Reviewing the News: Week Ending February 25th 2010

Reviewing the News: Week Ending February 25th 2010

Hello My Good Friends. It’s been a while. Too much going on and I’ve been mad busy. I’m back -well, I hope I’m back. In any case, I would really appreciate a hand to keep the blog going when I go into hibernation in future although I hope it doesn’t happen again. Please send articles, comments etc. to louisfriend4@gmail.com and I’ll be glad to publish. Now on to the news items.

THE GAMBIA ECHO
British Woman Exposes Gambia’s wanting Judicial Process

Woman goes to court to have land dispute resolved. Told that judgment could not be given because … “the new judge was unable to read the old judge’s handwriting”.
If the story is true, then yes it’s ludicrous and you have every right to be upset. However, I find it rather silly for Echo to claim that’s “exposing” our “wanting judicial process”…making a mountain out of a mole hill.

- I know of friends who lost great opportunities to work in the UK simply because Immigration LOST their paperwork and wasted months, sometimes years, before admitting they did.

- Don’t act like hiccups in judicial systems only happen only in The Gambia.
I’m in no way trying to justify or defend such a ridiculous statement from a judge but I’d like to point out land disputes happen all the time in the Gambia and it has nothing to do with that the letter writer’s nationality. If you have the right paperwork for your ownership of the land, then produce it and pursue the case. Let us know how you fare.

Millions Wasted as Jammeh orders demolition of Old Yundum Buildings: reports that government issued a “decree” to demolish buildings on Army Reserve Land in Old Yundum

- The Gambia Echo calls it land grabbing by the president but they have not verified whether it is indeed reserve land.
-I repeat my calls for you to quit the arm chair journalism and DO YOUR JOB the right way. VERIFY whether it indeed is reserve land. Where are your trusted “Kissy Kissy Mansa” and other “reliable sources” when you need them?
- If you prove it is not reserve land then you can justify your claims that it’s simply unlawful and unjust land grabbing by the government.
If, on the other hand, you find out it is reserve land, then tough luck to anyone who erected structures without getting the required permits. In any case, government needs to do a better job of monitoring what’s going on and regulating land. Better to stop people building when it was one or two structures than wait till now.

Gambians endure another embarrassment
Story reports that the Gambia Government has expelled the UN Resident Representative.

Not only would this be embarrassing to Gambia but also to the UN Systems and International Community. I haven’t verified this one but I remember the representative who was declared persona non-grata and asked to leave the Gambia immediately when she called for caution on the president’s claims of curing AIDS. These incidents only serve to give more credibility to the Lame Duck accusation levied on the United Nations.

If small Gambia cannot respect the International Community, then what hope is there for the Gambian People? Perhaps worse, what hope is there for any country in the world to respect International Organizations and laws?

Gambian Politician Calls on Military to Arrest Jammeh

This is a call by some fool on the military to overthrow the government and arrest Jammeh.
Not only is the call comical, it’s also cowardly and clearly not well-thought out. These are the punks living outside of the country and trying to stir up trouble. They’re the same cowards who never uttered a word when they were living in The Gambia and are even too scared to take a vacation.

In addition, how democratic are you if you’re calling for a military intervention? Two wrongs don’t make a right. Engage in some progressive criticism, some civic education or promote a political party. If you’re hell bent on using military action then grab a gun and head on down to Gambia… or ask Gibril Saidy for tips…lol (see story on “Man Charged with Treason” below in The Point)

FREEDOM NEWSPAPER
State to Drop Economic Crime Charges Against Lie Conteh

Former KMC Mayor Lie Conteh is in court for economic crimes. According to Freedom, the defense is now offering to pay back the monies he allegedly took and the prosecution is agreeing to dropping the charges.

- I say Bull Shit! (Yea, you heard me!) It’s a crime to steal and if you commit the crime you should do the time. Either you’re innocent and should not pay any money back or you are guilty and need to pay the money back AND face punishment for stealing from the people of the Gambia and betraying their trust. Teach our kids that it’s wrong to steal, whether you’re caught or not

- If this logic holds, then a burglar breaking into your house should be set free as long as he can go back and recover your items???

