WHO KILLED DEYDA HYDARA

Deyda's last article

Something Positive

Nothing good ever comes out of The Gambia. Yes, you heard me. I said, Nothing good ever comes out of Gambia…Ok, I’m kidding…but isn’t that the feeling you get reading all our online news sources? When was the last time you read something good about the country from our online journalists especially those based abroad? Same as critiquing our journalists, it’s almost like a sin to report on something positive (Just ask Cherno Baba Jallow).

Anyway, just like I dared to break that taboo of critiquing our “journalists”, today I am breaking another one by reporting something positive that Gambians everywhere can be proud of.

The USA is not known for football, or soccer as they call it, but the Major League Soccer has been making some major strides in trying to catch up with the rest of the world. The addition of big names like Juan Pablo Angel and David Beckham is drawing crowds and interest from around the world. At the conclusion last year of the U21 World Cup in Canada, the New England Revolution drafted 2 Gambian Internationals in Sainey Nyassi and Abdoulie (Kenny) Mansally. Having joined mid-season last year, they played with the reserve team but have broken into the starting eleven this season and they haven’t done so quietly. Not once is the New England Revolution mentioned this season without the anecdote “the two young Gambians”. The “boys” are playing so well that they’ve made themselves key players to the New England squad and a talking point of every MLS discussion. Sainey Nyassi’s goal on his debut was voted MLS goal of the week.

All of us at The Gambia News Filter send our congratulations to Nyassi and Mansally. We wish them good health and luck for long successful careers representing Gambian football.

Now, I know football is may not be of interest to some of our readers but this issue extends beyond football. These boys are ambassadors of the Gambia and their good performance will open doors for many more aspiring young Gambian footballers.

On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to alert Gambian parents, AND THE GOVERNMENT, to be cautious about the possible negatives that come along with increased interest from football scouts. It’s a serious problem facing African countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal. After their performances in the World Cup and the brilliance of stars like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien of Chelsea, huge doors have been opened for young football aspirants to have the opportunity to change their lives and those of their families and communities with the kick of a ball. However, along with the opportunities come the predators. Unlicensed football traffickers are taking advantage of the desperation and ignorance of poor young men and their families by charging them fees and promising tryouts in Europe only to leave them stranded on the streets of Europe.

To end, I would like to remind our journalists that there are others in the country besides Jammeh and reporting on something positive does not make you a Jammeh supporter. It doesn’t make you unpatriotic either. The current administration doesn’t need any help embarrassing itself or us Gambians. With stories of mystery cures, hire today/fire today and cases of missing demons, Gambians have enough egg on their faces to wipe off. You can help provide napkins by occasionally finding positive stories that we can show our friends.

Conspiracy Theory

It all began a few days ago with an article in the Observer on March 4th, in which one Baboucarr Trawally, President of the Gambia Professional Photographer's Association, allegedly "walked into the Daily Observer’s offices on Sunday, fuming with outrage at the performance of the GPU executive". 

"I have been in the union since its inception", Mr Trawally reportedly fumed, "but I have observed that the executive have not delivered as expected". [Strike 1]

Then, on the 11th, in an editorial title "GPU, the questions", the Daily Observer posed a few questions of the GPU executive, the thrust of their questioning being that they had registered members (Daily Ob journalists) for the GPU, but since the Congress was happening in 12 days, and the registration process seemed to be poised to take longer than that, they were worried the journalists they had registered would be unable to vote at the congress. In closing they quoted Mr Ceesay, the GPU President's answer ("We are mature and responsible people who will give enough time to applicants to become members"), and said they "ope for the sake of the GPU and its members this promise is kept and all are allowed to vote at Congress". [Strike 2]

On the 12th there was a follow-up article ("GPU accepts journalists registration"), with a victorious scan of the receipt for payment drawn for the Observer by the GPU. "This now means", the article ended, "that the 31 Daily Observer applicants have paid their annual subscription in full and should be able to pertake in the deliberations and decisions of the forth coming GPU congress... we await the GPU Executive’s confirmation of the membership of our journalists. We anticipate no problem in this and wish the GPU good luck at the Congress’s deliberations". [Strike 3]

Finally, today, a report from an independent online source, connecting the dots (and heavily quoting the Point newspaper): "Sources revealed the Gambia Radio and Television Services Thursday registered 54 of its staff and the pro-government newspaper, the Daily Observer also register e d 31 of its staff.... "Gambian government is all out to take over the Gambia Press Union and if this w orks, the President will be able to control the press and this will go a long wa y to re-establish the failed National Media Commission that was set up in 2004," sources added.... The sudden interest that most organisations and individuals in the media frater nity have shown in the fate of the GPU is suggestive of something sinister."

