Still Crying for Mama

This week, I decided to take a break from politics, to pay tribute to the most instrumental woman in my life -- my mom. Mama was my best friend and she was a million times better than diamond, gold and silver and may Allah the most merciful shower His mercy on her soul. Amen.

I decided to write this piece after a chat with a friend in The Gambia, whose dad is terminally ill. I want to point out that like most journalists, I hate writing about myself and am not seeking sympathy from anyone. Instead, I want my readers to understand how sad it is to have a loved one dying from a disease that you cannot cure.

January 27th, marks the third year since mama departed this world after a brief illness. It all started in November 2004 and like all village boys, I went to my peaceful village (name withheld) to spend the Muslim feast of Korite with Mama and other family members. I love life in the village which enables me to chill away from the hectic and ever busy journalism life.

Everyone home loves to see me and the kids would normally run to welcome me at the gate like I use to do when I was a kid. But on that day, everything was quiet and the kids who love playing football in the compound where all sitting on the veranda. All were in a sad mood and did not even run to welcome me.

"Something must be terribly wrong," I told myself. As I got to the veranda I was told by one of the kids that Mama was not feeling well. I busted into her room without even knocking at the door, where I found Mama lying on her settee. Our eyes met and she tried to assure me that the illness was not serious. "Its only tummy pain and the doctor assured me that everything will be fine if I continue taking the medication," she said with a reassuring smile on her face.

Despite taking the medications, I realized that Mama's conditions were not getting better. She eats less and complained of pain below the chest. With the help of my sisters, we took Mama to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul, where she was examined and prescribed with some tablets. The doctors told us that her conditions were not life threatening and that it was better for us to take her home.

Two weeks later, Mama's condition continued to deteriorate. Some relatives who visited her from the village suggested that we take her to my ancestral home in Casamance for local treatment. Looking at Mama's situation, I strongly dismissed the suggestion and took Mama to the Westfield Clinic, where she was admitted immediately. The doctors there did a fantastic job and by the following morning Mama's condition began to improve. And by the third day, she could eat and walk in and out of the ward without help. Two days later, she was discharged. With our hearts full of hope, we took Mama home.

However, a few days later, things took a dramatic u-turn. Mama's pain kicked up again. She could not walk to the bathroom or even sit up. We again took her to the Westfield Clinic, where she was admitted. Dr Peters, who is in charged of the hospital, took the responsibility to conduct a thorough medical examination on Mama. Some minutes later, the examination was done and Mama was wheeled back to the ward.

Dr Peters later invited me and my sisters, who were with me into his office where he told us the unpleasant truth. " Ehem! he cleared his throat. I have done the examination and am very sorry to say that your mum has a tumor on her liver. The disease is at an advance state and has damaged a large part of her liver. The treatment is not available in the country. It is only available overseas and even with that, there is still a big problem. Flying her abroad is expensive and secondly there is a shortage of human organ donors......She has a few weeks to live am sorry, and I would suggest that if there is any money, it will be better to keep it. At the moment all I can do now is to remove a fluid like substance which is dripping from the liver....."

I felt like a death sentence was pronounced on me. With tears, I stormed out of Dr Peters' office and cried like a baby. My sisters later joined me outside and consoled me. As I was the youngest in the family, my sisters tried as much as they could not to cry. "Be a man," one of them said. "If you who is the man is crying, how do you expect we the women to do," the other one added.

With shame, I quickly composed myself and agreed with their decision that we must on no occasion broke the news to Mama. According to them, breaking the news will only make matters worst to her. Some minutes later, I went back to the ward and found Mama lying on her bed. I tried to assure her that she would make a swift recovery, but I was betrayed by my weakness. Mama could tell when am telling lies since I was a kid. And as I tried to explain to her that she would be discharge within three days, Mama looked at me and smiled.

"It is OK my son, she said.”You don't have to hide the truth from me. I am a Muslim and I believe the Qur'anic teaching that every soul that tastes life must taste death. I know that I will die soon but I don't know whether it is today or tomorrow. But even if I die today, I am happy that Allah has blessed me a loving family. So please continue to love and care for each other as both of you were fed from my breasts" she added.