Ex Agric Minister in Court for Car Loan
Not too interesting of a story, and, as with all things from Freedom newspaper, I doubt the credibility of the story. They claim Kanja Sanneh, former Agriculture Minister, is in court for non-payment of a car loan. My point has nothing to do with the case.
All I’m saying is, if they’re right and Kanja is indeed broke after being fired as Minister, then I say he had what was coming to him. The story reports that Mr. Sanneh was a nurse in the USA before being appointed as to cabinet. Again, IF these reports are true, WHY on earth would a nurse accept an appointment as Minister of Agriculture???

Freedom vs Michael Scales: Bedfellows of Convenience

I can still remember Freedom editor Pa Nderry heaping praise Michael Scales when Scales donated money when Mr. Mbai’s child was born. Well Mr. Scales, until the next check for a naming ceremony comes along, your “bff-ship” is on shelf. The gripe is that Scales wants to donate money for an award to “Journalist of the Year”. Scales nominates Hatab Fatera of Daily Observer and Freedom “reject the nomination and Scales told to keep his money”.

Where is the FREEDOM in this? Does Hatab Fadera not have the right and freedom to support who he wants including Jammeh? As usual, it shows how Immature and hypocrite this news medium is. They despise Jammeh partly because he is intolerant to opposing views yet they’re telling us that one is disqualified from being “journalist of the year” simply because of who you work for or support regardless of how good you are at your job.

THE DAILY OBSERVER
Ansumana Jammeh is Gambia’s new Ambassador to Qatar

Well with the regime’s track record, this story should normally not have been worth mentioning. However, I can still hear those words on the radio back in 1994 from the then AFPRC…rampant corruption, flamboyant lifestyles in flashy cars, NEPOTISM… I sincerely hope Mr. Jammeh is qualified and would not give a toss if he does the job right. Just not sure how many people know that Ansumana is someone’s brother???

THE POINT
Man charged with Treason

According to the Point,” Gibril Saidy was alleged to have attempted to overthrow the government of The Gambia on 25 December 2009, by soliciting assistance from military personnel on duty at Yundum Army Barracks in the Western Region”
I say, thank God he did not succeed because the brother is clearly not the brightest.
This Genius thinks the way to stage a coup is to just walk up to some random military guys and ask them for help to overthrow the government of the day. - Great plan buddy! !! Dude must have pissed off his “marabout” to be led into believing he has some magical powers.
Even the government find him so toothless that they take him to court instead making him magically disappear like others previously accused of attempting to overthrow the government.
Well, at least he has the guts to be in the country and attempt something rather than stay abroad and write a bunch of bull.

Seriously though, whoever goes on to defend Mr. Saidy in court has a strong case of Insanity defence.

NYAMATOO Says: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Louis Friend needs to either continue writing the blog or hand it over to someone else. Enough of the start-stop attitude”

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

The Holy Ghost; Louis Reviews News for Week Ending December 2nd 2007

The Miracle Cures

This week, I start with a response to my co-blogger Amie Cham’s commentary on the President Jammeh’s (MMB) latest discovery, curing Infertility in Women. I quote from Ms Cham’s article …

{"The white man gives you infertility pills, and then asks you to lie with your husband", he (President Jammeh, Medical Myth Buster or MMB) proclaimed, "but I will not tell you this when I give you my medicine". He did not give further details, or explain exactly how his medicine would achieve what was previously thought impossible, and allow a human female to conceive asexually.}

I have two words for Ms Cham( and anyone who's wondering how this could be achieved) … HOLY SPIRIT. Mary conceived The Messiah without knowing the touch of a man so it is NOT thought impossible as you assert, at least not by those of us who have read and believe the Holy Scriptures. Brace yourself my friend, for there shall soon be plenty "Little Jesuses" roaming the streets of Banjul…or Kanilai ... turning water into wine.

On the same topic, I also read on Gainako that The President (MMB) has warned his patients not to let a second pair of hands touch the medicine bottles, even when empty, or else the treatment will fail. He strongly recommends that the empty bottles be thrown in the sea. Now this I have a problem with. How can someone who believes and enforces cleanliness (one Saturday of every month is now a mandatory national cleaning day) be recommending empty bottles thrown in the sea? I wonder what the National Environment Agency says to this.

First Lady Zaineb Jammeh gives birth in Washington,DC

Congratulations to President Jammeh and his wife on the birth of their second child together. Mrs. Jammeh reportedly gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Washington DC!!!

