The calamitous supply of electricity in the Gambia has been a perennial issue since the establishment of NAWEC which was originally called GUC and then MSG yet the matter remains conclusively and effectively unaddressed. Not only had there been poor, limited and erratic supply of energy but that electricity voltage itself has been low generally yet expensive both for the Government and the citizen. Until now vast majority of Gambians have no access to electricity hence hampering the ability of citizens to enjoy quality living standards while retarding national development.

With the advent of the new government Gambians have expected that the Barrow Administration would finally address this matter once and for all given the high level of inefficiency and corruption in this sector since the First Republic which got worse under the APRC regime. Not only had Yaya Jammeh directly interfered with and illegally benefited from personalizing NAWEC and exploiting energy supply but also many communities were directly denied electricity supply on the basis of their support for the opposition or simply for not voting for APRC and Yaya Jammeh.

Both in his campaign manifesto and since coming to power, Pres. Barrow and his Government have continuously said that the issue of electricity supply and NAWEC are major concerns for them. Yet more than 12 months after taking over power the situation of NAWEC and the happenings in the energy sector raise more worries and questions than offer better answers and solutions. It appears that fundamentally there has been no system change yet in this sector as indications point to massive inefficiency and patronage hence corruption that must be addressed.

Information now being circulated that the Senegal agreement leaves much to be desired requires that the National Assembly institute a parliamentary enquiry in order to protect national interest. Much as Senegal is a unique neighbour of the Gambia, yet the Gambia is a distinct country that has its national interests that must be protected. Hence any deal with Senegal or any country requires to be negotiated with the best interest of the Gambia in mind. Therefore the terms of the agreement for energy supply from Senegal must be reviewed to determine how beneficial or detrimental it is to the Gambia.

From sources inside NAWEC and the energy sector as a whole, it is claimed that the Senegal deal is not beneficial to the Gambia both for the short and long term interests of the Gambia. The fact that Senegal supplies electricity to the country potentially compromises national security since Senegal has the ability to unilaterally blackout the Gambia at any time. The supply of energy and its importance to national security is such that such supply must be controlled from within the country, preferably from entities that are national private entities or from a national company such as NAWEC. Therefore the need for the National Assembly to investigate the Senegal deal is urgent and necessary especially given the reports that are now emerging that better and cheaper deals where rejected in favour of Senegal. Why?

Secondly the governance and management of NAWEC and the operations and operators in the supply of energy must be looked into with urgency. Already NAWEC has indicated that it has a debt of millions of dalasi. This clearly shows that NAWEC is a not a viable or profitable entity that warrants the company to be either sold or closed down otherwise a clear and more pragmatic solution must be found to maintain it as a national asset.

The truth however is that NAWEC must be able to operate profitably, efficiently and accountably. But NAWEC has been unable to be such a company simply because of lack of transparency and accountability hence corruption since its inception. The basis for such perennial poor performance and corruption is simply and squarely a matter of poor leadership right from the Office of the President, to its line ministry to the National Assembly to its Board of Directors. There is no reason why public enterprises should not be profitable and efficient if there is effective and strategic leadership to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability.

Hence if Barrow wishes to address the issue of NAWEC he must first of all review the role and function of the Office of the President in this matter. This means he needs to review his own vision and modus operandi in terms of the running of public enterprises as set out in the laws. Until the governance and management systems, processes and personnel of NAWEC are properly constituted and operated in line with the law then this company will not do well but will continue to be a waste of public resources without providing efficient services to citizens.

For example, the composition of NAWEC’s board needs to be reviewed because it comprises individuals and businesses that have vested interest in the energy sector. Hence there are clear conflicts of interest within the Board hence undermining the efficiency and accountability of NAWEC as well as the supply of energy in the country. Furthermore there are individuals and businesses close to the corridors of power that have vested interests in the energy sector hence use their power and influence to drive this Government towards deals and agreements that benefit them first and foremost at the detriment of the Gambia. This must stop!

Pres. Barrow must realise that the issue of NAWEC and the energy sector is about his own personal legacy as President of the Republic. He must be able to have the wisdom to see through and behind the words and actions of so-called advisers, board members, ministers, directors and indeed all players in this matter to identify the best interest of the Gambia and stand by that. He must not allow individuals to take advantage of him in order to profit themselves at the detriment of the Gambia.

The Gambia has the capacity to ensure 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply provided Pres. Barrows demonstrates the necessary leadership to ensure firm decisions that are transparent, accountable and participatory. We could not enjoy uninterrupted power supply since Independence for no reason other than the failure of leadership by Dawda Jawara for 30 years and Yaya Jammeh for 22 years. But Barrow can address this issue within 12 months if indeed he is ready to show the necessary strategic leadership. It does not have to take him 5 years to set this country on the path of ensuring a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply. Unfortunately so far, he is not showing that leadership.

The ball is in his court!

For the Gambia, Our Homeland.

The Wolofs have a saying that ‘Wakhtaan Wakha Degga Chala’ that is, (telling each other the truth is part of a conversation). It was reported in the local newspapers yesterday that the first ever meeting of experts between the Senegalese and Gambian governments in Banjul ahead of the presidential council meeting started at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. In the discussions, Sir, I suggest your government make a case for Gambian businessmen/women entering Senegal to sell goods. We know that Senegalese do a lot of business in the Gambia. They bring things here all the time and sell it without let or hinderance. Some Gambians also go to Senegal to buy merchandise and bring it to the Gambia for sale. Thus, Senegal is gaining a lot of economic benefits in these transactions.

However, if, and when a Gambian departs here for Senegal without any thing (goods for sale), s/he is subjected to a lot of trouble and the payments of money at the Senegalese border. Even something as simple as sugar, or a piece of cloth for a relative, could be seized unless one pays a huge amount of money to the customs officers at the border.

Mr President, both Senegal and the Gambia are sovereign states, and each should respect the territorial integrity of the other. When we have a relationship, it should be based on mutual respect and benefits. It should not be that because one is bigger it should benefit more than the other. International relations and corporations are based on mutual benefits. Thus, there is no lasting friendships on diplomacy; only aligned benefits or interests exists. No matter how close two countries are, once their interests differ, they will move apart in no time. Thus, the relationship must be based on truth and equality.

Mr. President, another point is that currently, there is a lot of talk on the arrangement for Senegal to supply the Gambia with electricity. There is no doubt that this has brought some relieve in terms of the provision of power to rural Gambia as some – or many – folks now enjoy at least twenty or so hours of uninterrupted power supply. However, the agreement and how it was reached is still murky to many Gambians. I dare say most Gambians do not know what exactly the arrangement is. In fact, some people are even saying that the deal with the Senegalese is not at all beneficial to the Gambia; that there was one which would have been more beneficial to us but was rejected in favour of this one. The other side of it is that energy is a potential national security issue. If our energy is supplied from outside, they could easily plunge us in darkness at the click of a button.

Whatever the case, Mr President, I think there was a lack of clear-cut communication with the public with regards to this agreement. Everything a government does should be for the benefit of the general population. And as the agreement was for the benefit of the public, it would have been good if they were kept in the loop, so to speak. If the people had been consulted on some of these issues, they would have given their suggestions and that would have been more productive for all.