I tried to assure her that she was not going to die, but the more I tried, the harder it was for me to control my tears. We were later joined by my sisters who also tried as much as they could to convince her that everything was going to be alright.

We kept Mama at the hospital for over a week where she was given pain killers and other medicines to ease the pain. During that time, I visited her in the mornings before going to work at the Daily Observer. In the evenings, I would take an hour break from work to visit her and in most cases I do found my sisters and other relatives there, who give support and comfort to her. I must say that Ndey Tapha Sosseh, who was my Editor-in-Chief at the time, was very helpful. She would in most occasions do half of my work while I was away at the hospital. Her successor, Momodou Sanyang (Sanyang Ba), was also helpful. They never complained when I made silly mistakes at work. They were very understanding and I say thank you all.

As days turns into weeks, Mama's health started to go from bad to worst. She started finding it difficult to speak, eat or drink. Dr Peters, who was so caring to her, decided to discharge her on the ground that there was nothing much he could do to reverse the situation.

With a heavy heart, we took Mama home and began counting the hours. This was the most painful period in my life. I found it difficult to concentrate at work or sleep at night. I shiver anytime a family member calls my cell phone.

Then the final hour came. It was on a Monday. I woke up early as usual and said my prayers before going to see how Mama was doing. Mama was then staying with one of my sisters, who lived opposit from me. I found Mama lying on her bed. She was on a vegetative state and could not even eat solid food. My aunty, who was nursing her told me that Mama had a good sleep. I stood beside her bed for God knows how many minutes and wondered how can life be so cruel. With a heavy heart, I said bye to Mama and left for work.

At a round 10:30 while editing the opinion page of the Daily Observer on a computer called DaCosta, my cell phone rang. It was my sister. "Pa, am sorry to say this but you got to come home. Mama has just departed this world," she said. The whole computer room went dark. All the compositors who were busy typing scrips for the next day's Observer edition stopped all what they were doing. I could feel their sharp eyes on me. It was terrible. Tears started pouring down from my eyes but I quickly wiped them.

"PK lahlah?" Sainabou Fofanah, our chief layout editor asked.All I could say to her was suma yai. The compositors all expressed their condolence to me. I have to state here that the ladies in the computer room (Mariama Danjo, Betty Quacco, Marie Gomez, Aji Sagar Mbye, Nyima Marong, Mariatou Faal, Jainaba Baldeh and Yasin Faal) are among the best people I have ever worked with. We were like a family and the working atmosphere was very friendly.

As the news began to sink, I informed Andrew DaCosta, Observer's deputy managing director, who led a delegation of the company's staff to sympathise with my family.

At home, I found the compound crowded with sympathisers. The required Muslim bath for the death was already conducted on Mama. With tears running down my cheeks, I knelt beside her head and prayed for Allah, the most merciful, to shower His Mercy on her and blessed her in His heaven.

A few hours later we drove Mama to the village where she was laid to rest. Hundreds of mourners attended her funeral many of whom spoke well of her. The local Imam could not hold his tears when he was praising Mama for the good work she did to the community more so to the our mosque.

Yes, that was Mama's character. She have always put others first. She was more than a friend to me. She was there for me when Daddy wants to flex his muscles on me for being naughty. She struggle to raise me and my sisters single handedly when daddy died and did all sort of jobs to feed and pay our tuition fees. She never abdicated her responsibilities as a parent and has encouraged us to be God fearing, respectful, tolerant, caring to others, and to be responsible.
Rest in peace Mama.

Mr. President, Remember April 10&11 Victims

by PK Jarju

Mr. President, last night while surfing the internet, I came across proceedings of the inquest into the death of 12 persons during the April 10 and 11 student demonstration. And as a parent, I couldn't help but wept profusely while reading it.


It was just sad and while it may have happened eight years ago, I can still imagine the pain and sufferings the parents and relatives of these children must be going through in their everyday lives.


Mr. President, on December 31 2007, you showed the Gambian people how much it meant to father a son by organizing a grand naming ceremony in your village, Kanilai. You even went to the extend of declaring that day a public holiday in order to enable all civil servants to grace the occasion, while ignoring the huge financial and economic losses it would cause to the public and private sectors.