Senegambianews asks a worthy question …Why Washington instead of Banjul?

For a President who claims to be a Pan African, one who prides himself on transforming the Gambia into a donor country, one who is dedicated and has done “so much” for the health sector, why on earth would you fly your wife across the oceans to give birth? I know for a fact that it’s not to get US Citizenship because the US constitution does not allow children of foreign diplomats, including sitting heads of state, US citizenship by birth. I’m sure there are many Gambians who are as puzzled as I am and would appreciate an explanation.

Information Secretary Threatens Media

According to Senegambianews, the editors of The Point, Today and The Daily Express were called into Secretary of State Neneh MacDoll Gaye’s office and told “If you do not stop investigating stories about the government, your licenses will be revoked and your newspapers closed down". I’m not sure how accurate the report is but it considering the government’s track record, it would be no surprise if the meeting did take place. Citizen FM, Independent, Radio 1 FM are good supporting stories. What remains to be seen is how the said newspaper editors will react to it (if it did indeed happen). It is curious that the report came from Senegambianews instead of any of the 3 said newspapers. I wonder why.

What does 13 years rule of President Yahya Jammeh mean for The Gambia?

Abdou Karim Sanneh analyses the 13 years of Jammeh Rule in the Gambia. A good read, I thought, if you want to know all that is wrong with the Jammeh administration. I saw NO objectivity whatsoever. It was all BLAME BLAME BLAME. The paper seemed like a well-written college paper with the main purpose of impressing the Professor rather than finding solutions to a country’s problems. No surprise here since Mr. Sanneh is a postgraduate student at the University of Salford in the UK. (By the way, I would have graded it a C+ or a B- at most).

Failed state?

Ah, good old Alarmist Freedomnewspaper. For obvious reasons, I’m tired of commenting on their articles but I still feel obliged to remind some of our readers to take caution in what they read on their site. This time they call Gambia a Failed State. Here’s a definition of a failed state. You read it and decide for yourself whether The Gambia is anywhere close to it.

What does “state failure” mean?

“A state that is failing has several attributes. One of the most common is the loss of physical control of its territory or a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other attributes of state failure include the erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services, and the inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community. The 12 indicators cover a wide range of elements of the risk of state failure, such as extensive corruption and criminal behavior, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, group-based inequality, institutionalized persecution or discrimination, severe demographic pressures, brain drain, and environmental decay. States can fail at varying rates through explosion, implosion, erosion, or invasion over different time periods.”

Lovers of GAMBIA will be glad to learn that our Gambia ranks number 86 in the annual List of Failed States published by The United States Think-tank, the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy Magazine. Certainly far from desired but Freedomnewspaper will have you believe we’re worse than Iraq and Sudan.

Gambia's Lack of Press Freedom, A subject of Discussion at
Commonwealth Summit

According to Gainako, “The Human Rights group of the Commonwealth has made Gambia’s lack of Press Freedom a subject of discussion at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting to be held in Kampala, Uganda.”

A worthy subject not only for Gambia but for most, if not all, African countries. I hope they put pressure on the governments to respect the rights of all individuals including the press. However, I also ask - How about making A RESPONSIBLE PRESS a subject of discussion? I believe that while that the press owes it to themselves and their readers to report the news accurately, professionally and responsibly. We constantly hear of organizations putting pressure on governments to let the press be but not often enough do we hear them putting pressure on the press to do their jobs right.

NYAMATOO Says:

“Don’t despair blind people. After AIDS, Hypertension, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Infertility, Chicken Pox, Attention Deficiency Disorder, Depression, Measles, Mumps and Rubella…and God knows what…maybe the good doctor will get to you. No pun intended but “the future looks bright” for y’all."
- Louis Friend

Amie Cham; The Miracle Cures

Recently, on National Television, the President spoke about his latest cure, this time for Infertility. "The white man gives you infertility pills, and then asks you to lie with your husband", he proclaimed, "but I will not tell you this when I give you my medicine". He did not give further details, or explain exactly how his medicine would achieve what was previously thought impossible, and allow a human female to conceive asexually. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), 1500 women showed up for the infertility treatment, and half this number were checked into the program.

