arrangement with this ungrateful leader.

Eumeu’s visit to Banjul during that trip was the talk of town.  TV cameras followed him and his wife everywhere, grand galas were hosted in his honor, parades were held to celebrate his victory, speaker after speaker spoke of the special bond Eumeu had with Yahya.  All of these culminated in the grand finale – the presentation of two brand new vehicles to both Eumeu and his wife, all from the benevolence of Yahya Jammeh, “the man who loves humanity” according to Eumeu at the time.

So it was a shocked to Sene when he decided to attend Yahya Jammeh’s birthday celebration, and this time, in an effort to return the favor and show his appreciation of his old friend, brought with him a white horse as a gift for the birthday boy.  This would turn out to be a serious mistake – Yahya’s superstitious mind doesn’t allow him to see a “white horse” as just a mere gift, but rather a conning ploy for something more sinister, the results of which he believes, cannot be good news.

According to sources, when Yahya got news of the horse, he immediately directed his staff to keep Eumeu as far away from him as possible.  Despite his repeated attempts, Eumeu was not able to even have a word of greeting with The Gambian Dictator.  Yahya instead delegated his Secretary General, Lamin Nyabally as the go-to guy for Eumeu.  The poor Senegalese wrestler went back home humiliated, dejected, and disrespected.  Sources have confirmed to Faturadio that Eumeu was furious for the ill-treatment he received.

Observers have concluded that Eumeu Sene has no one to blame but himself since he was warned sufficiently about how Yahya Jammeh operates.  But because Eumeu was too greedy to listen to wise counsel, he fell for what turned out to be what they (the observers) had suspected would be the fate of this relationship.  They hope this will be a lesson for other Senegalese celebrities who are lining up to get a piece of Yahya’s “benevolence.”

According to GRTS, 229 prisoners were released and this, according to the statement read on the national TV station includes 26 treason convicts, 14 murder convicts, 8 hard drug convicts, 98 drug possession convicts, 72 drug trafficking convicts, 10 robbery convicts and 1 juvenile murder convict.

Observers have noted that there is something peculiar about the details of the release though, and it can only point to a more insidious scary conclusion – even though Yahya’s promise to the world included Death row inmates, not a single one of them was included in the statement, which came on the heels of him telling Imams during his EID meeting with them that he intends to carry out executions because according him, the crime rate in the country has gone up again.  Could the release of these prisoners be a precursor to another round of executions just as he did in 2012?  Very likely according to these observers.  That is the scary prospect everyone is now pondering over and Gambia watchers are urging the International Community to intervene and put pressure on Yahya to not only avoid carrying out these executions, but instead keep his promise of releasing them.  None of the Death row inmates was accorded due process of the law, so their guilt or innocence cannot be established at this point.

There are other inconsistencies in the whole exercise, these could be due to unfair rules applied and outright discrimination in other cases.  Take the case of Bun Sanneh and Co for example.  This was a drug case in which Bun and his coworkers at the NDEA were all implicated.  However, among the people convicted, Bun is the only one released while the rest Karamo Bojang AKA Sembe, Ousman Sanneh, and Seedy Bojang continue to languish in Mile 2.  The reason for this disregard for fairness is tribalism – Bun is Jola while the rest are Mandinkas.  Take the case of Ensa Badjie and co also for another instance.  Jesus as he is fondly called is released while Kuluteh Manneh and Matarr Secka continued to be detained – another blatant case of tribalism.  The other inconsistency is that despite his promise to release all foreign nationals, many are still held in Mile 2 – former Chief Justice, Wowo is a perfect example.  Wowo has bitterly complained about this unfairness to Mile 2 officials according to sources.  Amadou Sanneh, Ma Ebou Cham, Babadi Sarr are all still in detention even though their families were promised they will be released as part of this deal.  Amadou’s case was politically motivated, Ma Ebou’s offense was less serious than the murder and drug convicts released, while Babadi was never even charged of any crime.  These issues have compromised the whole integrity of this exercise according observers.  “Not that any of these people was supposed to even be there in the first place” one observer angrily retorted.

Of those released, 52 came from the notorious Security Wing of Mile 2, leaving behind 90. The Dutch National, Rudy Gazi, finally went home Friday.  This, after he was pardoned and picked up again the last time Jammeh pardoned prisoners, he therefore didn’t want to take any chances this time around.  GRTS has also announced that all those convicted by the former PPP government will be pardoned, giving an impression that there are a lot of people in this category.  However, when Faturadio enquired with officials at the ministry of interior, we were informed that only three inmates; Kebba Camara, Omar Sey and Malang Jatta were in Mile 2 from that period.

According to a very credible source, the former Chief of Defense Staff of The Gambia Armed Forces, Lang Tombong Tamba, upon release from prison, first stopped at his mother’s grave to offer prayers after which he went to visit Asombie Bojang, The President’s mother, before heading home to his family. The same source added that the reason for particularly his visit to Asombie was because she was providing financial support to Lang’s family while he was confined.

           Lang and 229 prisoners were released today according to a facebook post by the Minister of Information and Communication, Sheriff Bojang. Many are asking questions as to why political prisoners like Amadou Sanneh are not released yet.  The list of the 229 prisoners has not been provided yet.  Below is the breakdown of the categories of the released:

                  26 Treason convicts

                  14 Murder convicts

                  Robbery convicts

                  8 Hard Drug convicts

                  98 Drug Possession convicts

                  72 Drug Trafficking convicts

                  1 Juvenile murder convict

         The released include such high profile individuals: Essa Badjie, former Inspector General of Police, Pa Harry Jammeh, former Solicitor General, Lamin Joberteh, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Njougu L. Bah, former Secretary General, Head of Civil Service and Minster responsible for Presidential Affairs.
Faturadio is following developments and will update our readers as soon as more information becomes available.  The situation is said to be chaotic on the ground.