Whatever the case is on that agreement – whether it is beneficial or harmful to the country – the government, through the National Water and Electricity Company should come out and explain it in detail to the public. Government serves the people, and at the people’s pleasure. The government is accountable to the people who voted them into office. So, we demand that you and your government explain this to us. Now!!!

Have a Good Day Mr President…

Tha Scribbler Bah

A Concerned citizen

Africa continues to face various complex challenges to ensure inclusive growth for all sectors of society, especially the youth. In accessing the projected growth of the continent’s youth population, it is of vital necessity for national governments and regional bodies like ECOWAS, to carve out lasting solutions for the challenges ahead.

Across the continent, several countries have now instituted a national youth framework, as a result of the ‘African Youth Charter’, adopted by the African Union at the summit of Heads of State and Government in Banjul, on July 2006 (ILO, 2012). The Charter enjoin responsibilities to Member States for the development of youth. Not only does it provide the Governments, Youth, Civil Society and International Partners with a continental framework, which underlines to the rights, duties and freedoms of youth, it also paves the way for the development of national programs and strategic plans for their empowerment.

Many countries, including the Gambia, are already taking active steps towards youth-centered economic policy frameworks. By 2014, forty-two countries had signed the Charter and 36 members had ratified it. In the Gambia, youth policies are the responsibility of a dedicated ministry, or have a minister responsible for youth combined with other portfolios, such as sports, children or women’s affairs. Further, government departments like the Ministry of Trade and Employment also implement important initiatives all geared toward helping young people.

It is imperative for the constructive involvement of Youths in the development agenda of Africa and their effective participation in the debates and decision-making processes. Policies to address youth unemployment are shaped by ‘Political pressures’, ‘Technocrats’, ‘Socio-economic realities’ and international best practices. But politicians often introduce relatively easy to target policies, designed to yield short-term gains in response to pressures to address economic issues facing young people. More over governments may adopt policies to signal their commitment to good governance. Countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya have opened funds for young entrepreneurs, with the support of the ILO (Elder and Kone’, 2014).

However, in general, young people are not sufficiently involved in policy development in Africa (World Bank 2007). When policy makers do consult the youth collectively, specific groups may shape outcomes. Educated, urban and male youth, for example might have greater access to policy discussions than other young people, thereby shaping policy outcomes in a way that might not represent the challenges of female and or rural youth. This might reflect the relative ease of engaging with young people who have strong networks and who are located in urban centres (for example university students).

The African Youth Charter has set a framework to enable policy makers to mainstream Youth issues in all development policies and programs. It is, therefore, important to recognize that when policy makers give space to ‘youth voice’ they are aware that a selected few may not represent all young people. There is a definite need to engage with the ‘youth’ in a wider and more representational manner, such as through surveys, youth clubs or perhaps social media.

Poor coordination, among the actors responsible for policies targeting the youths, may undermine their effectiveness. Therefore youth policy may require action on a number of fronts and it could be difficult to align the relevant actors around a common vision and set of priorities. Policies to support young people may rely on different levels of government, such as municipal government, which may face capacity and fiscal constraints in their ability national directives on youths. Also, ministers in charge of youths and related policies are typically political appointees who may have low levels of interest in achieving objectives that extend beyond their terms. An effective steering committee, that can coordinate policies across departments, may be important for policy coherence and effectiveness. Alternatively, recognizing the constraints of a government or uneven capacity across departments success lie in a limited number of agencies developing focused policies on youth employment.

Policies can also be differentiated with respect to their horizon. Employment problems comprise challenges that policies could address over a relatively short time horizon, such as soft skills training or providing information about existing vacancies to suitable candidates. Other challenges will take a much longer period of time to achieve result, such as improvement to basic education or, most critically, addressing a fundamental shortage of jobs through demand-size policies.

Finally, the efficacy of a policy may depend on its complementarity with other policies. One of the lessons from the past is that programs are more likely to succeed if they link financial and skills training in the same program (AfDB  et al.,2012). An analysis of the youth program in Nigeria indicates that the government has focused on training but neglected the provision of soft loans (Akande, 2014).

In summary, many African governments including the Gambia have implemented policies to support young people in the labor market, especially entrepreneurial training with varying degrees of success. Consequently, the current set of policies do not reflect a major shift from the standardized recommendations globally. Moreover, intergovernmental coordination, interest groups and direct youth participation, ultimately, shall determine the success of youth policy in Africa.

Omar Kolley, London

The Experts meeting between the Governments of Gambia and Senegal was opened for the first time on Gambian soil Sunday since the removal of former dictator, Yahya Jammeh.

The joint meeting brought together almost 100 experts from the two countries at the Kairaba Beach Hotel, Kololi.

Prof. Salieu Ndiaye, The Senegalese Ambassador to The Gambia in his opening remarks made emphasis on moving from declarations to concrete actions.

Ambassador Ndiaye called on delegates to focus on the implementation of the agreements, saying they would meet in six months to assess the achievements made.

Mr Ebrima Camara, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the delegates that the meeting was to discuss different areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries as experts.

“The Gambia is proud to host this event since the creation of the presidential council in Dakar in March 2017, during the visit of His Excellency, President Adama Barrow to the Republic of Senegal,” Foreign Affairs PS Camara said.

The Foreign Affairs PS went further to remind the delegates that the Presidents of the two republics have renewed their commitments to cement the ties of friendship and cooperation through the pursuit of mutual bilateral interests.

“Ultimately, the primary objective set by our two leaders is to promote dialogue and the undertaking or implementation of actions, in good faith and with openness,” he asserted.

According to Camara, in two days the two leaders will meet to give an account of the progress made to give the true meaning to their vision. Permanent Secretary Camara called on delegates from the two countries to be ready and committed to the agreement.

“If we cannot implement our Agreements in good faith and in good time, we will only be paying lip service to the road maps clearly set out by the leadership of the two countries,” he said.

The Foreign Affairs PS said the Gambian side has a number of areas where they wish comprehensive action should be taken.

Ms Saffie Sankareh, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in her introductory remarks said the two governments enjoy excellent bilateral ties and that the elevation of the joint ministerial council to a presidential council shows the political will to deepen and strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, series of meetings will be held in the coming days between the ministerial and the presidential council.

By Arfang M.S Camara

Talib Ahmed Bensouda has denied buying votes during the United Democratic Party (UDP) Mayoral primaries held on February 17, 2018, at the UDP Political Bureau in Manjai Kunda.

It is alleged that the winner, Talib Bensouda bought votes which made him the party’s flag-bearer for the UDP for the upcoming KMC Mayoral election scheduled for May 12, 2018.

In an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network at his office on Friday, Talib denied the allegations.

He added, the truth about politics is that politicians will do whatever they can to beat and smear their opponent’s character as well as demonize them adding that it is normal in politics that people will create stories to turn supporters against their favorite candidates.

“If you see people doing that, it means their opponent is the leader in terms of opinion polls. We ran a very effective and structured campaign in which people fear our ability and this is why they smearing us with rumors”.

