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

FOROYAA GOES ONLINE???; Louis Reviews News for week ending November 15, 2007

Foroyaa Goes Online

For a moment there, Foroyaa newspaper could directly be accessed online. Unfortunately, the link no longer works. I really hope to see Foroyaa back online soon.

Bravo to Gainako

Congratulations to Gainako and correspondent Solo. Over the past few weeks, he has been coming up with very good and interesting news stories from the Gambia including “economic problems” due to the scarcity of foreign exchange, the refusal of Nigerian Justice Paul working in Gambia to return from vacation in the UK and the Impact of the Dalasi Rise on Commodity prices. I hope they keep up the good work and improve the format of the website so individual links can be posted for individual stories.

On Freedom, and freedom

While I am in total agreement with my co-blogger that some of our online newspapers (especially Freedom) are as much a threat to free speech as the government, I’m not so sure how realistic the proposed solution is. Of course boycotting Freedom will be a good way to get rid of them but I just can’t see people, even those who know better, resisting gossip. Ms. Cham’s analogy of tabloid journalism is perfect support for my fear. People know it is garbage and mostly untrue, but that’s just what drives them to such news sources. Add that to the yearning for freedom, the strong contempt for the government coupled with poor analytical skills of a lot of our brethren the chances of a successful boycott drops lower than Freedom newspaper’s level of professionalism. The dilemma is similar to the current debate in the USA between proponents of teaching abstinence only in schools and proponents of those who feel teens will have sex anyway and teaching them safe sex is a better approach. Although Ms. Cham’s article made me seriously consider boycotting Freedom and removing their link from the list of Gambian Newspapers on this site, I’ve reluctantly resigned to the conclusion that people will visit their site anyway and perhaps the responsible thing for me to do, at least for now, is to continue reviewing what they put out there and at least give people something to think about. (Kids will have sex anyway so supply them with condoms and hope for the best).

SOS Touray Urges High Voter Turnout

Yankuba Touray urges high voter turnout in the forthcoming local government elections. This barely a month after the national assembly gave the President legal powers to hire and fire local government officials. Who cares if 10 people or a 10 000 people vote? They’ll only be fired if they’re not to the King’s liking.

“Bumpsters” Complain of Maltreatment By Soldiers

I’m sure every Gambian who reads this can sympathize with the bumpsters because we all know someone, a friend, neighbor or family member, who is a bumpster (or is that just me). Our government knows how much it benefits from remittances by Gambians in Europe. A great number of those people either were bumpsters, or had the help of some bumpster to get to Europe. This does not make the practice of harassing tourists on the beach ok. Nor does it mean we have to accept “problems” that come along with it. However, tourism remains one of, if not the highest foreign exchange earners in the country and some of the tourists end up having great friends from amongst the bumpsters (I’m not talking about the 60yr old marrying the 18yr old). Seeing both the negative and positive effects of tourism and bumpsters, the government needs to come up with concrete and reasonable plans to deal with the bumpsters. Most of these young people are desperate for economic opportunities and the beaches keep them away from crime.

Now to my bigger problem with this story. SOLDIERS??? What are soldiers doing on the beaches? Gambia is the only country I know of (I haven’t traveled much) where soldiers constantly meddle in everyday civil and domestic matters. From arresting kids fighting in the streets to playing Nawettan to harassing bumpsters on the beaches, our soldiers and other security forces are always involved in matters they have no business in. Remember that one of the saddest days in Gambian history, April 10 and 11 2001, started partly from fire service officers meddling in school discipline. Soldiers should STAY IN THE BARRACKS. If you’re that bored, go lift some weights of sing “mbaring musu wo, mburo sangyeh, nonkong ning nyetaa” while jogging. Stay the beaches, the stadium, the schools and most importantly, the STATE HOUSE.

Health Minister Tamsir Mbowe Sacked

Tamsir Mbowe, One of the most famous ministers of the current regime, famous for his appearance on CNN and Al-Jazeera proudly endorsing the AIDS Cure, has been fired. Gary Coleman is to “watchu talking bout Willis” as Tamsir Mbowe is to “I am a western-trained medical doctor… if His Excellency, My Leader, says he can cure, then I believe him”. I just hope to God, for the sake of all Gambians, that Mr. Mbowe does not go around questioning “the cure” now that His Excellency is not so excellent. Maintain a vow of silence even if it’s just to keep from further embarrassing us.

“Musa Jammeh Dead!!”

The Gambia Echo celebrates the demise of Musa Jammeh, alias Malia Mungu, one of the alleged killers for the Gambia government. Now I understand the rage felt by those who have evidence that he indeed committed the crimes he is alleged to have committed but I also believe Gambians are very humane and considerate people. Times of death are also times we are normally considerate, if not to the deceased, but to their families and loved ones. Yes, I know the people he allegedly killed have families too. I also know some of us believe in “no mercy for the merciless” but I still expected more respect and consideration for the loved ones left behind at least for a few moments after the person dies. I would like to think that there are friends and family members who had no idea or who would hate and condemn any injustice committed by their family member. I’m not asking for leniency or consideration for Musa Jammeh, just for us all to not lose our admirable Gambian qualities of consideration and respect for each other.

There is a big difference between “Musa Jammeh Dead” On the Gambia Echo which ends with “President Jammeh is expected to bid him farewell as he enters Hell” and the

“Musa Jammeh Passes Away” found on The Gambia Journal.

Indirect EU Sanction affects tourism season

The Gambia Journal reports that

“According to tourism sources, 30% of the Hotels’ staff in the country is terminated due to the poor starting of the season. The main reason for this is there is a secretly tourist advise on the Gambia in Europe and the advise was send to major tour operators in September 2007.”

The advisory, they say, is due to human rights abuses. My opinion is that although Gambians want pressure on the government to have a better human rights record this move does not help us. Government officials maintain or even increase their standard of living while the masses have insult added to injury. It is the same masses whose human rights are abused who end up getting laid off as part of the 30% hotels’ staff.

World Bank Thumbs Up Gambia’s Prospects

I don’t know how the prophets of doom will explain this but according to World Bank officials

“… the micro-economic environment of The Gambia is sound, noting that The Gambia has a programme with the IMF and has been able to produce very good poverty reduction strategy”

I honestly don’t understand what exactly is going on. I mean, with prices remaining high despite the appreciating dalasi and every thing else, I would have thought that things weren’t looking so good. However strange it is, I’m still very glad to get this endorsement from the World Bank (fingers crossed hoping they know what they’re talking about).

NYAMATOO Says:

“Ndajeh setaansi daaha”