The other day during my daily perusal of the Gambian news websites, I came across a story about a fund-raising dinner for the "Foundation for the cure of AIDS and other Uncurable [sic] diseases" (a name which seems suspiciously to have been thought up by someone with at least a sense of irony). Prices for tables at this dinner were in the tens of thousands of dalasi range, and the money raised was to be used for logistical and other support for the foundation, including the making of documentaries preserving this most “historical” occurrence of our times.

All over the country, people have rushed to defend the Presidential cures, calling anyone outside the country who dared to speak up against them everything from “jealous” [the Senegalese Scientific community, who sent out a communiqué last year calling the cures bogus, and saying there was no scientific evidence in support of them], to “scared” [the drug companies, who apparently are “scared” because our President’s free cures will eat into their lucrative anti-retroviral drug market], to even “racist” [because, or so the argument goes, the President’s good work is not being recognized only because he is not white]. Everyone knows by now about the UNDP rep who got kicked out of the country for speaking up in public against the harmful effects of a “false” AIDS cure, especially coming from the Government [the next day there was a blistering editorial in the “Daily Observer” (the government paper) calling her a failure and saying she had not benefited the country in any way during her term, “unlike her predecessor”]. What people outside the country wonder is (to put it bluntly): "how could they all be so stupid?" For a while after the CNN report, which pretty much portrayed Gambians as a bunch of poor, impoverished, illiterate set of people ruled by an insane dictator, whenever I got into a conversation with someone on the train, and told them I was from the Gambia, the first thing they said was: "oh - your President's the one who cures AIDS, right?", with the kind of smile we usually reserve for when we talk about crackpots and other similar species of people. I would smile stiffly, and try to change the topic as soon as possible.

It is often easy when we are outside looking in to pare down things to a set of choices, on one side a “right” choice (“the truth”), and on the other a “wrong” one (“evil”). So with the President’s AIDS and other cures: everything about them points to the fact that they are in fact not real cures, from their purported dream-source to the way they can only be administered on certain days, to the way painstaking efforts are made not to share data and results from the cures with any outside, unbiased party. Thus, from the outside it looks to be a clear-cut case: here is a President who is using his position to deceive people into believing he has magical healing powers. Surely any educated man with a conscience would stand up against this nonsense, or at least not be seen supporting it – ergo, all the people who support the cure are either criminally stupid, or willfully malicious (i.e. evil).

Now this might be perfectly acceptable reasoning from a non-Gambian who has never lived in the country, but for someone like me, who spent some 30 years there before I came to the US, living and working and being a part of the country come rain or the unbearable heat of the sun, I would be doing my country a dis-service to take the simple way out. Surely, I thought, there was an explanation for why the cures had been accepted so readily and with no public opposition (there’s lots of opposition to them alright – only they remain private, for reasons we shall get to) beside “all Gambians are stupid”.

This weekend I read a beautiful science fiction story, in which a boy (seven years old, if I remember correctly) possesses a fantastic and terrible power: he can think anything, and it will happen. Any situation, no matter how outlandish, he only has to imagine and concentrate on, and instantly it will come to pass. We are not told how he comes to possess this power - he was apparently born with it. But the people in the small town in which he lives live in terror of him, going around with fixed smiles on their faces, in case they should annoy him, never, ever, complaining about anything, because they have learnt from bitter experience that the little boy likes "helping" people, and that these attempts at kindness almost always end in total disaster. And to make it worse, the little boy also reads minds, so you don’t even have to voice them to make him know your desires. Once, in desperation, a cadre of the towns-people tried to sneak up on him and end their troubles once and for all - that very same day there was a new set of graves in the town graveyard. At the time the story takes place, everyone has given up, and are living their lives around the little boy, around his likes and dislikes, his whims (however ridiculous they seem), trying as hard as they can to please him and not get in his way.

This afternoon after work, on my way up to my apartment, standing in the elevator opposite a Filipino man, I suddenly understood why the story had resonated so strongly with me when I had read it.

