The Clinic facility of the former ‘notorious’ National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been demolished in the wake of Solo Sandeng’s murder trial, a political activist who was tortured to death in custody.

Wednesday’s visit to the NIA Headquarters by the trial judge, Justice Kumba Sillah Camara has confirmed the demolition of the facility without leaving any mark or trace of the clinic equipment except building materials for the reconstruction of the place.

According to the prosecution witness, Sheikh Tijan Camara who explained that the reconstruction of the building was apparently done after the former President left the country.

The Clinic in question is where the arrested UDP protesters were allegedly taken after they were seriously tortured by the accused persons who were operatives of the NIA.

“The construction work was not
done in 2016,” Sheikh Tijan said.

This witness who worked with the Intelligence Agency gave several evidences to the court particularly the spots where he saw the body of Solo Sandeng lying on the ground amongst others.

Meanwhile, the court is expected to go to the unknown grave next week where Solo Sandeng was allegedly buried in Tanji.

Alagi Yorro Jallow

There is growing fatalism and cynicism around President Barrow’s ability to fight corruption. It is so embedded. It is like a drug that has been administered to just about everyone. The economy appears so laced with the drug that many fears the country would collapse if we started doing business based on integrity, ability and hard work.

Corruption is one of the most formidable challenges to good governance, development and poverty reduction in Africa as has been captured in the latest report of Transparency International Report. The report further states that, ‘corruption in Africa is like an advanced cancer or tumor that cannot be treated. Like cancer, corruption has tragically devastated African societies and made millions of people very poor’. From the Gambia to Madagascar, the tentacles of corruption reach everywhere. Corruption has no boundaries.

From the offices of presidents and cabinet ministers to the smallest administration unit of government corruption is everywhere. Corruption is an addiction and the gangrene of the people. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants every year. The recent Forbes’ list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa’

  The Gambia, of course, does not have a monopoly on corruption but being ranked 130 out of 175 in the Transparency International Index tells its own story. The Gambia has continually been ranked among those corrupt countries in the world. What a shame that a few thousand people are damaging the name of our great nation.

To all Gambians, especially those in positions of influence, speak up and demand that President Adama Barrow declare corruption a national disaster. Artists, musicians, traditional communicators, talk show hosts, religious leaders and civil society groups must step up and use your influence on the president urging him and the National Assembly members enact laws to begin the fight against corruption in the country. Just like American celebrities are using their influence to fight institutionalized racism, our celebrities can use their voice to take a stand against corruption. The artists; you are the keepers of memory. Do all the art-for-art’s sake you can that keeps your muse afire. Only remember, it’s your sacred duty to re-member society. You must do so by uncompromisingly taking sides with truth – however sharp its edges, however bitter its taste, however rancid its odor – and placing it in present memory through story and song and dance and strokes of the brush. Keep memory breathing out loud so others may re-member and not die. To forget is to wither.

  Professor of law Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba holds the view that corruption must be treated as a crime against humanity because the vice has killed more people in Africa than all the civil wars combined. We feel there are no better-placed citizens on the continent to share this view than the people of the Gambia.

Today we share the view of Professor Lumumba because Gambian have been victims of crimes against humanity imposed by corruption and our lives are constantly in danger because of the role we have chosen to play in the fight against bad governance.

There are certain individuals in government who take their children to expensive schools in the country and abroad using money that was corruptly acquired. They live in mansions that were corruptly acquired and drive luxury SUVs bought from proceeds of crime. When you attempt to stand in the way of this rampant corruption, they are going to kill you. They will ensure that you are neutralized. These are people that Gambians should be fighting against. These criminal elements in government care about nothing but their own enrichment. Their conscience is dead. They will do anything on earth to eliminate anyone who dares closes the lid on corruption.

Our politicians have wealth which a normal hardworking man cannot amass under their occupation even if they lived a thousand years on Earth, but impunity is alive and thriving in our country. We the electorate are in the business of celebrating thieves. We camouflage theft by giving it fancy names like gifts, money laundering, fraud, embezzlement, and all other kinds of fancy terminologies that make theft look so glamorous.

Let us call these men and women by their right names when they steal from the public coffers. They are thieves, stealing on an industrial scale. They are murderers. Once we begin to call them by their appropriate names and they have the theft tag on their forehead, the stigma will haunt them. Unfortunately, right now corruption is very attractive in country because thieves are celebrated. They are treated like heroes.

 “Without a doubt, corruption must be treated as a crime against humanity. Sometimes you must raise issues to the highest appropriate level. You must think about what corruption does to a country. The crisis in neighboring Congo DR started with the rampant theft by Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime. To date, the former Zaire has never recovered. People had no medicines in hospitals and deaths among the underprivileged became unprecedented,” says Professor Lumumba.

Indeed, it is happening in our own country. Millions of dollars meant for our education sector, health care sector and treatment drugs are being taken away from the poor, the few that are given out are expired. How many people die on our roads because of potholes, just because the line minister took away money that should have been used to make proper standard roads? How are these not crimes against humanity? They are, and the punishment must be of the highest degree possible.

Gambian shouldn’t be foolish enough to be justifying theft with fancy interpretations in the name of strengthening economic ties. The truth is that the country’s’ biggest import is corruption. Sadly, the corrupt are our celebrities, we call them Honorable and Excellences. In China, embezzling disaster relief funds or refusing to hand over illicit funds, attracts a death penalty, but in the Gambia, we are importing corruption from China on an industrial scale.