And now while playing with your son and daughter in your mighty place ready to defend them to your last breath against any danger, you should remember that there are over a dozen parents in the country, who have lost their children on April 10 and 11 2000.


Their children have been brutally butchered in broad day light by military and police officers acting on God knows whose orders.


Mr. President, these parents never had the opportunity to say goodbye to their kids. All parents were expecting to have lunch with their children after school. But instead, they found their lifeless bodies in a mortuary at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital with their little faces covered, their school socks and shoes on.


These parents are less privileged. They are ordinary Gambians who work hard to look after their families while expecting your government to guarantee their security. But instead, you and your government failed them.

While your loved ones were all safely at home, you and your men on the ground didn't care. They acted like the Apartheid South African police, spraying bullets at the very people they swore to protect.


As I type this letter, Mr. President, I could hear their endless cries for justice. I could hear their voices and could feel their pain and anger. This anger will continue to boil in their chests until the Day of Judgment when every soul shall assemble before Almighty Allah and be accounted for his deeds.


Mr. President, please don't misunderstood my intentions here. I know that you and your cronies will try to accuse me of digging old wounds by writing this piece. Sorry if that is what you are thinking but the April 10 and 11 incident is not forgotten and will never be forgotten. It is still fresh in the minds and souls of every sane Gambian who believes in justice, peace and prosperity.


Mr. President, the decision by your government to shelve the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry that your humble self appointed to look into the disturbances of April 10 and 11, has made Gambians believed that you gave the shoot to kill order to the security officers on the ground. And this suspicion will continue to remain in our minds as long as you and your government continue to sit on the truth.


It is still not too late for for the culprits to be brought to book. The 2001 Indemnity Act passed by your APRC dominated National Assembly can still be repeal. If the National Media Commission Act and Decree 89 can be repealled, why can't the Indemnity Act.


You have to start acting and behaving as leader of a nation. National interest should override our political and personal interests.


Like Halifa Sallah stated in his letter in April 2001, a government which is fit to lead a sovereign people is one which is committed to principles, standards and values aimed at safeguarding and enlarging the dignity and worth of our people. A personality whose only vision is to acquire and retain power and whose only mission is how to acquire and retain power by any means can only sow the seed of political decadence in a nation. The ramification of this is the display of utter disregard for the dignity and worth of the sovereign Gambian people.


Mr. President, your statement during the country's 43rd independence anniversary at the Independence Stadium in Bakau that you are in the process of "creating a new Gambia; a country where each and everyone of us will be held accountable and responsible for our actions, and a country where services, justice and all the hallmarks and principles of justice, equality and honest governance will permeate every section of society" can only be taken seriously if you stand aside and let justice prevail. Not only for the families of April 10 and 11, but for all those who were brutalised by your security officers.


In so doing, our beloved country will no doubt move forward. That is what good leaders do. They put the interest of the citizenry first.


Remember what you said in your independence speech: "greatness cannot be borrowed or imported. People do great things that make them great, and nations do things that lead them to greatness. Greatness is, therefore, an offshoot of factors that devoted citizens influence, alter or transform. Hence, no nation can become great if its citizens are indolent, indifferent, divided and destructive."


Mr. President, as it is a month to the commemoration of the eight anniversary of the bloody student demonstration, I will be reproducing proceedings of the Coroner's Inquest beginning with the testimonies of the victim's parents and a Cuban pathologist in bid to draw your sympathy towards the victims and their families. You may have already read it in the Coroner's and Commission of Inquiry reports, which I believe are now covered in dust somewhere in you office, but I still hope that as Muslim, you will have the heart and courage to allow justice to prevail.


PROCEEDING OF 24 APRIL 2000
Courtesy of Foroyaa Newspaper

In his opening statement, the Coroner said that his role was to inquire into the causes of the deaths of the 12 victims. Eleven witnesses who identified the bodies of the victims at the mortuary testified on 24 April.