You see, what most people outside of the country do not understand is that it does not matter whether our President can or cannot cure AIDS and "other uncurable diseases", it does not matter whether it is true that people treated have died (and there have been resulting cover-ups). The majority of people I have spoken to in the country (including even strong Government supporters) have never believed that the President had a dream in which his great-great-grandfather told him how to cure diseases, for the benefit of humanity, whilst cautioning him to do so only on Thursdays and Fridays, any more than they believe that the Gambia is "a superpower", or that "we will wipe any country that stands against us off the world map" (both claims the President has made in speeches). Oh, there are people who believe alright: 1500 people turned up for the infertility cure alone, when it was announced on national radio, and there were large numbers for the AIDS and Asthma cures. Religious and traditional practises are still a big part of Gambian society, and the President uses both in his "cures": wielding a copy of the Quran, and claiming the concoction he rubs on patient's bodies is of herbal origin. Also there is the fact that the patients being cured get to live in a nice suite of apartments during the period of treatment, dining well, not doing any work, and generally making a holiday of it. (A doctor friend of mine currently living in the Gambia believes this is the reason for the “improvements” in the patients shown on national TV (they are shown limping and looking pale and emaciated when they come in, but by the end of the program they have gained weight, they are laughing and happy, jumping around and dancing and singing words of praise), that they are not cured, it is only that the temporary positive changes in their living conditions and diet has led to a few surface improvements).

But the people who actually make decisions, the ones in positions of power - none of these people actually believes the President's claims. At which point you throw away this essay in disgust, because as we all know these are the same people who swear on TV that the President is the greatest healer God ever sent to mankind, and publish messages in the Observer congratulating the President on "his great achievements in the world of medical science" (the most notorious of these, the (now former) Minister of Health Dr Mbowe, he of the CNN interview, has on several occasions staked his “western medical certificates” on the veracity of the cure). These are the same people who buy out diamond tables (the most expensive) when the Foundation for the cure of, etc. organizes gala dinners at five-star hotels.

When you work for a Government that insists that civil servants (especially the ones higher up) are also party supporters, there must of necessity be a split between your public and private personas. In public, in order not to lose your job and/or be sent to jail on charges of “economic crimes” (both things that have happened too many times to mention, in the past few years), your every action and every word must fall in line with official party policy/rhetoric. This is how Government and the political system have always worked in the Gambia ("always" here meaning the relatively small amount of time since Independence, during which we have had only two Presidents, which in my opinion is a great cause of hope, since it means as a state we are still young, and there is the expectation that with age we will mature, and things will get better): the story is told how when President Jawara, during his term as President, decided to resign, a committee of Ministers, civil servants, and "ordinary citizens" went to see him, to plead that he stay, because the country needed him still. They cried and begged, and prostrated themselves on the ground, and he graciously changed his mind (the voice of the people and all that), staying in power until he was finally removed by the coup in '94.

If one were to conduct a poll to find the most frequently used phrase in the media, I have a suspicion that it would be “visionary leader”. Every time someone gives a speech, from the lowliest political aspirants to the highest civil servants, this phrase pops up its head somewhere, perhaps at the beginning, claiming “none of this could have been done without the support of our visionary leader”, perhaps at the end, thanking “our visionary leader for his visionary leadership”. Quite apart from the Gambian’s love of cliché (“in a nutshell”, “all protocols respectfully observed”, “the bottom line is” – all things you can’t watch GRTS for more than an hour without hearing at least a few times), there is a central vein that runs through all these speeches, and indeed the majority of speeches given within the country, a vein of sycophancy and continual attempts to ingratiate oneself with the President. Just the other day, in one of the online Gambian newspapers, I read about an 80-year old man who was waking everyday at 5am to sweep away the sand on the roads near his house. “Why do you do it?”, the reporter asked him. “Because”, the old man replied, “the President wants cleanliness in the nation, and instead of giving it to him once a week I thought it would be better to do it everyday. And the sand can cause accidents”, he added, almost as an afterthought. [The last Saturday of every month is declared a “cleaning” day, with all the roads closed until 1pm, and everyone required to come out and clean their environments].

