THREE PEOPLE ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF BEING GAY; OTHERS ON THE RUN AS JAMMEH SEEKS ANOTHER MAJOR DISTRACTION
Reports reaching Fatu Radio have indicated Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh is finally making good on his promise that gays and lesbians are not welcomed in The Gambia and if anyone is caught on suspicion of being one, he or she will “regret being born”. Over the weekend at least three men were arrested on suspicion of being gay at the Duplex Nightclub and are currently detained at National Intelligence Agency in Banjul.
Alieu Sarr (pictured above – L), Morr Sowe (pictured above – R) and Kemo Sanneh (17 year old) are all in custody on suspicion of being gay.
The arrest has sent a shocking wave of fear throughout the gay community in the tiny West African nation resulting to many fleeing to neighboring countries fearing that Jammeh might carry out his threats.
On Tuesday, November 11, 2014 also saw another group of gays fleeing to neighboring countries including a group of lesbians for fear of getting caught in the dragnet.
It has been brought to our attention that the investigators are now going from home to home with a man suspected to be gay to identify other gay people in the community. “This has caused a lot of concerns among Gambians” according to one of the NIA agents who spoke to us on condition of anonymity and is part of the arresting officers. The agent described the operation as a “witch-hunt,” lamenting that they cannot even identify who is gay or not.
President Yahya Jammeh who has made his hatred for gays and lesbians no secret, has been issuing threat after threat against the community for a long time. He has also backed up his threats with legislative action. The Gambia amended the criminal code 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.
“We 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.”
“Homosexuality is anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization. Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia. If we catch you, you will regret why you are born. I have buffalos from South Africa and Brazil and they never date each other. We are ready to eat grass but we will not compromise on this. Allowing homosexuality means allowing satanic rights. We will not allow gays here.”
“Let me make it very clear that, if you want me to offend God for you to give me aid, you are making a great mistake; you will not bribe me to do what is evil and ungodly.”
“Gays are ‘vermin’ and should be treated worse than mosquitoes.”
Yahya made these comments in speeches across the Gambia and the world including the UN General Assembly Session is 2013 and during the State Opening of the Parliament, a form a State of the Union address.
Political observers and analysts have opined that this latest move is yet another distraction strategy from the Gambia’s iron fist Jammeh. The want-to-be “King” of mainland Africa’s smallest country is facing increased opposition on the ground as rumors of efforts by youths to organize mass protests in the country are growing. “He is therefore trying to use gays as pawns to shift attention from the general discontent among the population since anti-gay actions are still popular among the majority Muslim population,” the observers and analysts agreed.
“We should fear the worst at this point since some or all of those arrested can be killed any moment if the International community and gay rights groups don’t intervene. We have seen this movie before with the execution of 9 mostly political prisoners back in August 2012,” one of the members of the Gambian gay community lamented.
At this moment, some of the members of the gay community are on the run and in neighboring countries are currently homeless with nowhere to stay and without food.
UDP Press Release On The Party Leader’s Non-Participation At The Civil Society Forum 2/10/2015
Earlier this month UDP received an invitation from Dr. Scattred–Janneh to a meeting called Civil Society Forum on the Gambia being organized to discuss matters relating to the political situation in the Gambia in New York. It was learnt that leaders of other Gambian opposition parties were also invited.
Initially, the UDP Leader accepted the invitation and had planned to attend personally. However, due to unexpected circumstances beyond his control, he couldn’t make the journey to America. The National Executive of the party nominated Honorable Momodou Sanneh as a replacement and communicated this change to the organizers of the meeting in good time, at least 10 days prior to the meeting date. In response, the organizers indicated their inability to fund Honorable Momodou Sanneh’s trip on the grounds that the nomination came “when the organization was already over budgeted”. The party leader and the UDP National Executive found this reason rather strange since there must have been a budget set aside to cover the Party leader’s participation, i.e. air ticket, hotel accommodation etc. Selective and substitutive representation of an organization at such fora is common and understandable practice, and usually accommodated.