 President Barrow and his colleagues in the African Union already committed to wage war against graft in Mauritania during the African Union Summit on Corruption. But actions should match with words. Every public servant must declare their assets and liabilities, those suspected of corruption must not enjoy the trappings of power. People with questionable pasts should not be appointed heads in parastatals or serve as cabinet ministers. Assets and liabilities declarations are still under lock and key and no stolen assets or money has been recovered from corrupt individuals since President Adam Barrow was elected.

The war against corruption should not be tribalized or be reduced to political gimmicks. This is one issue all supporters from all political parties should come together to demand zero tolerance on corruption.

The Gambia need emergency rescue from the jaws of the animal in man. This unprecedented corruption cannot continue to be a song for social media. The people of the Gambia need to stand up and preserve this land for future generations.

What our artists, celebrities, talk show hosts, civil society and the media must do is to recruit and educate the population. When the public has been enlightened enough to understand, in the simplest terms, that corruption has killed more people that Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis put together; that will be the beginning of success in the battle against the thieves in government.

A Cabinet reshuffle is not fanfare or a picnic. Anytime a sitting president or prime minister reshuffles his or her cabinet it is because that cabinet is not performing as expected or desired. Hence the president would reshuffle the cabinet by removing some members, bringing in new members and rotating other members. Cabinet reshuffle is therefore an act and a process of refreshing the entire government in order to overcome inherent constraints and poor performance. Without saying it, it is clear that Barrow’s cabinet was severely constrained and underperforming since it was formed hence the reshuffling on June 29.

When Barrow took office as president on 19 January 2017 and constituted his cabinet, there have been several issues and concerns raised by citizens about his government ranging from poor delivery of basic social services, incidences of corruption and patronage, indecisiveness and abuse of power as well as the slow pace of system change. Many citizens took to social media to sound the alarm bell while others decided to protest on the streets or utilise other means to alert the president about the wrong path his government has been treading ever since.

Now it appears Barrow himself has noticed that his government is severely constrained in meeting its objectives and he has therefore decided to reshuffle his cabinet. For that matter, the reshuffling indicates that indeed Barrow understood that the bug stops with him; that he has to take responsibility to determine and control his government towards meeting national expectations. In that regard, it is important that we impress on Barrow that there are no more excuses for him. When ministers fail or underperform it is his responsibility just as when they did well he will take credit for that too.

I hope that with this reshuffling we will now see real system change in the government characterised by efficiency, responsiveness and accountability across the board. Pres. Barrow and his Vice President-designate Darboe indeed know where the Gambia came from and what experiences we encountered and how we got to where we are today. Hence with the two of them at the helm, there is absolutely no excuse why the government should not deliver.

If anything, we can confirm that former VP Fatoumatta Tambajang did not deliver as expected but served as a stumbling block to the progress of this government. Hence we do not expect the same from Ousainou Darboe. I do not see anyone in this new cabinet that has more capacity in every sense of the word than he. Hence as the second person in charge, his expertise, experience and competence must now show.

As Vice President-designate (since he has not taken the prescribed oath of office yet), Ousainou Darboe must be reminded that if President Barrow fails it is entirely the responsibility of the Vice President and the Ministers. The Constitution has stipulated in Section 74 that the VP and Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the National Assembly for any advice given to the president in Cabinet. This means the VP and the Ministers must tell the president the truth and give him good advice. This means if the president fails it is because the VP and the Ministers had failed in the first place to give the president good advice and guidance.

Therefore the failure of this government since January 2017 can be definitely attributed to the failure of the former VP and Ministers in the former Cabinet for failing to give good advice and guidance to the president. The current VP-designate was part of those ministers. They all failed to provide the necessary leadership, management and performance of their departments to ensure system change.

This reshuffling is therefore an opportunity for the current VP-designate and the Ministers to redeem themselves in standing up to perform their duties as stipulated in the Constitution. They must now realise that today they must not fail in giving good advice to the president. And where the president fails to adhere to their advice, the honourable thing they must do is to resign from their positions. Otherwise they bear responsibility for any failure by the government.

For the Gambia Our Homeland

BANJUL —Justice Kumba Sillah Camara of the Banjul High Court on Tuesday visited the defunct NIA Headquarters to clarify evidence in the trial of Solo Sandeng, a political activist who was allegedly tortured to death in custody.

The trial judge along with the prosecution and defense team including the former NIA Director General, Yankuba Badjie and co accused persons were received at the main entrance by the current Director General, Ousman Sowe in the presence of security officials.

The Prosecution recalled on three witnesses namely Sheikh Tijan Camara, Seedy Saidykhan, Mbemba Camara and Hassan Badjie who are employees of the Agency to clarify evidences before the court. They led the delegation to the reception where Nogoi Njie, Fatoumatta Jawara and Fatou Camara amongst others were screen.

The witnesses went further to identify the most popular torture chambers at the NIA Headquarters also known as ‘Bamba Dinka’ which was examined by the trial judge along with others.

Sheikh Tijan Saidykhan took the court to the spot where he said he saw the ladies sitting at the Bahama grass beside the car park.

“This was the place where I saw the body of the man (Solo Sandeng) lying opposite the office of the former Director General,” Sheikh Tijan said.

The witness said he was ordered to move the body lying on the floor to the waiting vehicle with the accused persons Babucarr Sallah, Tamba Massireh and Lamin Darboe while his former boss Yusupha Jammeh, Sheikh Omar Jeng and Yankuba Jallow, a driver were present. He also identified the spot where he saw the former Director General’s vehicle was fueled before leaving from the back gate.

Mbemba Camara pointed to the spot at the reception of the investigation room where he said he saw the body of Solo Sandeng lying under a ceiling fan. He identified the spot where the vehicle was parked before taking the dead body to Tanji for secret burial.