He added “I have heard many allegations from other camps but I never jump on them because I know they are mere allegations”. He added

Commenting on the petition allegedly filed by the Mustapha Touray’s camp, he said that the petition was not done during or before the election but rather after losing the elections which was a fair and transparent one

“The process leading to the elections was free and fair, we all had our polling agents present, and the media was also present during the time of the process. In fact everybody (including agents and candidate) said that they were satisfied”. He added that some may have been disappointed with the results and are trying to find reasons to delegitimize the elections.

He said there were 141 delegates chosen by members of their communities. The process he added was supervised by constituency chairmen and parliamentarians in their various areas, revealing that there was no way that any camp could have manipulated the results.

According to him, the only reason he is interested in politics is  to develop the country, adding that being a successful businessman who employed 40 staff many of whom are paid more than the mayor of KMC, he feels he could make a huge difference.

He buttressed that he has no intention of going into KMC just to have a position or salary but to rather develop the Municipality.

“ I have always had a passion for public service, it is very important especially for the young and educated so as to give back and help develop the country”

Revealing his plans and agenda, the UDP KMC mayoral flag-bearer noted that the reason KMC is not delivering as expected is because they don’t have the capacity, cooperate governance, accountability and checks and balances, noting that one must first look at restructuring the municipality, bringing in capacity, introducing structures and cooperate governance so that the institution will be stronger.

The established businessman cum mayoral candidate stated that KMC’s budget of D90 million is too small to take care of the needs of 450, 000 residents, 21 markets as well as taking care of waste management, noting that he believes that the KMC budget can be increased to a billion dalasi so as to tackle all the loopholes in the area.

He added that many are happy with the current budget without knowing that it won’t do much for KMC.

“As a businessman and an economist, I believe that a billion dalasi budget will make a huge difference in developing KMC” He said.

He advised Gambians not to vote based on tribe or friendship but rather vote for competent candidates who can bring about change that Gambians are yarning for.

He finally called on UDP supporters to come together and unite for the upcoming elections so that their goals and aspiration can be tackled, adding that both him and Mustapha Touray are very good and close friends and that politics cannot divide their friendship.

Buba Jabbi, 41, of Wisconsin Rapids was deported Tuesday and back in Gambia by Wednesday afternoon, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement issued Wednesday.

Jabbi had entered the U.S. in 1995 and overstayed his visa. He was detained Feb. 15 after checking in with federal authorities as he had been directed and was set for deportation based on a judge’s order from 2010.

A stay of removal had been filed on his behalf but was denied Feb. 27, according to Nicole Alberico, a public affairs officer with ICE.

Jabbi, the father of two daughters ages 5 and 1, was being held at a detention center in Sierra Blanca, Texas.

If necessary, Jabbi’s wife, Katrina Jabbi, a native of Wisconsin Rapids, said she would move her family almost 5,000 miles to Gambia, a nation of about 2 million people that is almost twice the size of Delaware, to be with her husband.

“We have spent many years trying to rectify this situation,” Katrina Jabbi previously said. “I will continue to fight and file waivers if he is deported. I will not be apart from my husband nor allow my children to grow up without their father.”

Katrina Jabbi married Buba Jabbi in 2013, four years after meeting him. The couple has two daughters, Nalia, 5, and Aisha, 1, and they are expecting a third child in October.

Katrina Jabbi said she works part time from home and moved back to Wisconsin Rapids, about 135 miles northwest of Milwaukee, to be closer to her family. Her husband had been working as a truck driver.

Buba Jabbi has not been charged with a crime in Wisconsin and his detention was not the result of a criminal arrest.

He came to the United States in 1995 on a temporary travel visa to attend the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, according to Katrina Jabbi. When he tried to change his status to allow him to stay in the U.S., the paperwork he filed was incorrect and his case was moved into removal proceedings, where he remained for several years.

However, Buba Jabbi was considered “undeportable” because his country would not provide travel documents on his behalf, she said. Instead, he was given orders of supervision, requiring him to report to immigration once a year and obtain work authorization, which he had done for the past 10 years.

Buba Jabbi was at his annual appointment Feb. 15 in Milwaukee with immigration officials when he was detained and told he would be deported, his wife said. The statement from ICE said his travel documents from Gambia had been validated.

Buba Jabbi still has family in Gambia. Despite being separated from him, Katrina Jabbi said she is happy her husband will be able to see his parents for the first time in more than two decades.

Follow Melissa Siegler on Twitter: @Marie2Melissa

By Haley Sweetland Edwards

Time.com

Just before 7:30 one Friday morning last March, Alejandro said goodbye to his wife Maria and his two small daughters and headed off to work. He didn’t make it far. Four blocks from his home near Bakersfield, Calif., two unmarked vehicles, a white Honda and a green Mazda pickup truck, pulled up behind him at a stop sign. Plain-clothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents spilled out. They wore vests emblazoned with the word POLICE.

Alejandro dialed Maria from his cell phone and told her what was happening. Her heart dropped. She said later that she knew it wouldn’t matter that Alejandro had no criminal record, not even a speeding ticket. Or that he’d driven these same roads every day for the past decade, picking grapes, pistachios and oranges in California’s Central Valley. Since 2006, when Alejandro overstayed his visa, he had been considered a “fugitive alien,” in ICE parlance, and therefore subject to immediate deportation to Mexico. Now he was arrested on the spot.

A few days later, he was given an ankle bracelet and allowed to return home to say goodbye. He was gone by the end of spring—before his eldest, Isabella, began talking, before Estefania took her first steps, before Maria gave birth this winter to their third baby girl.

Michele Asselin for TIME

The family’s experience—including the fear of being targeted if their names were not changed in this story—has become increasingly common during the Trump Administration. While President Obama told ICE to focus on violent offenders and recent border crossers, among others, President Trump has cast a much wider net. In early 2017, his Administration issued a series of edicts to ICE agents, prosecutors and immigration judges: any and all of the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally are now a priority for deportation. “There’s no population that’s off the table,” Thomas Homan, the acting director of ICE, told reporters in December. “If you’re in the country illegally, we’re looking for you.”

The new approach has led to a surge of new arrests. Between 2016 and 2017, apprehensions of undocumented immigrants jumped by a third. That increase was driven primarily by arrests of people like Alejandro with no prior criminal record. In 2017, President Trump deported more than double the number of noncriminals than Obama had the previous year. The detainees prioritized by Trump’s approach included community leaders, doting parents and children: a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in San Antonio; a grandmother described as the “backbone” of a Navy veteran’s family; a father of two in Detroit who had lived in the U.S. since he was 10 years old.

A major consequence of this new policy has been an explosion of fear among immigrant communities, which are reacting not so much to the spiking number of arrests but to the apparent randomness of the roundups. “When everyone’s a target, no one is safe,” says Luis Zayas, dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. He cites instances of ICE agents arresting people who had just filed paperwork for a green card, left church or dropped off their kids at school. “The arrests feel arbitrary, and that’s different,” he says. “The fear is worse now than I’ve ever seen it.”

Which may be the point. “Quite frankly, illegal immigrants are supposed to be afraid of detection,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that presses for significant immigration controls. “They’re illegal, they’re breaking the law, why shouldn’t they live in the shadows?” Immigration hard-liners say the policy is working. In 2017, the number of people caught sneaking over the U.S.-Mexico border had fallen to its lowest level in 46 years, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report. “That’s not a coincidence,” Homan said.