People take every chance they get to praise the President, and the “good things” he is doing for the country. When the AIDS cure was announced on national TV, the first thought that came to these people’s minds was not whether it was true or not, or “scientific” or not. The first thought that came to their minds was just how this could be used to win more points (think of the whole system as a game, in which you win or lose points based on the President (who is the final arbiter)’s moods. These are not your monopoly points: they can determine whether you become extremely rich, or get sacked and spend the next five years being transported to and from prison and paying a fortune in legal fees to your lawyer to defend you against charges brought up against you by the state). When they took out sections in the papers, and appeared on national TV and radio vehemently defending the President, they were not doing so because of any belief they have in his magical/medical abilities. They were defending him because, like the spoilt little boy in the science fiction story, the President’s word is law in my country. And, unlike the townspeople in the story, Gambians actually want to use the President’s powers to their personal advantage (which is one of the reasons his powers have persisted for so long, unconstitutional as they are): they will put up with him making ludicrous claims, they will let him get away with massive abuse of his Presidential position, they will stand and watch whilst he dips his hand into the national treasury and uses the money for his own personal enrichment – they will do all this because there is a chance – however small - that they will get to share in the booty. [And booty there is, aplenty: the President is very generous to his friends – once you’re in, everything follows: the cars, the mansions, the large bank accounts, the extremely lucrative higher-up Government positions]

And this is the much bigger (not to mention scarier) problem, the one which is the reason something like the current AIDs debacle can even happen: the fact that Government and the houses of parliament are full of people who at the slightest notice will fling themselves to the ground and fawn and grovel and lie through their teeth, in order to secure their positions and perhaps get better ones; that this is not only completely acceptable, but in fact expected of civil servants; and that this situation is steadily growing worse and worse, depositing more and more power in the President’s lap and letting him get away with ever wilder things.

The AIDs scandal will pass, perhaps soon, perhaps when Jammeh, too, passes, when his reign comes to an end. And after him, there will come another President – let us call him Krubally . Krubally, too, will be called a “visionary leader”, and asked to be President for life. All will hail him as the best President we have ever had, whilst he loots Government coffers and throws out envelopes of money at people on the street. One day Krubally will wake up and declare he can fly. Immediately the usual suspects will fall over each other in their rush to congratulate him, and declare that the country does not need any more birds, and that the Senegalese are jealous...

[Note: In the course of this article, I have been speaking in broad generalizations, mainly because it is a pain to keep saying “some Gambians, who are involved in the political system and therefore stand to gain most from it by being dishonest” instead of just “Gambians”, and you have perhaps taken this to mean that I mean “all Gambians”. This is certainly not the case: quite a large number of Gambians take no part in the system I have outlined above whatsoever, their only contribution being to vote every election (if even that – the level of voter apathy has been increasing in recent years).]

NYAMATOO SAYS:

“Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.” - Margaret Chase Smith

What would Jawara Do? Louis reviews News for the week ending November 25, 2007

Yahya Jammeh Against the Whole World

Ok, I must admit that I didn’t read this article in its entirety. The article is mainly about the negative image of The Gambia under the current government. It is an important topic but I was put off by the first line …

“In thirty years of Jawara’s rule, his government (s) had never created any brouhaha by which the international community could view our country in a contemptuous fashion.”

I’m just SICK AND TIRED of these writers making comparisons and sounding like everything was so rosy in the Jawara Gambia. The above cliché “in thirty years of Jawara’s rule”, is not only overplayed but also inaccurate in most of the reasons that normally follows. You’ll find an example later on in this article when I address Tijan Nimaga’s analysis of education in Gambia.

To Matthew, and all who use the “Jawara didn’t” argument, I ask, if Jawara had done all those “negative things”, would that make it okay for Jammeh to do the same? I HOPE the answer is an emphatic “NO” and that you’ll all just live and deal with the present. Jammeh should not “create a brouhaha by which the international community could view our country in a contemptuous fashion” and whether Jawara did it or not is irrelevant.

Commonwealth Forum Recommend Gambia’s Suspension

Now having said that, Ski masks have been in short supply for a while now due to increasing demand by Gambians. Our government’s behavior, or misbehavior, forces us to bow our heads when we speak to our contemporaries from other countries. Unfortunately for us, the shame is increasingly turning into concern as SOME international organizations start thinking about putting serious pressure on Gambia. I’m sure all those who care anything about human rights, legality and accountability will agree that something needs to be done by International organizations to put pressure on the government (since our national assembly is a bigger joke than “Carrot Top”). What I’m not sure about is if the current government really understands or cares about the consequences of such suspensions. Early signs are not positive. We kicked out the UNDP representative for speaking her mind, we refused to even make an appearance to an International Court about the disappearance of Chief Manneh and we arrested Amnesty International Officers. What makes the Commonwealth Forum think we will care what they think? I mean, who cares about a Commonwealth Forum when you’ve got “Malaika Gibril” as your treasurer signing “Allah’s checks”? Who cares about the Commonwealth when you can “get rid of the HIV virus on Mondays and Thursdays, cure Asthma on Saturdays, Bronchitis and Diabetes, hypertension on other days and still have time to help barren women have babies” all in your spare time after a hard day’s work of governing your “kingdom”?