Hassan Badjie guided the court to the conference room where the interrogation took place. He showed where the panelist where seated and where the camera was placed during the investigation.

Meanwhile, the court has overruled the objections raised by the defense team to recall witnesses to locus at this stage of the trial after they have already given evidence in chief, cross examine and reexamined.

From The Office Of The President, State House, Banjul

Quotations from the President’s Interview with the Media at the Airport

On the summit.

‘’A well-attended and represented summit. One thing is very important: Africa is speaking the same voice on how we deal with corruption. A lot of resources has been wasted in Africa, it is now time that Africa come together and fight corruption if we mean development for Africa. I think we were serious about this, and we want to build our institutions and make them stronger, so that they will help us to eliminate corruption. Even if we cannot eliminate corruption 100 percent, at least, we can minimize it in the interest of our continent. I think this was the main focus and direction of the summit.’’

 Meeting with President Obiang and bilateral engagements

‘’We held a closed-door meetings and most of our discussions centered on African integration. The President of Equatorial Guinea is a Senior Statesman. We discussed…and assure them that one day, we the young ones will continue with the mantle of leadership on the continent.’’

Succeeding against corruption where previous leaders failed

‘’…this is not just about statements, it is about building institutions: the moment we build our institutions, we become stronger as the institutions control everybody. It will not be the matter of a head of state now. It is the institution. That is the most important thing’’.

Cabinet shuffle

‘’I don’t think it has anything to do with corruption. The Gambian people have given me a mandate to make sure we deliver. To do this, there are Gambians who we need in particular places at particular times. So we can make changes. These are constitutional powers that I have so I make the changes in the main interest of this country’’.

‘Ibn Chambas Did Not Receive Such A Letter’ These are the words of Ms. Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje,The United Nations Resident Representative to The Gambia.

Ms. Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje was contacted by The Fatu Network to shed light on information making the rounds on social media that the dismissed coalition members have petitioned The United Nations on the legality of their dismissal during President Barrow’s first cabinet reshuffle last week.

The news went further to say that Ibn Chambas, UN’s Special Represntative of the Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel and head of UNOWAS is to travel to Banjul for mediation this week.

‘In fact Mr. Chambas is planning a visit to The Gambia as part of his quarterly visit, this has absolutely nothing to do with the alleged letter you asked about. She said

Gambians woke up to the Whatsapp message below stating that a petition was sent to UN on the legality of the dismissal of key coalition members after President Barrow’s first cabinet reshuffle.

‘Apparently a petition was sent to U.N.on the legality of dismissal of certain coalition members.. to that effect IBN CHAMBAS will be coming to Gambia.’

Meanwhile, Sulayman Bokar Bah, a Gambian journalist based in Birmingham, UK has this to say:

‘It is against the foundational principles of the UN Charter to interfere in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. The UN will only intervene in situations that poses threat to regional and global security’.

He is sentinel in the public space, a voice for the voiceless, a conscientious and progressive interrogator of government policy and official conduct on the big issues of the day. Even without the many prompts urging a response to his rejoinder on my contention that the Constitutional Review Commission is unlawfully constituted, I accept a duty to grant audience to Madi Jobarteh (Madi) of TANGO when he knocks on my door.

And so I shall.

But first the unfortunate and unbecoming lamentations of the Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice (AG) on Fatu Radio’s “For the People By The People Show” of 10 June 2018.

I was informed of the AG’s assertion on the show that the Gambia Bar Association (GBA) submitted six names and mine was not included. A subscriber himself, I wonder what the AG meant knowing his communication on nominations to the CRC was at no time posted on the GBA email list.

As to ignoring the qualifications of the CRC members, that was information he may be privy to. It was not published for public information, and I had no way of knowing what credentials the several nominees brought to the table.

Pertinently, The Constitutional Review Commission Act 2017 (the Act) states:

4: Composition of the Commission

(1)  The Commission shall consist of:-

• A Chairperson who shall be the Chief Justice or a judge of the superior courts designated in writing by the Chief Justice;
• A Vice Chairperson who shall be a legal practitioner of not less than 10 years standing nominated by the Minister; and
• Nine other members nominated by the President.

(2)  The President shall ensure that the members he or she nominates pursuant to sub-section (1) (c) are individuals of high moral character and integrity who have appropriate academic qualifications and experience in a relevant field of expertise.

5: Appointment of members of the Commission

(1)  Subject to sub-section (3), the members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President.

(2)  The President shall, in appointing the members, have regard to the geographical, professional, age and gender diversity of The Gambia.

(3)  A person shall not qualify for appointment as a member if he or she:-

• is a serving member of any discipline force, whether in The Gambia or otherwise;
• has been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or moral turpitude;
• is not a citizen of The Gambia;
• is a member of the National Assembly; or
• is of an unsound mind.

Going by Section 4 (2) of the Act, the President was placed under a positive obligation to “… ensure that the members he or she nominates pursuant to sub-section (1) (c) … have appropriate academic qualifications and experience in a relevant field of expertise”. What is the requisite level of academic qualification, what level of experience is anticipated, and what constitutes a relevant field of expertise. We don’t know how these expressly delineated criteria of “academic qualifications”, “experience”,    and “relevant field of expertise”, were present in nominees consequent upon the opaque processes employed by the AG in nominations he unlawfully conducted.

In any case I said nothing about the qualifications of the nominees singlehandedly selected by the AG. My argument that the CRC was unlawfully constituted is akin to a preliminary objection, i.e., that the process delineated by the Act was not followed in the nomination of Commissioners. There was never a need to deal with the substantive question of whether the Commissioners are qualified or not.