TESTIMONY OF KEBBA SANYANG
Kebba Sanyang, father of Abdoulie Sanyang, told the Coroner that he lives in Old Jeshwang; that Abdoulie Sanyang (deceased) was his son; that he was three years old and was living with him at his home; that Abdoulie met his death outside his compound at Old Jeshwang between 9 a.m. and 12 noon.

He said his compound has two gates; that he was standing at one of them with the late Abdoulie; that upon observation of the students/paramilitary movement he told him to get into the compound; that although he got in he got out through the other gate where other members of the compound, men, women and children were standing; that as the movement of the paramilitary and the students drew near, the crowd rushed and the deceased, Abdoulie, fell, got up and fell, got up and fell again.

He said he died instantly; that he was picked up and taken to the RVH by a neighbour, Abdoulie Kujabi; that he received the body on 12 April and buried him the same day.


TESTIMONY OF BABA NJIE
Baba Njie, uncle of Lamin Njie, lives in Brikama; that he is a farmer; that he was the uncle and the guardian of the late Lamin Njie; that Lamin was attending GTTI and residing at Ebo Town; that he died on 10 April during events of 10 April; that on Thursday, 13 April he identified the body at the mortuary at RVH; that the body was laid to rest at Bulock on Friday, 14 April 2000.


TESTIMONY OF SANG PIERRE MENDY
Sang Pierre Mendy, in his testimony, said that he is a security officer and lives at New Jeshwang; that he knew Calisco Priera; that they are not related but that the mother lives in his compound; that he together with the sister of Calisco's mother identified Calisco's body at the mortuary at RVH; that he does not know the age and nationality of the deceased; that Calisco's mother is called Marie Therese Sonko.


TESTIMONY OF MARIE THERESE SONKO
Marie Therese Sonko, Calisco's mother, later confirmed that the deceased was her son who was born in 1982; that because he suffered from polio for the first three years he started school late; that he was a student at St. Charles Luwanga but could not go to school this year because he had not paid his fees. She said that the body had been laid to rest.


TESTIMONY OF MAFUGY BADJIE
Mafugy Badjie, uncle of Burama Badgie, told the Coroner that he was the uncle of the deceased; that the father, Bubacarr Badjie was very sick; that Burama was 10 years and was attending Tallinding Primary School; that he died on Monday, 10 April; that they learnt of the death on Wednesday, 12 April; that he identified the body in Banjul and when they got the body they buried him on the same day.


TESTIMONY OF MUSA COKER, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE GAMBIA RED CROSS SOCIETY ON OMAR BARROW


Mr. Coker said that he lives at Kanifing Housing Estate and was a nurse by profession. He said further that he knew the late Omar Barrow as a volunteer of the Red Cross Movement; that he does not know his age but he knew that he was married with a family.


He told the Coroner that he saw Omar at the Red Cross helping the wounded and that while in his office he heard gun shots in the street and people running from the Mobile Police Station end to the Red Cross; that he suddenly heard a loud cry in Wollof "they have shot Omar"; that on coming out he found Omar lying on his back outside the office block surrounded by volunteers inside the camp; that he was later moved to the corridor of the office then to the RVH in Banjul. He said he had identified the body on 12 April and was buried on the sameday.


TESTIMONY OF BASSIROU BARROW
Bassirou Barrow, father of Karamo Barrow, said he is a fitter and lives in Ebo Town; that the late Karamo was going to ICE High School and was born in 1976. He said Karamo was his first son; that he last saw Karamo in the morning of 10 April 2000; that he learnt of the death later in the day; that at about 2 p.m on 11 April they identified the body; that on 12 April, the body was handed over to them and was buried on the same day.


TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH B. CARROL
Mr. Joseph B. Carrol, father of Reginald Carrol, told the Coroner that he was living at Latrikunda Yiriyanga; that Reginald was doing computer studies at FBI at Old Jeshwang; that he was his son; that he left for Banjul on 10 April in the morning to cash a cheque; that he was later called by his wife who told him that Reginald had not returned home and his whereabouts was not known; that he said he had asked her to come and meet him in Banjul so that they can check at the RVH, where they later got the information of his death; that they were informed that he died during the students riot; that on Tuesday he was informed by the surgeon that his child died of gunshot wounds; that after receiving the body he discovered wounds and that he was finally buried on 17 April 2000.