But the new policy doesn’t affect only those who are in the country illegally. It upends a broad swath of American society, including the communities and families of undocumented people, many of whom are U.S. citizens. More than 4 million American kids under the age of 18 have at least one undocumented parent, and nearly 6 million live in so-called mixed-status households, sharing bedrooms with family members, like brothers and sisters, who are now targets for arrest. Every year, tens of thousands of American kids see at least one parent deported, according to the Urban Institute. It’s an experience that, studies show, pushes families into poverty and leads to higher rates of PTSD and struggles at school.

For Maria and her daughters, the fear has only begun. Like Alejandro, Maria is undocumented; all three of their daughters are U.S. citizens. Which means every day contains the prospect of the children becoming separated from their mother as well. “It’s a cruel way to live,” says Maria, wiping away tears with the heel of her hand. “You’re always asking, What’s the worst that could happen now?”

After her husband was deported, Maria, an undocumented farmworker, was left to raise their three daughters on her own.

Michele Asselin for TIME

In Maria and Alejandro’s neighborhood, news of his arrest went viral. His Facebook feed, already a portrait of a community’s anxiety, began to accrue up-to-the-minute reports on ICE sightings in town and rumors of planned immigration raids at warehouses nearby. Don’t go to the Walmart, an ICE truck was seen parked nearby.Plainclothes agents are watching the park. In a phone interview from Mexico, Alejandro told me that many of his old friends now avoid leaving the house, limiting necessary errands to blitzes after dark, when agents are thought to be less active. Sitting in a folding chair on the patio outside her home, Maria describes a similar drumbeat of distress. She doesn’t use the word miedo, fear, but a more visceral term: pavor. Dread.

The disquiet seeps into daily life. In Orange County, California, for example, dozens of undocumented adults have chosen to un-enroll their U.S.-citizen children in benefit programs like SNAP and school lunches, because they fear having their names in a government database, says Teresa Smith, executive director of the local Catholic Charities. “These are families that very much need that food,” she says. “This isn’t a decision made lightly.”

Immigrant advocates’ offices, meanwhile, are swamped. At a recent “Know Your Rights” session for undocumented immigrants at the United Farm Workers Foundation in Bakersfield, the line to enter snaked around the corner and down the block. At the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), the waiting room is papered with posters, pamphlets and worksheets with advice on what undocumented people should do if they’re pulled over, their workplace is raided or ICE agents show up at their home. One handout advises undocumented parents of minors to follow a numbered checklist to be ready in the event that they are picked up. Tip No. 3: “Prepare a letter giving legal power to someone trusted, to care for your children in case you’re arrested.”

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the communica-tions director at CHIRLA, says much of that advice is easier to offer than follow. Many parents don’t have a trusted friend or relative capable of taking on their children in case they’re deported, he explains. In South Florida, Nora Sandigo, an immigrant advocate, has assumed power of attorney for roughly 1,250 children of undocumented parents in case the adults are sent away. Thomas McCoy, an assistant superintendent in the Oxnard (Calif.) Union High School District, which serves a large immigrant population, says administrators have asked parents to file guardianship instructions with school administrators. “They need to know where to send a kid home,” he explains.

In the grimmest cases, kids whose parents are arrested or deported are orphaned. According to a 2015 Urban Institute report, an estimated 5,000 children in child-welfare custody had a detained or deported parent.

Some advocates advise parents to leave information not just about their children’s guardians, allergies and medications, but also about their personal details. What’s your toddler’s favorite stuffed animal? What lullaby helps your baby sleep? “If your mom was just deported, having a caregiver know where to find your special blanket isn’t going to fix it, but it helps,” explains Fatima Hernandez, programs director at the United Farm Workers Foundation, a nonprofit serving agricultural workers. Others advocates offer tips on talking to older children about what to do if they come home from school and find the house dark.

Those in favor of hard-line immigration enforcement sometimes roll their eyes at media reports of families broken up by deportation. “The parents can just take the kids back with them,” Krikorian says. “No families have to get broken up.” But when pressed on specific cases, he sighs. “Look, when it does happen, it’s not a great situation. I’m not delighted to see it,” he says. “But it’s not our problem. These immigrants are adults; they have to be responsible for their actions. Kids sometimes suffer from the bad decisions their parents make. If Mom and Dad stop paying their mortgage and get evicted, the kids don’t get to stay in the house.”

The undocumented parents I talked to in California were more conflicted. Sara, who asked that TIME not use her last name because she is worried about being targeted, came to the U.S. from Honduras in 2001. She has a 13-year-old son with a mild learning disability. He is small and fragile-looking, with glasses and birdlike hands. Sara can’t imagine taking him back to Honduras, a country he has never even visited, and especially to her hometown, San Pedro Sula, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates. Even if she felt she could keep him safe there, she says, she doesn’t know if his U.S. citizenship would prevent him from accessing health care or other benefits once they arrived.

I asked Sara about Tip No. 3 on the CHIRLA checklist—if she is arrested, who would she list as her son’s guardian? She considers the question for a long time, pressing her palms together as if in prayer. I tell her I’ve heard of other families that have left young children in the care of older ones. In Bakersfield, an 18-year-old woman is now the sole guardian for her 9-year-old brother. In Queens, New York, two college-age siblings are now the sole caregivers for their 15-year-old sister, who has a severe form of autism. “I don’t know,” Sara says finally. “What would you do?”

Luis Urrieta, 16, and his mother Rosa don’t have a plan either. Rosa, who is undocumented and works as a pastry chef, came to the U.S. from Mexico nearly two decades ago. Luis, who is a U.S. citizen, has awoken in the night with a pounding heart after nightmares about Rosa being taken away. Wearing red mesh basketball shorts and a striped shirt, he struggles to describe the anxiety and instead lists all the reasons he needs his mother to stay around: she cooks dinner for him and encourages him and pays the bills. “She is my whole life,” he says quietly. But then he raises his voice, as if to dispel the fear. They’ll be safe, he says, because they live in San Francisco, a so-called sanctuary city where local law enforcement doesn’t partner with ICE. In the days and weeks after our conversation, ICE arrested roughly 400 people across Northern California and in Los Angeles in a series of raids that included sanctuary cities. On March 6, the federal government sued California over its sanctuary-city laws.

A number of recent research papers have reported that the prospect of losing one’s parent can inflict psychological damage on a child. “These kids are under constant, extreme levels of psychological stress that other children don’t have to endure,” says Zayas, whose academic research on the American-born children of undocumented immigrants is included in his book Forgotten Citizens. “It affects the child’s educational performance, their developmental trajectories, how they achieve things. It affects the entire neurobiology of a child.”

A 2015 Urban Institute study found that many children of detained or deported parents became depressed, showed signs of deteriorating health and performed poorly in school. And a January 2017 study by University of Michigan researchers found that such distress can manifest physiologically in unborn children. Latino babies born in the 37 weeks after a 2008 federal immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, were 24% more likely to have low birth weights than those born a year earlier. One common characteristic shared by children of undocumented parents, Zayas says, is “hypervigilance.” Without looking at a clock, an 8-year-old girl will know exactly how long it takes her mother to go on a groceries run. “If she’s two minutes late, there’s extreme anxiety,” he says. Even very young kids, he adds, are keenly aware of how quickly their parents could vanish.