On the AG’s assertion that I attacked him personally, he could not have read my article and arrived at such a disturbing conclusion. If I never attacked Professor Babil Mansa, a man who deserved condemnation from rooftops across the country in light of the depraved manner he wielded the police power of the state, I wonder what the motivation would be to attack the Attorney General of a  democratically elected and properly constituted government.

What I must remind the AG is that the rule of law is not a mere mantra. It has meaning and the glaring favouritism and illegality on the face of his nominations is quite troubling. The AG did not even act at the outer extremes of permissible authority. He acted wholly outside the perimeter created by the Act.

All I said was that the AG acted unlawfully, outside the ambit of his legitimate powers and that as a consequence his nine extra nominations to the CRC were null, void, and of no effect. Whether or not he follows the law by rectifying his glaring procedural errors is a matter for him to ruminate over.

The bit about the Chief Justice as Chair of the CRC is rooted in separation doctrine and what delineations there are n the principle in the Constitution!

In any case, I stand by my contentions in their entirety.

Now to our all-Gambian sentinel of the public space!

Contrary to Madi’s assertion, I made no contention that “… the power to nominate the Chair and Vice Chair are vested in the Minister of Justice while the nomination of the other nine members are vested in the president as per Section 4 of the Act”. I reiterate that the only nomination assigned to the AG by the Act is “a Vice Chairperson who shall be a legal practitioner of not less than 10 years standing …”.

What I stated is that “…It is unclear where the selection of the Chief Justice as Chair of the CRC came from but in light of the topography of the Act, the fingerprints of the AG are all over it. On a plain reading of section 4 of the Act, it was a fait accompli without presidential input. An Attorney General ought not arrogate such power to himself”!

In the life of this government, the CRC is a one off. It is a centrepiece of reform, and the role of Chair is a level of appointment that is outside the competence of an Attorney General in light of the Constitutional provision on Commissions of Enquiry. The CRC is analogous to a Commission of Enquiry! However read, Section 4 (1) (a) is a categoric imposition whose plain terms exclude any presidential input and the compelling nature of this contention is unassailable when analysed in the context of sections 4 (1) (c) and 4 (2) of the Act.

This Act started life in the AG’s Chambers and if we don’t know how the Chief Justice was selected to Chair the CRC, the onus of clarification resides in the originator of the Act. Only the AG is privy to the information of how the Chief Justice or his designate came to chair the CRC.

On another point, Madi misread the import of sections 4 and 5 of the Act when he erroneously advanced the proposition of its silence on the process of nomination. With the permission of two of Gambia’s foremost Latinists, I take the opportunity to conclusively answer Madi with a Latin maxim on a canon of interpretation: Expressio unis est exclusio alterius.

This means that the “express mention of one thing excludes any other which otherwise would have applied by necessary implication with regards to the same issue”. The express mention of the President as the person vested with nominating the nine other Commissioners categorically excludes any role in that function by the AG. Madi in fact admitted it was the AG who wrote to TANGO and others: “I think it was therefore wise that the president did exactly that when the Ministry wrote to various stakeholders such as the Gambia Bar Association, TANGO, and the National Youth Council, as far as I know, to ask them to provide three names out of which the president would nominate one”.

It was not wise. It was utterly unlawful!

Now that our positions coincided on who conducted the nominations, the legal position as stated above is that the AG had no authority to nominate other than the Vice Chair. His other nine nominations including from Madi’s TANGO are ultra vires, i.e., beyond the AG’s powers, and therefore null, void and no effect.

Madi’s biggest challenge lies in my contention that the Judiciary’s role as interpreter of the law conflicts with a legislative function of such magnitude. I repeat that the departmental demarcations in the Constitution suggest that a sitting member of the Supreme Court must not Chair the CRC on separation of power principles.

Although not strictly a constitutional provision, the preamble offers a roadmap of how a particular nation intends to manage its public life with its supreme document as guide. It is like the mission statement of an organisation, an encapsulation of the values that underlie a particular system as are expressly articulated in the constitutional text. In our extant Constitution, paragraph 6 of the preamble states “… the functions of the arms of government have been clearly defined, their independence amply secured with adequate checks and balances …”.

Albeit a contested claim in light of Babil Mansa’s attitude to Gambian public life, the vision, i.e., that power must be separated, hollow as it may be, is clear from the layout of Chapters VI, VII, and VIII of the Constitution.The doctrinal principle that power ought to be separated is unassailable and Gambian public affairs must now conclusively reflect it.

I reject Madi’s understanding that I said “… the CJ will undermine separation of powers”, or that “…the CJ could undermine the independence of the CRC or cause undue influence in the work of the CRC”. A lawyer does not speak like that in relation to a sitting CJ. What Madi said is not objectively discernible from my argument and it is a case of my message getting lost in his translation.

In any case, years before anyone could have contemplated the CJ at the pinnacle of our judicial system, I wrote about his seriousness of purpose as an Attorney General under the PPP government and his larger visionary understanding of the public purpose of law.

My contention is simply that the CJ or his designee should not Chair the CRC as it is in conflict with the doctrine of the separation of power. If the composition of the CRC is judicially contested, a first instance venue may be the High Court on grounds that the AG acted unlawfully by circumventing the strictures of the Act. It is not beyond contemplation that a presiding judge may have his mind exercised by the thought of who may be affected by the outcome of such a challenge.

Another aspect of the conflict issue is that the Chair of the CRC may have occasion to deal with issues going to the new Constitution on interpretation and related matters.