Development Fund Approves 264 Million Loan, 1.4 Million for Gambia

According to the story, Kenya, Madagascar and the Gambia are the beneficiaries of loans and grants with a combined value of 167.8 million Units of Account (UA*), about US$263.76 million, approved in Tunis on Wednesday by the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.

This can indeed be seen as “good news” for Gambia but it also makes me wonder just serious and committed the international organizations are about their concerns for human rights. What are the standards and what message are governments supposed to take seriously? The Commonwealth Forum is on the one hand trying to suspend the Gambia while on the ADB is approving a loan on the other hand. A little consistency and coherence between the different international organizations would help please.

Appalling level of Gambian Education

In his analysis of Gambian Education, Tijan Nimaga uses the “Perfect Jawara” weapon. As I mentioned earlier, I am sick and tired of Jawara being painted as perfect. No disrespect to him and his government but they were far from perfect and this has nothing to do with Jammeh. If Jawara and his government were so perfect we wouldn’t have Jammeh here in the first place.

From what I understand, Mr Nimaga is a great fan of the Common Entrance Examinations and sees its termination as one of the problems currently affecting education in Gambia.

For starters, I’m sure it was just an oversight that Mr. Nimaga failed to mention that the Common Entrance Examinations were abolished in 1991, three years before Jammeh came to power. Just how this problem can be attributed to Jammeh is something he’ll have to explain. He goes…

Jawara’s “Department of Education … was trying to replace the gap left by the Common Entrance but, before a better system could be established,”

My question is, wouldn’t an excellent educational program have had the foresight to find a suitable alternative and a smooth transition before getting rid of Common Entrance? The truth is that if anything, the Jawara government terminated the Common Entrance with no solid plans or ideas of how to replace it.

I’m also tired of the argument that the schools don’t have teachers and that the Jawara government has nothing to do with that. I think people forget that the current generation of teachers are NOT graduates of the Jammeh government school system. They went through the “excellent” Jawara regime. I will agree that the Jammeh regime needs to focus more on attracting and training teachers but I we must remember that they went to Primary and High School under the “excellent” first republic in which there was NO university to train them.

Nimaga -“Jammeh government completely destroyed their excellent educational programmes”

What excellent educational programmes? How were they destroyed? Please explain Sir. It’s not enough to throw out statements without qualifying them.

Nimaga - “Thus the educational system of the current regime is a complete failure”

Complete failure? Aren’t we getting a bit too excited here? Allow me to remind you that even though it’s far from perfect there’s now a University where Gambians have graduated from and are contributing to National Development.

Nimaga -“Excelling in these subjects prepared pupils to attend one of the very few high schools in the Gambia at that time.”

Have we forgotten just how many students simply dropped out of school if they didn’t pass the Common Entrance?

Nimaga – “a revival of these (Verbal and Quantitative) would go a long way towards giving our young people the education they deserve”

My thoughts exactly! Just bring back Verbal and Quantitative and “baby Einsteins” will litter the high schools of Gambia. I wonder why no one thought of this simple solution before.

To the Tijan Nimaga’s who are of the illusion that the Gambia in the first republic was Utopia with Jawara waving his magic wand and saying ‘kun fa yakoon” (be and it is) I remind you that “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail” (too many clichés? At least mine are more interesting than the “In Jawara’s day”). Sorry to disappoint you but Jawara and his regime were not perfect. They failed the Gambian people in numerous ways including not preparing a solid framework for succeeding governments to work with. They stayed in power for too long and without doing as much as they could have. They also let their guard down because they were too naïve to believe that they would stay in power for eternity. This is what led to their demise welcoming the Jammeh government to come in and commit all the “evil” that you now accuse them of. Let us demand that this government get better or get out. All I’m saying is, I’m sick and tired of the “during Jawara’s time” cliché.