The architecture of all this fear is not incidental. It’s the result of policy. The agents who pulled over Alejandro were acting within the bounds of U.S. law. So the question surrounding his arrest is not whether it was legitimate; it’s whether it was a good use of resources. Why choose him, a family man with no criminal record, over any of the 11 million other undocumented people in America?

Even operating full tilt, ICE has nowhere near the manpower or money to enforce U.S. immigration laws against everyone in the country illegally. Experts estimate that the agency has the capacity every year to deport roughly 4% of all undocumented immigrants. So the real challenge is to establish clear priorities about who should be at the top of the list. In theory, all DHS employees, from ICE officers on the street to prosecutors in immigration court, have the power— known as “prosecutorial discretion”—to determine when and whether to enforce immigration laws. But in reality, those decisions are shaped from the top. Presidents determine what immigration policy will look like.

Both the Obama and George W. Bush Administrations assumed this responsibility. They directed DHS employees to use their prosecutorial discretion to prioritize the deportation of certain criminal groups. They also outlined clear factors like old age, U.S. military service or a lack of criminal record that might mitigate enforcement.

Illustration by Michele Asselin for TIME

The Trump Administration has not issued similar prerogatives. In January 2017, Trump signed an Executive Order calling for the enforcement of immigration laws against “all removable aliens,” and in February 2017, DHS rescinded all previous Administrations’ priorities and restrictions. Then DHS Secretary John Kelly replaced them with new guidance so broad that employees were effectively instructed to “prioritize” the deportation of all undocumented immigrants. The only listed exception were those who qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a now uncertain program shielding those who were brought to the U.S. as children.

“Prosecutorial discretion shall not be exercised in a manner that exempts or excludes a specified class or category of aliens from enforcement of the immigration laws,” wrote Kelly in a memo to staff. The Administration also eliminated Obama-era moratoriums on certain types of enforcement, including what’s known as “collateral arrests,” which is when ICE agents detain not only an intended target, but also anyone else “deportable” nearby.

Immigration hard-liners, like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have cheered the change. The new policy, they say, restores the enforcement of U.S. immigration law “as written.” But critics argue that this doesn’t track. Congress has not given DHS more money or enforcement officers, so there can’t simply be more enforcement. The difference is who is being enforced against. Despite the President’s frequent talk of “rapists and murderers,” the most influential shift in 2017 was that ICE agents arrested 146% more noncriminals, compared with the year before. In 2016, 14% of the people whom ICE arrested had no criminal record. In 2017, close to 26% were. “There’s the sense that they’re just going after low-hanging fruit,” says Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a constitutional and immigration law professor at Santa Clara University.

The effect is an implied war on all undocumented immigrants. It’s a move that unravels decades of state, federal and local policies designed to establish a level of relative security among immigrant communities, experts say. That security, in turn, encourages broad social benefits—like people reporting crimes to police, rather than avoiding all officers, or enrolling children in government health programs. Under Trump, that’s all up for grabs.

Take Amenul Hoque, for example. The Bangladeshi father of three, who overstayed a visa in 2005, had lived in Newark, N.J., with his wife and three kids for the past 14 years. In 2011, ICE officials granted Hoque a temporary stay of removal, requiring that he check in regularly with ICE, which he did. His next check-in was scheduled for March, according to local news. But on Jan. 17, ICE agents showed up at the fried-chicken restaurant where he works, detained him for nearly a month and then loaded him onto a flight to Bangladesh. Hoque’s wife Rojina Akter, who is also undocumented, is now in deportation proceedings as well.

This decision to create “a culture where enforcement appears to happen randomly,” Gulasekaram says, is not an accident. It has the effect of discouraging new immigrants from coming to the U.S. and encouraging existing ones to leave. The Trump Administration deported fewer immigrants last year largely because fewer people were attempting to cross the border.

In a statement to TIME, Danielle Bennett, an agency spokeswoman, said that “national security threats, immigration fugitives and illegal re-entrants” remain priorities for deportation. The agency has also said that it does not “unnecessarily disrupt the parental rights of alien parents and legal guardians of minor children.” In its 2017 report, ICE also stated that 92% of its arrests in 2017 were criminals. Its definition of criminal includes those with civil offenses, like non-DUI traffic stops, and those whose only crimes are immigration-related.

Undocumented immigrants in communities across the country are struggling to gauge the threat. Maria, who is now caring for three U.S.-citizen children on her own, feels trapped. She can take her kids back to a country where she has citizenship rights but where they have none. Or she can stay in the U.S. and live in fear. Because she’s already here illegally, she has no easy path to legal status. Trump uses terms like anchor babies and chain migration to describe how families supposedly bring their relatives into the country, but it doesn’t actually work that way, says Laura St. John, legal director at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. “It’s a myth.”

St. John says Maria’s American-born children can’t petition DHS to give her legal status until the eldest turns 21. That’s in 2036. Someone in Maria’s position would need to obtain a federal waiver, a process that often takes up to 10 years and could require that she return to Mexico to wait it out, St. John explains. Maria’s brother, a U.S. citizen, could also petition for her, but that too would likely require Maria to return to Mexico, for an even longer period of time. The State Department is so backlogged that it’s currently processing visa requests for Mexican siblings filed on Nov. 15, 1997. “To people who practice immigration law, ‘anchor babies’ and all that just sounds ridiculous,” says Erin Quinn, an attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. “There’s really no legal mechanism for people like [Maria] to leave and come back legally. It just doesn’t exist.”

For now, Maria will stay in the U.S., pick grapes and care for her children in the country of their birth. But when she imagines raising her girls without their father, tears slide down her cheeks. “It’s the worst thing that you can do to a family,” she says. Every day, when Alejandro calls on FaceTime, Isabella, who’s 2½, lights up. “Papi?” she asks, reaching for Maria’s iPhone. A thousand miles south, in Sonora, Mexico, Alejandro holds his screen close to his face. “Papi!” Isabella squeals. “I love you!”

By Alieu Ceesay

Imam Abdoulie Fatty has hit back at Agriculture Minister Omar Jallow, alias OJ.

The Minister of Agriculture, Omar Amadou Jallow recently called on Imam Abdoulie Fatty to apologize to Gambians for not doing enough to stop Yahya Jammeh from committing heinous crimes against Gambians, instead of complaining about Ahmadis owning a television station.

OJ said if Imam Fatty had coordinated, supported and helped Yahya Jammeh over a period of 17 years to perpetuate the terrible things that were happening in the country, he must apologize to Gambians rather than griping about a particular sect getting license to operate a television.

“Coming from the situation in which we found ourselves in the last 22-years and knowing the Islamic fundamentalist problems that some of our neighbors are experiencing, I think this is a wrong time for a person like Imam Fatty to make such remarks,” he stated.

He continued: “Imam Fatty was around when Yahya Jammeh arrested Imam Karamo Touray of Brikama, Imam Baba Leigh, Imam Ba Kawsu Fofana, Imam Ismaila Manjang and killed people extra judicially but he never condemned that. Let him not please abuse the new found freedom that we fought for so dearly.