In an academic analysis of the separation issues inherent in this kind of scenario, Patrick O’Brien (2016), Judges and politics: the parliamentary contributions of the Law Lords 1876-2009: “Influenced in large part by jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to a fair trial, the blended roles of the Lord Chancellor and the Law Lords had fallen under a shadow. In the McGonnellcase the Strasbourg court held that a judge in Guernsey could not participate in a decision in respect of which he had had a legislative role. For a New Labour government that came to power in 1997 determined to modernise the constitution, the argument that the historical practices worked was no longer enough. The judicial and legislative functions of the office of Lord Chancellor were removed by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, leaving only the executive ‘justice minister’ function. The judicial peers were excluded from Parliament in 2009, to the evident dismay of some of their number, and a new Supreme Court was created”.

In McGonnell v The United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights held: “The Court thus considers that the mere fact that the Deputy Bailiff presided over the States of Deliberation when DDP6 was adopted in 1990 is capable of casting doubt on his impartiality when he subsequently determined, as the sole judge of the law in the case, the applicant’s planning appeal. The applicant therefore had legitimate grounds for fearing that the Bailiff may have been influenced by his prior participation in the adoption of DDP6. That doubt in itself, however slight its justification, is sufficient to vitiate the impartiality of the Royal Court, and it is therefore unnecessary for the Court to look into the other aspects of the complaint”.

Even a rudimentary understanding of the doctrine of separation will substantiate the contention that this type of law making is not a core function of the judiciary and must therefore not be chaired by the CJ or his designee from amongst the ranks of the active judicial bench.

I apologise that Madi’s vision was blurred by the flowers. Law is work but my academic bias lies in history – queen of the social sciences – and in contemporary and public affairs. May be I ought to prune the flowers somewhat and wonder whether my sentinel brother has a gardener in mind. I can do with a TANGO nominee who failed to make the CRC.

Lamin J. Darbo

By Sainey Darboe

From his elevated perch at Union Pacific, Saikou Camara is thousands of miles away from his humble beginnings in the impoverished West African state of The Gambia where he endured the nocturnal pursuit of stray dogs  infected with rabies in eerily deserted streets in his leap towards a better future in America.

By his own account in his 150-page magnum opus;Saikou was  raised in a polygamous family of limited material wealth and had to spend years working as a child laborer at a busy market in the capital to help his mother make ends meet , while scraping together enough funds to pay for the cost of his education.

Despite the derogatory remarks of his peers at school for the whiff of palm oil on his scent, he persisted in helping out his mum despite the accompanying brawl with his bullies which invariably got him into trouble.

Despite the numerous obstacles he had  to countenance, he triumphed in the Common Entrance Exams with impressive results earning him a spot in one of the best high schools in the country.

In spite of  culpability for numerous infractions with the accompanying punitive sanctions of suspension from school, he would go on to become head boy by dint of his brilliance and determination to make a success of himself.

With successful graduation from high school beckoned opportunities to pursue higher education overseas with Taiwan and United States being the most feasible. He almost benefited from a scholarship to study in Taiwan by virtue of his membership in a pro-government student body, NAPSA.

But Saikou had trouble keeping his mouth shut about the perceived politicization of the student collective.In the grip of high spirits and sense of moral superiority, he confronted the coordinator of the organization Mr Jallow about the political prostitution of the body of which he was a part.

He was soon informed to his chagrin and disappointment that he was no longer to take part in the activities of the organization and the decision to shortlist him for scholarship in Taiwan was being reversed. He had come to gigantic grief trying to do good.

With the crushing disappointment of this loss came seismic shift in focus to United States where he was soon accepted by several schools. Agog with excitement at the prospect of going to the US ,he made the uniformed decision of going to Rust College in Mississippi which drew reservations from people who knew better.

He was advised by the US consular officer to look at better alternatives. Even the educational advisor Nana Grey Johnson whose daughter he  attended thesame school with couldn’t convince him to wait for a semester longer. Upon arrival at the United States, an immigration officer would be the second person after his high school principal to wish  him good luck in the conviction he was going to need it in Mississippi.

Despite demonstration of sufficient means to pay for his education in the US, Saikou had a net worth of no more than $5. The brutal reality of deferring his dreams hit him with a bang, but he was in denial mode and hope sprang eternal for him. Salvation came in the form of $1000 from a brother in Atlanta which helped him make a down payment to start college.

The need to pay for his tuition took him to work for a Chinese restaurant where his job functions ranged from sweeping and mopping  floors, making food and cleaning toilets. He was often yelled at and treated in a demeaning manner. And what’s worse, after months of working at the restaurant the owner did not care enough to know him by his legal name ,but dismissively called him “guy”.

Upon landing a better job at an Exxon Mobil gas station 45 minutes away  from his college, he had to beg for rides to get to work with offer of gas money to drivers. After working his shift, it would be hard to find a ride sometimes the ultimate resort was to work the shift of the incoming staff in exchange for ride in the morning.Despite the precariousness of his existence at this time;he remained infused with hope seeing the colossal  challenges  as his dues for a better future.

Persistence and vision finally paid  off with the successful conclusion of his Bachelors’ at Rust College  and later a Masters’ degree in Computer Science at Jackson State University . Despite the raging recession, he was able to land a coveted job with Union Pacific in Omaha Nebraska where he moved without delay.

It was not plain sailing as expected, with Saikou having to navigate racial and socio-cultural prejudices to actualise his dream.

Despite education attained in  the American university system,his thick African accent threatened to derail everything he had struggled to accomplish thus far . Technical  field workers  for his company complained of not understanding him ,and he was soon enrolled in English tutorial classes which baffled him immensely and made him  contemplate quitting.

