Remembering our fallen brothers

This Friday, we will be commemorating the brutal massacre of over a dozen school children on April 10 and 11, 2000 by the Gambian police and soldiers.

Our hearts continue to bleed and our eyes continue to shed tears anytime we think of the brutal manner in which their souls departed this world. These young men were not criminals, rebels. They were not political opponents of President Jammeh either.

They were decent Gambians like you and me, who were only protesting against crimes committed against their colleagues; Ebrima Barry and a Brikamaba school girl.

The demands on the basis of which the students went out to demonstrate nine years ago, merely constituted a request for justice.

April 10 and 11, 2000 were indeed days during which Gambian students took to the streets to protest against rape and murder, with a clear call for justice to be done. Rape and murder are not only repugnant in the eyes of all faiths, but laws in all civilised jurisdictions prescribe stringent punitive measures against them.

Similarly, all our national cultures in the Gambia denounce them in the strongest possible terms. As a result, one should easily understand the reasoning which led to the decision to peacefully demonstrate against these heinous crimes against the two students.

Any mature political leadership would be ashamed of the manner in which the security officers reacted to the demonstration. It was an act of brutality that has no place in any civilise society. Murder was foreign to the Gambia, a country where people almost know each other.

Several security officers including Ousman Badjie, former secretary of state for the Interior, were indicted for the gruesome murder of our brothers little brothers and despite recommendation of the commission of inquiry that was set up to look into the disturbances, the government of Yahya Jammeh is still refusing to prosecute them.

In an apparent insult to the families of slain youths, the government has indemnified all the murderers from any criminal prosecution for their role in the killing of these children. Some of those blamed for the murder have since been rewarded with high government positions.

In other words, the Jammeh regime is saying that all these children who never had the chance to say good bye to their parents deserved to die in that brutal manner.
It is prudent, perhaps, to remind ourselves that the use of live ammunition and overwhelming force on children can never be justified nor simply swept under the carpet. By failing to prosecute those responsible, the government woefully failed to uphold the rights and freedoms of the Gambian people.

As Gambians, it is time we continue to put pressure on the Jammeh regime to prosecute all those who were indicted by the commission of inquiry. Our land has been defiled with the blood of young innocent children and it is our responsibility to ensure these children and their families get the justice they deserve. It is still not too late.
As we commemorate nine years since they departed this world, we pray to Almighty Allah to blessed their souls in His heavenly kingdom.

Rest in peace our heroes, you will always be in our hearts:

Calisco Preira
Burama Badjie
Karamo Barrow
Reginald Carrol
Omar Barrow
Wuyeh Massally
Momodou Chune
Lamin .A. Bojang
Ouman Sabally
Bamba Jobarteh
Abdoulie Sajaw
Bakary Njie
Unidentified victim
Sainey Nyabally
Ousman Sembene

Sidia Jatta criticises government for unexplained dismissals

Gambian opposition parliamentarian Sedia Jatta has criticised the government for unexplained dismissals in the civil service and called for a stop to the practice.

However, the government has defended its actions saying civil servants have to be productive and failure to do their **work will lead to their dismissal.

Jatta, MP of the opposition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) for Wuli West, told the National Assembly on Friday that there was “an institutional crisis” in the country because of these ceaseless unexplained hiring and firing.

“There is an institution whose responsibility is to hire and fire, discipline where there is indiscipline, but as far as I am concerned I am not seeing that institution functioning,” he said.

Jatta said there was something wrong and blamed it on political interference, adding that was the reason why the civil service was not stable.

He said civil servants must not be under any political control adding that there must be an institution that should be responsible for discipline to ensure effective productivity.

The Minority Leader Momodou Sanneh said there was no job security in the entire civil service especially at senior level.

Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy said: “I find it very unpleasant to dismiss people. But this syndrome of covering people in the Gambia has to be addressed.”

She said the Public Services Commission had been ineffective over the years and the ongoing revamping should not only to be seen in the negative light of hiring and firing but to ensure effective service delivery.

Other MPs blamed the “disloyalty” of civil servants for their predicament saying they should know that they were hired to work and failure to do so would lead to dismissal.
Pana

Gambia frees witch-hunt detainees

BANJUL (AFP) — More than 300 people held in a government-backed witchhunt in Gambia have been released without charge after several detainees fell seriously ill, a senior police source said Monday.

Amnesty International and anonymous police sources said as many as 1,000 people have been snatched by "witch hunters" backed by armed men carrying out orders from the Gambian authorities.

They are forced to drink hallucinogen concoctions which caused some detainees to develop intestinal and kidney problems. Police sources say at least two people have died after drinking the potions.

"A total number of 312 people who were abducted by the so-called witch doctors early last month have been released in the early hours of Sunday morning without any charges levied against them," a senior police source, who preferred not to be named, told AFP Monday.

Their release came after five victims were admitted at various health facilities in Gambia suffering from kidney and stomach problems.

"Five out of those abducted are currently in hospital while others are seriously ill, and this prompted the authorities to release the remaining abductees before the situation worsens", the police source said.

Those released are mainly men and women aged 40 to 60. They were all arrested in early March.

Gambia, the smallest nation in Africa, has been ruled by President Yahya Jammeh who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994.

In recent years it has increasingly come under fire over its human rights record. Despite an international and domestic outcry over the witch hunts, the government has not responded to the allegations.

Observers say Jammeh invited Guinean witch hunters into Gambia after suspecting witchcraft in the death of an aunt earlier this year.

Poor countries demand US$2 billion from rich

Press release:

Nearly 50 of the world’s least developed countries have called on rich nations to meet an eight-year old promise and pay US$2 billion to help them adapt to climate change.

The demand was made at the UN climate change negotiations that are currently underway in Bonn , Germany .

Rich countries promised the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) support for "immediate and urgent" actions on adaptation to climate change eight years ago at the seventh conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech , Morocco in 2001.

The UNFCCC then created the LDC Fund with voluntary contributions from the rich countries and gave each LDC US$200,000 to carry out a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to identify the most urgent adaptation actions needed.

So far 39 of the NAPAs have been completed. The costs of implementing all the urgent and immediate adaptation actions identified in them would exceed US$1.6 billion, but the LDC Fund has less than US$200 million and only a handful of the identified projects have been funded.

“The LDCs are demanding that the rich countries pledge up to US$2 billion over the next five years in order to fulfil the promise they made eight years ago,” says Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

“The poorest and most vulnerable countries have contributed least to climate change and will suffer most from its impacts,” says Huq. “The rich countries can and must live up to their words and massively increase their funding to compensate the least developed countries.”