Secondly, with the nomination of Honorable Sanneh, the UDP would have been adequately represented, like the other participating parties, by a top official, who would have been endowed with full powers by the Executive and Party Leader to speak for and act on behalf of the United Democratic Party. Thirdly, Honorable Sanneh, it should be noted, is one of the most senior members of the National Executive of the UDP and was the former Minority Leader in the National Assembly. He is therefore, in his own right ,an astute and very knowledgeable politician who would have brought immense knowledge and experience to the proceedings of the New York meeting which would have definitely enriched the discussions and widen its results.
We all know that multi-party democracy and competitive liberal electoral politics can hardly work without organized political parties. They provide the platform for like-minded citizens to participate collectively in a political process that would otherwise be left in the hands of a small elitist group, detached rom the masses of citizenry.
The UDP reiterate its long held willingness and readiness to participate at all times in any forum aimed at discussing ways and means of rescuing our country from the clutches of tyranny and decadence.
The UDP hopes that with this statement, the subject of its non-participation at the New York meeting which has led to certain innuendoes and mischaracterization in the media would be laid to rest.
Finally, we extend our felicitations to the organizers of the Civil Society meeting for organizing this encounter bringing together Gambian stakeholders and friends of the Gambia and others to discuss issues of the Gambia’s present problems and its future.
UDP DIASPORA
10/3/2015
As Tajudeen Winds Up Business Activity In The Gambia, Families Fear For Desperate Times Ahead
It is now official. The Tajudeen Business Empire in the Gambia is finally winding up for an eventual close-down after Gambia’s dictator Yahya Jammeh unceremoniously expelled the business tycoon from the Gambia accusing him of selling expired chicken legs to the unsuspecting populace. According to sources, Tajudeen’s businesses including the famous Kairaba Shopping Centre are now put up for sale by a local bank.
Tajudeen whose Business Empire is named after himself has since been residing in the neighbouring Senegal. The choice of Senegal could not be a better business option for Tajudeen because since his unceremonious expulsion from the Gambia, Tajudeen has established outlets in Guinea Bissau while he uses Dakar, a strategically located city for commerce in the subregion as his operational base.
The move to finally windup all business operations in the Gambia has been greeted with panic and fear not only among his employees and ordinary people but also among government circles as well. Tajudeen is the biggest tax payer in The Gambia and at the peak of his business activity, he was paying nothing less than D50 million dalasi as tax every month. As the biggest importer of chicken and other food items in The Gambia, he used to import up to 300 containers monthly providing the much needed income to clearing agents, truck drivers and labourers a the Ports Authority.
In a country where unconfirmed unemployment figures show that up to 65 of young people are not in gainful employment, news of Tajudeen closing down operations in the Gambia has sent shockwaves among his employees numbering up to 700. A large number of local business in the informal sector that serve as agents selling his chicken legs around the country are also worried about huge business loses.
In addition, some senior officials at the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), the government agency responsible for tax collection, told Fatu Radio that with the closure of Tajudeen’s businesses in the country, it would be difficult now for the GRA to meet monthly tax collection targets.
One GRA official told Fatu Radio “with his monthly tax at D50 million, Tajudeen’s annual tax contribution to the state used to be between 600 – 700 million Dalasis. This is almost a quarter of our entire annual budget.”
Fatu Radio has confirmed that Gambia’s President, dictator Jammeh has made repeated personal pleas for Tajudeen to come back but the business tycoon has refused siting the erratic behaviour of Jammeh and his unpredictability in dealing with not only his perceived enemies but even his friends and business people as well.
There are some concerns however that the erratic Gambian leader whose ego is now permanently bruised by Tajudeen’s refusal to come back to the Gambia, could use his personal ties with the President of Guinea Bissau to create problems for the business tycoon.
For now though ordinary people employed by of Tajudeen and indeed the government itself are paying a heavy price in terms of loss in gainful employment and much needed tax revenue because of President Jammeh’s erratic behaviour and greed.