But sanity prevailed as it was discovered his English was good enough and his detractors were ordered to deal with their biases and prejudices. Saikou would go on to become a valuable engineer with his company with highly prized skills. Concluding this seminal work on his oddysey in life hammered on the anvil of experience , Saikou concludes with a missive to African leaders imploring them to create circumstances and opportunities so that Africans regardless of their race, ethnicity , religion  or political opinion do not have to leave the African soil to pursue their dreams.

Saikou believes his success is meaningless until it leads to greater impact on others who have dreams on a continent too dead for dreaming . And still he rises.

Testimony of An African Immigrant: A Promise To my Father makes for thrilling and traumatic reading at once , while imparting useful lessons about life and pursuit of success.

STATEHOUSE, BANJUL, 2^NDJULY 2018 –  President Adama Barrow has told African heads of state and government that Africa’s development would be seriously impeded without stringent measures against corruption, stressing that there’s a strong connection between tackling corruption and progress of the continent.

‘’Our successes in the fight against corruption will ensure that resources are retained and used to support structural transformations and expansion of our economies. Our desire for sustainable growth and development in the critical sectors of our economies can only be realized if there is a diligent focus on progressive policies and huge resource investments. Therefore, we cannot afford resource wastages through corruption thereby depriving our citizens the opportunities to improve their living standards’’.

The president made the solid case against corruption as a contribution to the ongoing debate on corruption at the African Union Summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on the theme: “Winning the Fight against Corruption: a Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation”. President Barrow described the theme as “a bold statement of intent”, given that corruption in both the public and private sectors negatively impact various national and continent’s development agendas.

He further told his colleagues that success in the fight against corruption will ensure that resources are retained and used to support structural transformations and expansion of our economies.

“We can improve in most key human development indicators, such as access to quality health and education for the youth population of the continent, food security and meaningful employment. Corruption has negative effect on African nations and how we can judicious use of our resources,”

On the way forward for the Continent, President Barrow argued that Africa needs to reform its legal and regulatory regimes, tax administration and procurement systems in order to combat corruption in the public, economic and business environments. “It is imperative that we intensify our efforts to ensure that corrupt practices are systematically tackled and resources that are siphoned off recovered,” he told the Summit.

Urging African leaders to take cue from his zero tolerance approach towards corruption, the President informed the gathering that the exercise of good governance in all facets of public administration is the guiding principle of his government in addressing the consequences of two decades of poor governance and misuse of State’s meager resources [under the former regime]. He also highlighted the great work of the ongoing Commission of Inquiry instituted to investigate the corrupt financial dealings of the former President and his cronies as well as the plans afoot to establish an anti-corruption commission soonest.

The President believes that Africa’s partnership with others should be reinforced to fully implement the Continental Strategic Plan on the Fight against Corruption.  This process requires disbursement of adequate budgetary resources, he maintained.

Meanwhile, the President had closed door bilateral discussions with the following leaders: President Theodore Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, President Omar El-bashir of Sudan, and the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed.

Over the past one or two years, there has been a lot of tribal talk in the country. People have been castigated solely based on the language they speak or where they come from. People assign – wrongly I might add – tribal reasons for almost anything that happens in the country. This is not healthy and is dangerous.

Many are in denial that there is no tribal problem in the Gambia. Those in this camp claim that the tribal talk is only on social media which constitutes a very small minority of the population. While that may be true, they seem to forget that those on social media are part of society and their views – most of the time – epitomize the views of society.

In the streets, the markets, in the comfort of homes, we hear people talk about tribes in ways that do not augur well for the peace and tranquility of the nation. Yesterday afternoon, while I was discussing with a friend, two women sitting by were engaged in a discussion about the cabinet reshuffle. One of them said that thank God that now all the Fulas are out of government.

After seeking their permission to join their conversation, I pointed out to them that it was not true that all Fulas are out of government as we still have the Minister of Tourism being a Fula and that there are many other high government offices occupied by Fulas.

I told them that what mattered is who is competent to run a particular office, that we should not view government appointments with tribal lenses. We should only ask whether someone is competent and qualified to occupy a particular office. This is what will take us forward. They agreed with me and left.

Now, it is clear that many people in this country consider the tribal angle in many things that happen. This is dangerous and should be nipped in the bud. I know that you, Mr President, are very conscious of this problem.

We have seen you go to lengths to avoid being drawn into stating which tribe you belong to; or, giving any importance to the issue of tribe. I urge you and all other politicians to speak out against any form of tribal, regional or sectional divide in the country.  We are one people and should show it in not only our words but our actions as well.

We, as a nation, should launch a campaign against any form of internal division based on ethnicity, regionalism, religious or any form. We should promote  One Gambia, One Nation and One Destiny.

Have a Good Day Mr President…

Tha Scribbler Bah

A Concerned Citizen

The body of a young man widely believed to be that of one Pa Modou Senghore was discovered Saturday night at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.

The decomposed body, which is said to have spent at least three days inside the stadium’s electric building, was discovered after friends of the dead whom he visited the stadium with informed his parents who inturn informed authorities. Sources say.

Pa Modou Senghore, 18 is beleived to have died of electric shock in the stadium’s electric power building just behind the score board. What the late Pa Modou and his friends were doing at the electric power building remains a mystery.

Photo Credit: Alagie Manneh

Theme: Internet Governance in The New Gambia

Banjul, 28^thJune 2018

The Gambia is to hold its National Internet Governance Forum on the 4^thand the 5^thof July 2018 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues related to the Internet.

The Forum is being organized to represent all key stakeholders in the Gambia through a National Steering Committee coordinated by the Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure (MOICI).