Briton reacts to Tijan Nimaga’s Education Analysis

James McGregor is from a donor organization that sponsors children’s education in Gambia. His concerns are that the “students are lazy (one 17 yr old borrowed a calculator to divide 500 by 10 when his own 5 yr old can do it), can’t write coherent sentences after all those years of school and there are no jobs awaiting students when they finish school” among other things.

Mr. McGregor, I thank you and your organization for your help. Gambia needs all the help we can get and investing in our education system is arguably the best way.

Now James, I think it is very unfair to make your generalization based on a few poor students you met. I’m sure if only you looked around, you would see lots of brilliant examples to know that your efforts are not going in vain.

If I wanted to be petty, I could say that your own British education system probably let you down if you’re so smart as to give your donation to a “PRIVATE SCHOOL where fees are high”. Otherwise, you would have realized that the poor who really need your donation CANNOT afford the high fees.

And to your question about how the “students can’t write coherent sentences” I’m recommending that you go read one of Michael Scales’s on Freedom Newspaper). And may I remind you that Mr Scales did not only spend all those years in school, he also spent all those years SPEAKING English and his articles could kill a fly.

I hope you and your organization can focus more on the positive examples of products of the Gambian Education system to encourage you to keep up the good work of helping Gambian education.

PS: Remember, we probably wouldn’t need your help if we were that good। Therefore, the “lazy students” and “incoherent sentences” should motivate you increase your help. (Wait, isn’t this the guy donating to private schools? Maybe he’s the kind of guy to pour water in the ocean... oh well…).

“Ghanaian Killers In The Gambia Should Face Justice” Says Briton National

Ok Michael Scales, I’ll try and keep this short by saying “SHUT UPPP ALREADY!!!. I’ve tried for the longest time to ignore this guy’s … articles (“…” because I have no words to describe how obnoxious they are) but it seems his ignorance knows no boundaries. They say that “the best answer to a fool is silence” but I’m saying that “smacking a fool upside the head” works better when they’re too slow to realize they’re being ignored. Mike, I know your $100 dollar baby gift to Freedom qualifies you to be “part of their family” but it doesn’t make the rest of us have to continue to read your blabbing. Go talk about the thousands of innocent lives lost due to your country’s involvement in the illegal invasion of Iraq or even how Steve McClaren put Scott Carson in the game against Croatia to ensure England doesn’t qualify for Euro 2008 or something like that. Seriously, I would duct tape your mouth just to shut you up if you were near me!!!

Breaking News: Lt. Kawsu Camara (bombarde`) Fights For His Life

I try to keep from commenting on military and security related matters simply because most of the stories about who killed who and how have not been backed by solid evidence. The late Captain Tumbul Tamba and Musa Jammeh were names thrown around allegedly as killing machines for Jammeh. I just find it very “strange” that they both died from “mysterious illnesses” within a relative short period from each other. Now, their other alleged “partner in crime” Lt. Kawsu Camara is said to be fighting for his life. The cases of the first two make this a bit worrisome to say the least. What IS GOING ON? Poisoning, psychological problems from taking innocent lives, karma and good old “voodoo” are all theories in the air. Whatever it is, I really find this “curious”

Charge Or Set Free Fatou Jaw Manneh-High Court Judge Yamoawa Declares!!

It is a bit refreshing to hear that Justice Yamowa of the High Court in Banjul informed the Gambian state to either file fresh charges against the US based Gambian Journalist Fatou Jaw Manneh or set her free. At least there is a judge willing and able to speak up.

Now whether or not the state will listen is a completely different matter. My guess is that their plan has all along been to simply waste Ms Manneh’s time. They’ve had her going back and forth with no solid charges for 7 months. I’m quite sure they’ve succeeded disrupting at least some aspect of her life and/or plans. I just hope that Ms. Manneh, as a journalist had carefully weighed her options before venturing to go to The Gambia in which case she would have anticipated something like this. If indeed the government’s plans were to “waste her time” I’ll be the bearer of bad news by informing you that Ms. Manneh is a writer. Time spent out of “work” gives them time to think and work on more material. She’ll have all of you to thank in the “acknowledgments” of her next book! (Ms. Jaw Manneh, don’t forget to send me my commission if you weren’t already thinking about it.)

NYAMATOO Says:

“The best answer to a fool maybe silence” but smacking them upside the head shuts them up quicker."