In respond, an unapologetic Imam Fatty said, “I am available to debate with OJ, be it on religion or even his job (as Agriculture Minister). Let him call GRTS and invite me.”

“For 30 years, OJ was in charge of Sapu during Former President Jawara’s regime. What has he done there? They should invite him to the Janneh Commission and asked him what happened to all those tractors that were at Sapu at that time,” he queried while speaking in the local Mandinka dialect.

Imam Fatty went on to remind people about the mass grave yard at the entrance of Banjul during the 1981 Coup when OJ was serving as a Minister in that government. “We know history. People were seen packed in tractors for burials.”

To him, OJ should apologize to Gambians for witnessing all the difficulties Gambians went through.

“Imam Sheikh Hatab Bojang was jailed during PPP regime when OJ was a Minister. What did he do at the time?”

According to the former State House Imam, OJ Jallow should not work in this current government as he did nothing for The Gambians during the PPP regime.

“If he wants to be an Ahmadi, let him just declare himself for we have no problems with that.” He accused OJ of staining the image of President Barrow by backing the Ahmadis.

He described the Agriculture Minister as an Ahmadi, hence backing the Ahmadis’ request for a TV license.

“OJ is not well educated. Since the Ahmadis TV license issue started, President Barrow has not spoken on the issue and OJ should do the same.”

Imam Fatty warns that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) can even cancelled the proposed Islamic Conference in the country if they find out that the government is supporting the Ahmadis.

He advised Agriculture Minister Jallow to limit himself on this matter. “In fact it is Dembo By Force [Presidential adviser on religious matters] who should comment on the issue.”

“You want to make yourself a lawyer for the Ahmadis, come over, I’m all ready for you.” He concluded.

Catholic Mission Teachers are preparing to embark on a sit down strike latest Friday, March 9, 2017.

In a letter addressed to the Catholic Education Secretariat, the teachers stated that their action is not against the school but it has to do with problems affecting them.

Below we produce the entire letter sent to the Secretariat dated March 8, 2017.

By Alieu Ceesay

In Gambia, Medical Doctors on Thursday began a sit down strike, demanding the Health Minister’s immediate resignation.

The practitioners on Tuesday gave Minister Saffie Lowe Ceesay 48 hours to resign over reported comments she made, alleging young doctors of holding back efforts in developing the health sector.

The Association of Resident Doctors-The Gambia (GARD) on Tuesday demanded for the resignation of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Saffie Lowe Ceesay within 48 hours.

This is in relation to a publication made by the Standard Newspaper captioned ‘Corruption hindering health sector’ published on February 28, 2018.

The paper reported that the minister revealed that efforts in developing The Gambia’s health sector are held back by corrupt and unpatriotic doctors.

“When you talk about corruption in the health system we all know how it is…these young doctors that will just go and practice pharmaceutics, some of them have opened their own pharmacies which the resources that we have. I am very sure of what I am saying because I was the PS,” she was quoted by the paper during a press conference.

GARD is also demanding that the Minister retracts her statement and apologize to the entire Medical and Health fraternity. The Association said if the demands are not met, they will resort to a sit down strike.

GARD is a representative body of all Resident Doctors with a current membership of 191 countrywide.

Information Minister Demba A. Jawo, has said that the Health Minister Saffie Lowe Ceesay has clarified that the statements attributed to her in recent newspaper reports were not accurate.

Jawo, who also doubles as the Government’s Spokesperson said this during his quarterly press conference on Wednesday at the ministry’s hall. Minister Jawo said: “She [Health Minister] however confirmed saying at the press conference organized by the WACS that the Health Ministry is facing a pilfering of Medical items that include drugs and that it is her responsibility to seek measures to address the access system so that such items do not find their way to private pharmacies and other private health facilities.

“The Health Minister has however expressed understanding of the quick reaction of the medical profession and would like to reiterate that she never attributed the pilfering to the medical doctors,” the Communication Minister told the press.

Dr. Neneh Bah the Vice President of GARD said the 48 hours ultimatum that was given to the Health Minister Saffie Lowe Ceesay to resign has elapsed.

The Association said the strike will be in different stages. To start with, it said there will be emergency doctors stationed in each medical facility, but she pointed out that there wouldn’t be any ward and outpatient services. During the course of the strike, ward and outpatient services would be closed to the public henceforth.

The second of the strike will mean shutting down the entire health system. As a result, doctors will not be available in the health facilities to attend to patients.

The unhappy doctors, under the banner of GARD, accused the Minister and for Permanent Secretary under Jammeh of being incompetent and unfit to run the Ministry.

“There is a significant increase in non-communicable diseases among Gambians, for which there are currently no specialists, diagnostic equipment, treatment guidelines, or medicines to diagnose and treat these conditions,” Dr. Ebrima Bah, President of GUARD said in a statement announcing the start of the strike on Thursday at the EFSTH in Banjul.

Medical doctors, they said, work under very unsafe conditions in which they are constantly exposed to infectious agents without proper protective wear leading to health risks to themselves and to patients they care for.

”In one year plus, the Ministry has been unable to clearly articulate a vision in how to go about transforming the health system. This was clearly manifested in the 2018 Budget speech in which we saw no tangible short or long term plans, such as a plan to provide universal health coverage for our relatively small population of 2 million people,” Dr. Ebrima Bah, GARD President remarked.

The concept of sustainable development can be interpreted in many different ways. At its core is an approach to development that looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations we face as a society.

Sustainable development, simply means, development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Living within our environmental limits is one of the central principles of sustainable development. One implication of not doing so is climate change.

In The Gambia, a country reeling from the damages caused by irresponsible leadership resulting in major damages to the body politic’, toxic environment pollution and crisis within banking, a bottom-up approach to development is the surest way to remedial solutions.

Let it be known the focus of sustainable development is far broader than just the environment. It’s also about ensuring a strong, healthy and just society. This means meeting the diverse needs of all people in existing and future communities, promoting personal wellbeing, social cohesion and inclusion, and creating equal opportunity. That calls for courage and vison, and the reason why one calls on parliament to scrutinise and debate the National Development Plan (NDP) identify gaps, where so.

A sustainable development approach can bring many benefits for The Gambia, saving the tax payer millions each year. It is a case of implementing smart policies and finding better ways of doing things, both for the future and the present. I call on the authorities to regulate tree cutting causing damage to the rain forest. The Gambia, alone, cannot satisfy the world with its demand for logs. The forest must be allowed to grow green and breathe.

Sustainable development approach makes for better decisions on the issues that affect all of our lives. We should all realise the way we approach development affects everyone. The impacts of government decisions and that of our own individually have very real consequences. Take the most populous city, Serekunda, for example, poor city planning and lack of investment in local communities has led to a reduction in the quality of life for residents

By designing smart cities with desirable leisure parks, high streets, brand new roads + pavement, LED solar street lights, with free wifi internet access for schools and colleges, whilst incorporating primary health plans for local communities, we can enhance the quality of life of all Gambians.