The Forum was initiated in late 2009, after the start of the West African Internet Governance forum. Since 2010 the Gambia has hosted three National Internet Governance forums, the last being in 2012.

Due to the restrictive nature of the former regime, the National IGF was halted after its 3rd edition. The reasons were lack of open access to internet resources and an enabling environment where freedom of expression was respected.

Since the coming into office of the new government in January 2017, the Gambia re-joined the community of democratic nations where freedom of expression and civil liberties are fully respected. We therefore welcome everyone to join us at the Kairaba Hotel on the 4^thand 5^thJuly 2018 to discuss key Internet policy issues that affect us in The New Gambia.

Chair

Beran Dondeh Gillen

Gambia Internet Governance Forum

Email:[email protected]

By Alhassan & Sainey Darboe,

Frank Underwood in the NETFLIX series HOUSE OF CARDS once remarked: “The road to power is paved with hypocrisy, and casualties. For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted”. The president of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, has done what many felt was long overdue. Reshuffle his under-performing cabinet which has been dogged by scandals recently. Adama Barrow’s government has all the makings of a Hollywood drama similar to the highly acclaimed ‘HOUSE OF CARDS’ Netflix series; where a scheming politician Frank J. Underwood after being passed over for an important government position schemed his way into Vice Presidency. Frank J. Underwood after scheming his way to Vice presidency engineered the down fall of the naïve and accidental incumbent President Garett Walker and eventually become the President after pushing out Walker from the Presidency. We by no means equate the new Vice president Lawyer Ousainou Darboe to Frank Underwood but one thing is clear; President Adama Barrow is a naïve, unsophisticated, accidental and spineless president despite his humility and best intentions for The Gambia.

CASUALTIES IN BARROW’S CABINET RESHUFFLE

The Vice President, Fatoumatta Tambajang, received her marching orders, while former veteran opposition leader and lawyer, Ousainou Darboe received the nod to replace her as Vice President. Also sacked were ministers of Information and Communication Infrastructure DA Jawo, minister of Agriculture Omar Jallow and minister of Youths Henry Gomez. The minister of Finance, Amadou Sanneh has also been moved to the ministry of Trade and regional Integration, while Dr. Isatou Touray has been re-assigned to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

WHY THEY GOT FIRED?

CASUALTY#1: Vice President, Aja Fatoumatta Tambajang

She served as minister of Health under former president Yahya Jammeh before being fired in unceremonious fashion. She would later join the United Nations where she worked until retirement. She became a vocal critic of the former president and receives credit for cobbling together the political coalition that won elections against Jammeh in the dying days of 2016.

She was named Vice President following the defenestration of Jammeh’s regime after a month-long standoff which many blamed her for causing with her unguarded comments about Jammeh in an interview with The Guardian. She seemed to be doing well and her job didn’t seem to be under any threat until recently. She has been accused of using her position to procure jobs for close family members. Her son who was until recently based in the United States was hired for an important position at the OIC Secretariat, as The Gambia prepares to host the biggest gathering of Muslim leaders in the world.

Her daughters Naffie Tambajang and Khadija Tambajang have come under intense public scrutiny for their burgeoning influence in the country. Pictures surfaced online of meetings between Khadija Tambajang and the first family of Senegal which set tongues wagging. Then a video was published by US-based Freedom newspaper where she announced her desire to be president of The Gambia someday. Amid increasing calls by the UDP top brass for her sacking, the publication of the video hammered the final nail into her political coffin.

CASULATY#2: Omar Jallow, Minister of Agriculture

Minister of Agriculture Omar Jallow’s demise in the complex cabinet of Adama Barrow has been a long time coming. He is on public record for criticizing any possible plans that will enable the president to serve beyond three years as stipulated in the coalition agreement. Recently, he has also been mired in a corruption scandal over the sale of over 27,000 bags of expired fertilizer meant for poor farmers. Culpable or not, he didn’t come out unscathed from the fallout. He threatened to sue the media house that made the publication and his presser to clear the air raised more questions than answers.

What’s more, in a case of hubris and violation of rules governing political power games, he made a public criticism of the president. He questioned the wisdom of the president sanctioning the institution of an investigation of his ministry without the courtesy of personally informing him. It was clear this wouldn’t go unpunished and more trained eyes on Gambia’s political terrain and firmament already wrote his political obituary. And so, just like the day eventually turns to night and night eventually to day; it came to pass.

CASUALTY#3 Henry Gomez, Minister of Youths and Sports

Minister of Youths Henry Gomez’s elevation to his position in the aftermath of the improbable coalition triumph over Jammeh was a study in political compromise and tolerance. Poorly educated and hobbled by stinging dearth of relevant experience and training for the job, he struggled to assert himself in his role. He simply didn’t possess sufficient command of his brief as minister of Youths and Sports and his theatrics and regular bungling of local and international media interviews were a source of enormous embarrassment to the government.

Gomez’s alleged involvement in a plot to extort money from departments under his ministry and prior conviction for drugs offences in Germany was no aid to his already low public approval rating. What he lacked in competence, he made up for with staunch loyalty to the president. But even that, in the wake of protests and killing of three unarmed civilians during a protest in Faraba could not save his job as Adama Barrow cleans house with electric broom.

CASUALTY#4: Demba Ali Jawo Minister of Information and Information Infrastructure

He was the president of The Gambia Press Union who later moved to Dakar to work for Africa Press Agency. He was tapped to serve as minister of Information based on his reputation as a man of principles respected across the breadth and length of the country. Having no formal education in Communication, Jawo didn’t know the difference between journalism, PR, propaganda and political communication. DA Jawo didn’t know he was a mouth piece and effectively a Chief salesman for the government. He struggled to effectively sell the nascent government to the people, despite his desperate and best efforts. He was dedicated to his job, but his lack of experience in PR made the sale of government propaganda on the public mind a failed effort.