So which is it? Reading too much into an innocent attempt by Observer (and GRTS) to take part in normal media activities? Or, as the article above suggests, a thrilling conspiracy to take over the media by more subtle means than arresting journalists and harassing them, and burning down their presses (which practices, in the end, defeat their own purpose by giving the affected journalists even more exposure)?

As the editorial in the Observer today says, waxing philosophical: " Maybe  we cannot make most people happy. Most people would probably always be grumpy with whatever system of governance we have in place. Maybe what we should look for is a system which most people find tolerable, a system in which the rulers are not so oppressive and corrupt as to lead to rebellion and revolution... if you give the people bread and peace you can govern for as long as you wish. If people are hungry and fearful, beware a revolution". In as much as the Observer is one face of Government policy, perhaps we can take this to mean that we are leaving the era of heavy-handed governance behind ("death to all enemies! burn all the presses! support the Party or be an unpatriotic outcast!"), and entering the one where the Government becomes more cunning, not openly breaking any laws, achieving its objectives without the use of (visible) force. 

It doesn't get more farcical than this...

In other news, alleged NIA agents attempt to kidnap Yaya Dampha (the journalist who got into trouble for giving a tour of the country to Amnesty International representatives), and abduct him from his exile in Senegal. The result?

The sources said Dampha sought the intervention of his neighbours on recognizing one of the men...but through the intervention of his neighbours, the men fled.

Read more here and here. [Curiously enough there's still been no mention of this even in the Foroyaa, the paper Mr Danfa worked for].

Gambian Online Radio

Some Gambian journalists in Senegal have launched an online radio station. From the press release:

With the current political atmosphere in The Gambia, which is characterised by arrests, threats, unlawful detentions, closures and burning of media houses, eavesdropping by security agents, suppression of information and a general sense of fear, the Dakar-based journalists, with their counter-parts in Banjul, felt it necessary to initiate an online media with the sole objective of providing the Gambian people with an alternative means of accessing impartial and independent information.

You can visit the radio itself here. It sounds like a very good idea, though - as the problem is with any online endeavour in a country where there is only a small percentage of Internet penetration - not many people will be reached by this. However they do say something on their site about using Senegalese transmitters to broadcast a signal into the Gambia, which would solve this problem. 

Good luck to them, and I hope it works out.

 

Two Trials

There were two stories in the news today that attracted my attention:

1) The Deputy Permanent Secretary of Agriculture's court case: So this guy goes to a bar. After having a few drinks he boasts about working for the State House, and hints ominuously that he has knowledge of the "true" owners of the Daily Observer. As a result he ends up being hauled into court, on one charge of giving false information, and another of impersonating public officers. 

2) Mam Sait Ceesay's Trial for writing a report announcing someone had been appointed to a Government position when they had not, the only harm done being that the subject in question's friend called him to congratulate him only to find out it was not true. [Mr Ceesay was arrested with a fellow journalist, Malick Jones - somewhere along the way the case against Mr Jones was quietly dropped]

Both cases sound, from where I am sitting, more like the defendants simply pissed off the wrong guy in the labyrinthine power structure which is the Gambia Government (i.e. APRC party), and are now getting punished for it.  

One of the major problems of having one party pretty much run the state is that party in-fighting and all the other nastiness involved in party politics automatically spill over, into (ideally neutral) Government space. Because there are no checks in place, the ruling party uses the powers of Government it has to coerce/bribe people into supporting it, completely undermining the whole democratic process, and then when it is in power continues this trend to lengthen its stay. 