Today, poor town and city planning continues to add significant stress to land allocation for residential, commercial and farming purposes. The country needs to redesign and rebuild it cities, Serekunda, Brikama, Gunjur, Basse, especially Banjul. A potential for desirable sprawling cities to house the population on a par with Kigali, Dakar, Nairobi or ‘Dar es Salaam’ – and to designate the countryside an agricultural zone.

Government has to prioritise agriculture, foremost, and to ensure a sustainable food supply chain ensuring The Gambia produces enough rice and vegetables all year round. Please, let Gambia be that farmland to supply and feed Africa and Europe with its fruits and sunny delights.

To be fair, every Gambian has a part to play in sustainable development, it requires each one of us. Small actions, taken collectively, can add up to real change. However, government role to achieve sustainability in The Gambia. If one may appeal to the administration to look through the UN Sustainable development Goals, and to its own development blueprint, and deliver big on promises.

A few – To do-list

• The weekly press briefs from the presidency was received to widespread acclaim; so was the announcement to Cabinet meetings.

• But, please, what is happening within agriculture? Why the great silence? Will someone explain what good, if any, is in motion towards mechanised agriculture, land reforms, rice cultivation, peanut farming, horticulture and such irrigation best practices? Tell us more!

• On the issue of ‘National Security’, not impressed, by CDS, asking for more money on camera. On what? Weapons? The Gambia should return to the basics – reorganise, restructure & retrain its military, which must not exceed two-thousand personnel. Let police reform be the focus strategize a new path to reclaim & restore Gambia’s streets to safety. It requires stricter gun laws. And who is the interior minister? With the country’s fishery products subject to daily theft costing injury in lost tax revenue, the navy must upend and mobilise defend Gambian waters. But they need training first, and smart weaponized boats to be effective; collaborating with regional maritime posts. Can the army come off barracks, start working on bridges, road construction, help clear parks and forests and some other damn fine jobs that secure and strengthen the nation in various sustainable turns sic.

• The new constitution under draft – ready yet? Will it be put through a referendum on the day as nationwide local government elections? Helps save time and money to the tax payer. Let parliament stay up all night debate points if needs be. Work THRU a weekend too where needed to meet this time frame. Since everyone in government is talking about national interest, show your sincerity!

• President Barrow & his Cabinet should look to replace the ‘Dalasi’ bank notes for quality polymer technology that cannot be counterfeit. The Gambian currency needs to reclaim its value & status.

• On a lighter note – Parliament should install a gym; so is the presidency. Simply because despite politicking, we care for our leaders wishing them to succeed & live long. A little run & sweat helps for a healthy living. Hence, true democracy come in the form of a ‘Social Contract’, we, the tax paying public, are happy to fork out that maintenance, as long as the actions of politicians reflect that of the ‘National Interest’.

Gibril Saine    Twitter: @gibbysaine

The Managing Director of Trust Bank, Ebrima Sallah Thursday faced the Janneh Commission to explain the deduction of funds from various accounts relating to the former president and Jammeh Foundation for Peace among other accounts.

Mr. Sallah in his evidence confirmed the deduction of over $100,000 transferred to various accounts, noting that Jammeh was a signatory to all the accounts that funds were deducted and transferred from.

He however told the commissioners that he had not seen the facility letter indicating the terms and conditions of the loan with regard to the Jammeh Foundation for Peace accounts; adding that no correspondence was shown to him and concluded that the document was not at their office.

According to him, Jammeh was the one administering and giving instructions transactions on the Foundation’s accounts and other related accounts

Mr. Augustus Prom Junior also faced the commission with regard to the Westwood Company and told the commission that they have given BPI Tourism Services officials access to the records of Westwood Company for the exportation of timber.

He gave summary of the timber exported by the company from 2014 to 2017 and the total container of timber exported he said, was 13,000 containers valued at $39,084,000.

He also provided the loan agreement between Westwood Company and its other agencies, testifying that the sum of $5million loan was in respect of Ocean Bay Hotel while the sum of$ 2million loan was in respect of Sun Beach Hotel and there was another loan of $500,000.

Mr Prom Junior testified that the said loan agreement was a 3- year grace period with no interest, further stating that the sum of $7,810,115 was paid to Kanilai Family Farms as advance dividend by Westwood Company from the years 2015 to 2016.

Junior Prom also told the commission that he has the tenancy agreement between BPI Tourism Services and Westwood Company and the sum of $40,000 was the annual payment agreement.

Further testifying, he said The Gambia Revenue Authority is claiming the sum of D253, 000,000 from Westwood Company and out of the sum, the company only paid the sum of D70, 000,000 with regard to tax and Maersk Line Shipping Agency is claiming the sum of D11.2 million for the containers used for shipment while GIEPA is claiming the sum of $5million for the warehouse at the airport.

Anthony Panetta, consultant for BPI Tourism Services also reappeared to shed light on the Westwood Company and tendered the memorandum and article of association of the company and other relevant documents and information about the company which were admitted in evidence.

Meanwhile, the commission is in recess till March 19, 2018.

By Omar Wally

The Fatu Network has been reliably informed that forty five Gambians have been deported from United States of America. The deportees include men and women most of whom spent decades in America. They arrived in The Gambia on Wednesday evening.

Saikou Ceesay, communication officer Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the reason for their deportation is that they have been living in United States illegally.

‘Those identified as Gambians were provided with emergency travel certificate to enable them travel to Banjul.’

Ceesay said it is important for Gambians abroad and in the country to know that the welfare of those deported is the concern of the government of the Gambia.

‘Remember, this is not something new, people have been deported to the Gambia before and Gambia deports people too, it is a normal routine.’

The immortal words of the bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, suffice for solace in the matter of our inevitable ultimate call, death. Indeed Shakespeare is right, as he penned in Hamlet: “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all.”

The late Abdoulie is my cousin, his mother being a younger maternal sibling of my late father. Being much older than me and having lived abroad for many years, I did not know much about him until recently when he returned home. He would occasionally visit and hold long conversations with me and my wife, Jai. And he had more chats with Jai than me but everytime he visited in my absence and Jai narrated the content of their discussion, I was impressed by Abdoulie’s sense of love and compassion for both humans and animals.

He would give detailed narrations of horses he had been handling when he worked in America, handling prime race horses. But Abdoulie did not work with horses for the mere accumulation of money. His passion for animal husbandry was inborn. It is a habit he nurtured from his early childhood in Farafenni.

Abdoulie also had a deep sense of civic responsibility; he was a significant force in the last Presidential campaign as he rallied voters in the North Bank region in favour of the coalition. Even when he was advised to take it easy for fear of reprisals from the incumbent, Abdoulie never relented.

When the political impasse was finally resolved and calm returned to Banjul, he came to visit me. We had a good chat and he shared his experience during the past campaign. I was impressed. He asked me to work on a project which I started, only to halt it after a few weeks. I had just taken up the task again to complete it as he suggested when a call came through to announce his demise.

I rushed to Farafenni to attend his funeral and the testimonies I heard about the love and compassion demonstrated by the late brother was unrivaled by any I ever heard. The imam spoke about Abdoulie’s devotion to prayers and his bond with animals, specifically narrated how the deceased took care of a little donkey that lost its mother through a car accident; he personally took care of and nurtured the foal to maturity and the foal became so close to him that even if Abdoulie was going to the mosque to pray it would follow him. He narrated how emotional it was to see the foal jump on Abdoulie as if to hug him.