His press releases and interviews came across as bland and unconvincing. Recently, a leaked letter attributed to him which he later confirmed criticizing the award of the telecommunications gate way contract without following the procurement process was a source of immense embarrassment for the government. And to make matters worse, his announcement of the appointment of Ebrima Sankareh as spokesman for the government was denied by the president’s press officer Amie Bojang-Sissoho laying bare the dysfunctional state of Barrow’s cabinet.

Once again President Barrow surprised many by taking a bold step in reshuffling his cabinet this past Friday. This event generated a national round of fresh debates regarding the makeup and formulation of coalition government. Perhaps most people will tacitly agree our institutions were not properly functioning and it is ok to shun the status quo. It becomes little more complicated when the formula that was promulgated that give rebirth of New Gambia under the coalition government which elected our current President. The conventional wisdom was the norms of our new political life requires a degree of bipartisanship forbearance. Our country went through 22 years of terror, intimidation, and total disregard when it comes to the rule of law. We have more orphan’s children walking in the heart of The Gambia today than any time in the history of our Republic thanks to Yaya Jammeh and his accomplice’s tenure of terror.

Our New Gambia will require both resolve and foresight to tackle our challenges not to underestimate the outdated processes in many of our institutions. The recent reshuffling of President Barrow’s cabinet underscores the need to deliver basic services and optimize key performance of various ministries. Our institutions are not perfect, those imperfections should thrive us to be genuine and serious about tackling challenges that face our nation. Our New Gambia requires a lot of work in terms of human behavior and how we cherished our new-found democracy! The natural right of a free person to assemble and petition the government is as basic to the fundamentals associated with the founding of The Gambia as the right to breathe. In past weeks, in several Towns in the Gambia, people have taken the opportunity to exercise these rights.

However, it seems that an occurrence of lawlessness and disorder has reared its ugly head and has created a firestorm controversy. No matter which side of the fence over the debate relating to this national controversy a person falls, without the rule of law, no one wins. A serious question as to whether or not the burgeoning democracy could endure The Gambia we all fought for? In Faraba, and Gunjur, there has been inaction or ineffective community outreaching by the government which resulted some group of local community members taking justice into their hands, rather than the judicial system that was set up to deal with such issues.
Ibrahim Lincoln, who was only admitted to the bar the year prior, has much to say to this group of young men and women, especially when it comes to his view on the rule of law. His speech, and the advice the America’s favorite president gave, is as relevant today as it was in 1838. In this speech, Ibrahim Lincoln warned that the only power to destroy the nation existed from within. He said, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” Lincoln went on to say that the “lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become the lawless in practice.”

The recent arrest of PIU Officers who were part of an intervention unit at Faraba, is a double edge sword for President Barrow’s government. We are all in agreement we must hold ourselves accountable at the same time we must be careful not to let our security personnel be scapegoat. Our security personnel who are less than 200,000 in total are entrusted to safeguard and maintain law and order for a population of 2 million. Some of our security personnel are victims of Jammeh brutality and they lived in constant fear and intimidation for 22 years like the rest of average Gambians. I will also make it very clear some within the security apparatus sided with the dictator to brutalized Gambians! After the Faraba incident, there was debate especially within diaspora why our security personnel carry live ammunition at the scene? Let’s remember the personnel who responded their weapon, ammunition and handcuffs are part of their uniform. What we should debate is how our officers should respond to incidents like Faraba. More so what went wrong and lessons learned! The civilian authorities should not dictate the roles of our security personnel, if interference of civilian authorities permeate what we will see is the reoccurrence of mob that happened at Brikama Police station and many stations around the country. Bottomline let the security do their job. We must recognize even in the western world; police officers carry their weapons with condition one. So, our security personnel must remain agile, dynamic and professional at all times. I remembered on several occasions during lunch breaks dining with my family while in uniform, some good Samaritan will volunteer to foot our restaurant bill. They will walk up to our table shake my hand and the rest of my family members and say “thank you for your service”. I remembered couple of weeks ago, while at a restaurant depot location in Fife, WA to pick supplies a senior citizen volunteered to pay my bill. I insisted the items are for our business not for personal use but he responded by saying ‘’I am always ready to support veteran owned business! Why do I share these stories? I share them because our security personnel are citizens like many of us. We must continue to bridge the gap and honor their sacrifice and service not to disparage them.

The appointment of Honorable Lawyer Ousainou Darboe as the Vice President of Republic of The Gambia, cemented the notion that Barrow administration is predominantly UDP government. UDP party supporters and sympathizers must deliver the promise of New Gambia. The party of Moses and Noah cannot claim this new baby is a coalition government anymore! As Honorable Ousainou Darboe himself stated during his recent interview with Omar Wally of Fatu Radio Network. “UDP is Barrow and President Barrow is UDP”. Finally, the reforms, good governance, open and transparent government must be the new order of the day. We can all agree on one thing, come Monday our daunting challenges are still ahead of us despite new personnel filing those ministerial portfolios. What is important is to deliver the goods on behalf of Gambian people. I will like to thank Former VP Aja Fatoumatta Tambajang, Hon. OJ Jallow, Hon. D.A Jawo, Hon. Henry Gomez, and Hon. Soffie Lowe Ceesay for their service to our Nation. Congratulations to the Ministers who been entrusted to lead the various ministries. Thank you and may God bless The Gambia and Her people.

Sariang Marong

Vancouver, Washington
USA.