The sycophancy and praise-singing which have become such a staple in even the lowliest civil servants' speeches in the Gambia are not there because these people like to grovel before others and kiss their feet - they are there because the way the system is set up, you have to please (at the most basic, animal level) the people above you in order for them to give you a hand up. Working for the Government is not just turning up for work everyday, and dutifully doing your bit - it's also showing full party support, or at worst not being seen to be in opposition to the party ("unpatriotic" is a useful word here - it has come to mean not supporting the party (and therefore not liking your country), and in these times is one of the most deadly accusations someone can make of a civil servant). 

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that within the party itself there is nothing even remotely approaching intelligent debate, or healthy disagreements on issues that affect all Gambians. Instead there are these continuous power jostles, people being sacked and taken to prison and re-instated and sacked again, until everyone is on their last nerves, and marabouts in the country are doing a brisk business in job-preserving jujus. This is bad for the party itself - though it gives some control to the leaders, which is probably the point, it is also creating a fragmented party, one which will not stand up to any real crisis (such as an opposition worthy of the name actually competing for elections, and going all the way). And, since the party in this case is also the state, it's bad for the country as a whole - if you did a survey of civil servants, especially in the higher positions, "losing my job" would probably be one of the top fears listed by participants. This cannot be a healthy thing for the country - a civil servant is more likely to be corrupt, and do a hit-and-run on their position, when they continually fear losing their position.  And instead of concentrating on doing productive work for the country, they instead concentrate on improving their rankings within the party, since this is after all the more important benchmark by which they will be measured, in the end.

Amnesty International Report: Journalist in Senegal at risk of disappearance

Yahya Danfa, who got into trouble with the authorities for working with Amnesty International representatives in The Gambia, and who had to flee to Senegal, is apparently not safe even there, according to an Amnesty International report which seems to have slipped under the radar of even the usually quite watchful Foroyaa. I don't know about the veracity of the claims here, but if it is indeed true that his family got harassed, and that he himself is in fear of being kidnapped and brought back to the country to be punished, even after he fled to another country where he poses no danger whatsoever, then that's very sad, and will only serve to further soil the already pretty grimy human rights record of the current Government. 

Roundup March 10th 2008

International Women's Day Commemorated [foroyaa]

Gambian women still get the short end of the stick in a lot of cases - they are the poorest amongst the poor, massively under-represented (though this is changing, in some ways), and still manage to run the nation: cooking, cleaning, washing, doing all the back-breaking work that gets no recognition and no thanks. So any day organized to draw attention to their plight and call for change is a good thing. A nice quote from Dr Touray, the executive director of GAMCOTRAP:

"[Dr Touray] highlighted the concept of Gender Equality, which she said seems to raise a lot of intellectual and political debates, particularly among the epistemologists, as well as men, women and highly placed decision makers who, she said, tend to politicize the issue and thereby miss its essence."

Fighting for Gender Equality (which often as not gets all the men in the conversation to turn away with knowing smirks on their faces) for Gambian women is important, but at the moment it is probably more productive to begin by fighting for just the right to, for example, share some of the housework/babysitting duties with their male partner instead of having to sweep the backyard with the latest baby on their backs, whilst he sits in the living room chewing gerrteh saaf and watching football, after having spent the whole day cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. [if you're a Gambian male reading this and you gasped at the - gasp! - mere idea of sharing the housework with your wife, there's my point, proven].

There is a also a related story in Foroyaa, which you can read here, and one from the Observer.

Gambia: Country Immigration to Crackdown On Illegal Immigrants Today!! [Freedom]

OK I'm going to stop linking to stories from Freedom, and I know I've made this promise in the past, but I find it extremely hard to pass up the chance to make fun of their stories [exclamation marks and all: they seem to think the more exclamation marks they add to a story the more! believable! it! is!!!].

And right from the first paragraph the slinging starts:

The Gambia Immigration was over the past month training to be able to harass as in the past, people purportedly believe to be without their Alien Card or their Residential or Work permit, the third month of the year.

training to be able to harass people, no less. Who writes these things?

The sad thing is that there actually is a story of note here: it's very disheartening to hear about people from neighboring countries being arrested, roughed up, and deported for not paying an "aliens tax". Where is the "pan-Africanism" in this? [to use a word much beloved by the President and his supporters]. 