As I listened to this and many other testimonies to the kindness of Abdoulie and the love and respect he showed his relatives, especially the elderly ones, who he regularly visited in nearby towns and villages, my sadness melted into appreciation of a life well-lived.

There are several narrations of the heavenly rewards of showing loving kindness to people, especially relatives in the Islamic tradition. And there is a specific narrative from the prophetic tradition that a man went to hell fire because of cruelty he meted out to a cat and another was sent o heaven for giving water to a thirsty dog. All these thoughts reinforced my faith that the departed would did live a life worthy of emulation. And as Shakespeare rightly observed, what is to be will be; so all that is important is “the readiness”!

As I bid my brotherhood farewell at the cemetery in Farafenni, another set of lines of the great William Shakespeare come to mind: “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade / When in eternal lines to time thou growest.”

The power of words/poems could immortalise people. So to his eternal memory I penned:

Adieu Abdoulie

Gone into the soft winds

Riding on angelic wings

Adieu my brother Abdoulie

You lived a life spiritually high

Served love from far and nigh

You were a torch in our night

To The Merciful Lord I  cry

To lift you higher in heavenly light

Adorn your abode with lovely stars

Remove all past worldly scars

Keep you in the company of the saintly stars

Adieu our kindly loving star

By Momodou Sabally

PRESS RELEASE

BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

An Equatorial Guinean court on March 7, 2018 released an artist imprisoned on dubious charges for nearly six months, 18 human rights groups said today. The prosecution dropped all charges against Ramón Esono Ebalé, a cartoonist whose work is often critical of the government, at his February 27 trial after the police officer who had accused him of counterfeiting $1,800 of local currency admitted making the accusation based on orders from his superiors.

It is a huge relief that the prosecution dropped its charges against Ramon, but they should never have been pressed in the first place

“It is a huge relief that the prosecution dropped its charges against Ramon, but they should never have been pressed in the first place,” said Salil Tripathi, chair of PEN International’s Writers-in-Prison Committee. “We urge the authorities to guarantee his safe return to his family, allow him to continue creating his hard-hitting cartoons, and ensure that Equatorial Guinea respects the right to freedom of expression.”

The global #FreeNseRamon coalition, consisting of hundreds of artists, activists, and organizations devoted to protecting artistic freedom, freedom of expression and other human rights, carried out a campaign to direct international attention to his situation.

“Ramon’s release from prison is a testament of the power of collective work of hundreds of artists, concerned citizens, and NGOs,” said Tutu Alicante, director of EG Justice, which promotes human rights in Equatorial Guinea. “But we must not forget that dozens of government opponents who are not as fortunate fill Equatorial Guinea’s jails; thus, the fight against human rights violations and impunity must continue.”

Esono Ebalé, who lives outside of his native Equatorial Guinea, was arrested on September 16, 2017, while visiting the country to request a new passport. Police interrogated him about drawings critical of the government, said two Spanish friends who were arrested and interrogated alongside him and were later released.

But a news report broadcast on a government-owned television channel a few days after the arrest claimed that police had found 1 million Central African francs in the car Esono Ebalé was driving. On December 7, he was formally accused of counterfeiting. The charge sheet alleged that a police officer, acting on a tip, had asked him to exchange large bills and received counterfeit notes in return.

Ramon’s release is an important victory against repression

“Equatorial Guinea’s government has a long record of harassing and persecuting its critics,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Ramon’s release is an important victory against repression.”

At the trial on February 27 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital, it became clear that the police officer who had made the accusations had no personal knowledge of Esono Ebalé’s involvement in the alleged crime, according to his lawyer and another person present at the trial. After offering details that conflicted with the official account, the officer admitted that he had acted on orders of his superiors, they said. The prosecution then withdrew the charges.

“We are delighted that Ramón was acquitted and is finally free,” said Angela Quintal, Africa Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists. “The fact that the state’s main witness recanted, underscores the point that authorities manufactured the charges in the first place. Ramon should never have spent a single day behind bars and we trust that he will not be subjected to any further reprisal.”

“Now that Ramon has been released, the authorities must launch a thorough and effective investigation into whether the charges against him were fabricated, and ensure that the criminal justice system is no longer misused to target and harass human rights defenders,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Equatorial Guinea.

The human rights groups are : Amnesty International, Arterial Network, Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Asociación Profesional de Ilustradores de Madrid, Cartoonists Rights Network International, Cartooning for Peace, Committee to Protect Journalists, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Jonathan Price and Paul Mason, Doughty Street Chambers, UK, EG Justice, FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Freemuse, Human Rights Watch, Index on Censorship, PEN America, PEN International, Reporters without Borders, Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

In the past week or two, reports have been circulating on social media and the local newspapers that there is a scrimmage between the Minister of Health Mrs Saffie Lowe-Ceesay and the doctors in the country. It is reported that the ruckus began when Madam Ceesay made remarks which were seen as disparaging by many doctors in the country’s health sector.

It was reported that the minister’s statement that corruption is hindering the country’s healthcare delivery system, sparked a lot of condemnation. The ministry officials initially wanted to portray that their Honourable Minister might have been misquoted but, according to The Standard Newspaper which broke the story out they arranged for officials of the ministry to listen to the recorded tapes which made it clear that she was in fact not misquoted.

Now, Mr President, the Gambia Association of Resident Doctors is calling for the resignation of the minister in forty-eight hours or else they will consider going on a sit-down strike. This has become more serious than I thought. It is important that a solution is found as soon as possible. Someone must do something about this before it gets out of hand.

The Gambia has changed dramatically, and anyone who holds office – or wishes to hold office – in this country must recognize this and work and act accordingly. The Gambia of today is not the Gambia of yester years. The time has come when citizens, be they doctors, teachers, nurses, clerks and others will not take some statements lying down. They have found their voices, and no one will make them silent again.

It is becoming a routine that government officials make statements only to realize that it is unacceptable, and that people will not accept such anymore. When the Teachers for Change called for a sit-down strike, the Minister of Education threatened that they would be punished only to realize that she did not do the right thing. They ended up negotiating a solution. Mr Hamat Bah’s sacking has been called for by some activists (myself included) and the government had to apologize for his statements.

Your ministers must realize that they have to weigh their words from henceforth because Gambians have broken the chains and will not sit by and see their rights violated or, being disrespected by government officials. A sit-down strike by doctors would be catastrophic at this stage. Yet, we cannot prevent them from doing it if their demands are not met. So, we must seek to negotiate with them.

Doctors also know that what they signed up for is to protect life at all cost. They protect – or should protect – lives at even if it means that they have to sacrifice their leisure, their time with family and other needs. Thus, a statement from one person even if s/he is the minister should not make them lose sight of their sworn duty which they certainly value, judging by their track record so far.

Thus, it seems to me that there is room for a fruitful negotiation and doing it now will save us a lot of trouble; and perhaps, save Gambian lives!

Have a Good day Mr President…

Tha Scribbler Bah

A Concerned Citizen