There's a press release about the issue over at foroyaa.

Five Security Agents to Appear Before the Ecowas Community Court in the ?Disappeared? Journalist?s Case [Media Foundation for West Africa]

Accusations and counter-accusations have flown over this one, but it still remains very, very mysterious. Maybe this will help get to the bottom of it (should the security agents actually appear). [more coverage from foroyaa].

Many Vehicles Impounded [foroyaa]

Concerning a story we covered in the last news roundup, which was (as usual) wildly over-reported by the usual suspects [hint: their name starts with an F! and they like their exclamation points!!!!]

ICE in Turmoil [foroyaa]

News story about a "brawl" erupting at ICE [Institute for Continuing Education] high school, which is sad, though the reporter gets rather carried away, calling ICE-students the "flowers of our nation", which was rather stretching the point... But I hope this gets resolved soon.

Freedom Newspaper Blocked

Freedom Newspaper apparently finally got blocked by the Gambia Government, much to their consternation - that link is to a breathless article published in Freedom, in which various sources supposedly decry the blocking of their site, calling it their "University" and main source of news (I am trying very, very hard to stay neutral and unbiased here, but anyone who makes a hate-rag like Freedom, the sorriest excuse for a newspaper the Gambia has ever seen, their main source of information needs professional help). The article ends:

The Freedom Newspaper is a household name in The Gambia, but Jammeh cannot stand the paper. He fears the paper to death. The paper has been banned in The Gambia.

which, alas, is how it's going to be spun the next few days ad nauseam: that the Government, now scared to death by the privileged "information" being revealed by Freedom, has shut it down.  

In the past we have spoken about Freedom, and the distaste any "news" story (and Freedom does "news", not news - the quotes are there for a reason) on their site brings to our mouths. But shutting them down does not really solve the problem, because:

1) It gives them legitimacy. This is not the first time this has happened - a few months ago they were blocked, only to have the block lifted, for some reason. They, of course, milked this for all it was worth, going on about free speech and democracy and how the rule of the masses could not be kept down. (Freedom is very good at manipulating words like "democracy", and its eponymous "freedom", to its twisted aims - on the front page and every other page of their site there is a picture of Deyda Hydara, with the words "Who Killed Deyda?" underneath it).

2) The block is not total, and only makes it a little harder to access the site, even for the most technically unsavvy users - it is a direct block on the site itself, which can be easily circumvented by using google or any number of anonymous proxies found online, or even allafrica's Gambia portal. And so it becomes more symbolic than anything, showing that the Government cares enough about what Freedom is saying to try and stop citizens from reading it. Which, in the eyes of Samba Ordinary Citizen, is the final piece of evidence to make them give up any doubts they had about the paper and its legitimacy.

On the other hand, whilst I think the Internet would be a much better place without the likes of Freedom polluting it, I think it is worrying to consider the possible implications of having the Government have the power to simply drop the axe on any website which publishes information not to its liking. Freedom has any number of arguments supporting its blocking, but how far of a step is it for a Government to take from blocking Freedom, to blocking other websites which publish articles monitoring it, or exposing it in an unfavorable light, or even promoting ideas which it would rather its citizens not have access to? 

Gambian Litter Laws

This week the Daily Observer have been running a crusade to stop littering, and get the NEA/Police to actually start enforcing the new anti-litter laws which got created a while back. Here are some of the articles published:

- Any anti-litter prosecution?

 

- NEA Boss Speaks

- Litter and the Law

There seems to be a bit of confusion between the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Police, over who should enforce the laws (understandably - no one wants this extra work added to their already tight schedules). 

The Observer's campaign is actually quite commendable - less litter on the streets is a good thing. I think the anti-litter laws are a good first step. However, in addition to making laws against littering, the area councils (BCC, KMC, etc.) should also enable people to dispose of their litter in non-law-breaking ways, by putting trash cans everywhere, and making sure they are collected every week without fail by council service men. Otherwise people will choose convenience (disposing of an empty drinks can immediately, on the street) over saving the environment (carrying it around with you until you find a trash can, which could take a while) any day.

Not all Doom And Gloom #1

Meanwhile, in The Gambia, it's not all doom and gloom (as some online papers would have you believe, naming no names or anything). I received this report from a friend of mine who goes to work in Banjul everyday, from Taborkoto:

There's been a transport problem for a very long time, going to Banjul in the morning, and going home from Banjul after work. The problem is that there are more passengers than vans and also that, whilst people congregate at West Field in the morning, the van drivers would rather run the Serekunda/Taborkoto-Westield route, than the Banjul-Westfield one, because the latter has only one-way traffic in the mornings (to Banjul), whilst the former has guaranteed two-way full trips.

So, in order to solve the problem and keep the wheels of the country running (most of the passengers who wait for vans at West Field are civil servants or students), there are police officers now posted at Westfield every morning. They don't use force (not even having truncheons on them) but talk to the drivers instead - any driver with an empty van trying to run the more lucrative Taborkoto-Westfield route is asked nicely to turn around and run the Banjul one instead (drivers who already have passengers are allowed to go on). All the drivers I've seen asked have complied. This has made it much easier to get transport in the mornings, and made the work day as a whole much more pleasant. I think this is a very good example of how the government can step in to help citizens, in small but ultimately important ways.

News Review 7th March 2008

Gambia: Hundreds of Banjul/Serre-Kunda Left Stranded Wednesday!!

Typical Freedom hate-spiel, typical Freedom misrepresentation of facts and completely getting wrong their interpretation of what actually is happening. The car shortage is actually due to the police impounding vehicles which have not renewed their licenses, a perfectly reasonable activity, given that drivers have ample time to do this (once-a-year) activity. From the article: "It could be recalled that several times after these monies are collected one man steals and disappears in the thin air, this has several times hit the Immigration department and people are hoping that it would not happen this year as many are only trying to fill their pockets and get away from the government.".

Seriously as long as Freedom continues to pull allegations like this seemingly out of thin air, with no backing and no hard facts whatsoever to back them, I do not see how people can take them seriously.

Gambian Students Flying Our Flag High in Taiwan

- A very reasoned, well-thought-out reply to the Freedom article concerning the same topic, which I will not dignify by linking to here. The only sad thing is that so much energy has to be spent defending against smear campaigns like this one - surely we have enough REAL issues to discuss, that we don't need to make new ones up.

Man Collapses, Dies While Approaching President Jammeh

"In an interview shortly afterwards the President said that he had spotted the man at a distance and knew his intentions were motivated by hate but that he was better prepared for any eventuality."

Seriously. Someone. Tell. This. Guy. He. Is. Not. Jesus. Reincarnate. !!!(And funnily enough it's The Point who are reporting this, myth-building aspects and all, whilst the usually eager-as-puppies-for-propaganda Daily Observer didn't say a word).

Armed Robbery Becoming Habitual in CRR - Governor Touray

The evidence sounds a bit too circumstantial to me. If Mr Jallow owned his own shop, why did the supposed armed robbers not rob him? Why would armed robbers who had planned enough to get a truck and choose a time of night and everything then not know how to get to the place they wanted to rob, and have to ask for directions? And, if they were armed, why did they ask nicely?

Gambia: Lieutenant Bakary Camara Still Not in Court

No matter what else you have to say against Foroyaa, I think it still is very, very admirable that they not only keep pressing the Government to account for missing persons, and downright noble of them that they don't limit this to just opposition figures, but also Government personnel as well, people who on a normal day would probably consider Foroyaa mortal enemies. Not that anything gets done about it. Ah well - at least in the future, when we are all dust and all that, archivists and historians will have quite a comprehensive record of the current Government's disappearings and human rights abuses, simply by going through back issues of Foroyaa.

“We are happy and grateful to DOSE” - Gambia College Students


Very nice. How it's supposed to work really - the citizens speak, the Government hears them and tries to make things better. And teachers are the public servants about whom all the clichés are true: they are the bones in the backbone of the country, the masons and bricklayers right at the bottom whose work is so very important for building a strong, durable foundation for the nation-as-building-metaphor.

PETITION DEMANDING THE DISCHARGE OF MS. FATOU JAW MANNEH

An online petition demanding the discharge of Ms. Fatou Jaw Manneh's case has been summoned and accessible online at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Manneh/petition.html