TESTIMONY OF SAINEY GINGALLY
The seventh person to give evidence was the grandfather of Wuyeh Mansally, Sainey Gingally, who claimed that he received the body on Wednesday, 12 April 2000 and took to Casamance where he was buried.Sainey Gingally claimed that Wuyeh was born in Senegal and had only come here to study Arabic at the Tallinding Islamic Institute; that Wuyeh was born in 1980.



TESTIMONY OF MBYE CHUNE
The eight witness was one Mbye Chune, the father of the late Momodou Lamin Chune; he said that M.L. Chune was his first born and was 15 years old; that he was attending Latrikunda Junior Secondary School; that he got information of the death of his son from his fellow students that he had been shot at their school gate; that after two days search for the body they discovered him at the mortuary of the RVH and received the body on 12 April 2000 and buried the same day at 5 p.m.


TESTIMONY OF ABDOULIE BOJANG
Mr. Abdoulie Bojang of Tallinding gave testimony that he is the father of Lamin Abdoulie Bojang of Nusrat Senior Secondary School who is now deceased; that he is his first son and child; that he was found to be killed on Monday 10 April, 2000.

He said that he went on a trek to Basse on the preceding Saturday; that he learnt about the students incident and returned on that Monday; that he arrived in the evening and having learnt about his son not being seen home since after he went to school in the morning, he rushed to one Lamin Jarjue, his son's classmate to enquire; that he was told that they were together in school for their exams but were later dispersed when some other students stormed their school and they then headed towards Serrekunda through the Brikama Highway and during which commotion they lost each other in the crowd.

Mr. Bojang continued that upon hearing this he decided to proceed with his wife to the RVH in Banjul but first passed through the police station to check whether he was detained, but he was not there; that at the RVH he was shown a list of patients but the name of his son was not there; that it was there that he was informed about the death of his son; that he requested to see the body but was denied access; that he managed to see the body of his son who was shot at the back of his head on 11 April 2000; that there were also bruises on the face which might have been sustained when he fell down; that they were there up to 4.30 p.m. but were not allowed to collect the body; that it was on Wednesday, 12 April at around 12.30 p.m; that they were given the body which was later taken and buried in Jamburr the same day. He indicated that he saw the body after an autopsy was already performed on it.

PROCEEDING OF 25 APRIL 2000

TESTIMONY OF MR ALPHA BAH
The next witness to testify on Tuesday, 25 April 2000 was Mr. Alpha Bah, guardian of the late Ousman Sabally of Kerewan Samba Sireh in the CRD.
Mr. Bah stated that Ousman Sabally was his ward and nephew; that he died at Bansang Hospital as a result of the students incident in Brikamaba where he was attending school; that he was shot and rushed to Bansang Hospital by him and other relatives; that this incident occurred on Tuesday, 11 April 2000; that he was 15 years old; that they received the body on the following day Wednesday for burial; that he was since buried; that he was in grade 8; that he saw the body as he was bleeding profusely on both the chest and the back; that he was in school uniform.



TESTIMONY OF MUSTAPHA KUJABIE
He told the Coroner that he lives in Old Jeshwang and his occupation is masonry; that Kebba Sanyang is his neighbour and that Abdoulie Sanyang is Kebba Sanyang's son; that he is an infant; that on 10 April 2000, he heard some gun shots and came out of his compound and saw people running; that he saw the police dispersing the students and went back into his compound; that forty five minutes later, a woman came to him to seek assistance; that when he went he saw the deceased; that he took him to the Royal Victoria Hospital; that the hospital staff confirmed that the child was dead.



TESTIMONY OF INSPECTOR JOBE
Inspector Biran Jobe told the Coroner that he is part of the Serious Crime Squad; that on 10 April 2000 he was at GTTI where there was a students' demonstration; that he returned to the police headquarters at about 11.00 and was assigned to the RVH to look after victims involved in the students' demonstration; that on the morning of 11 April, 2000, he went to the mortuary where he found some corpses and he had cause to prepare some forms to enable autopsy to be done on the bodies before burial; that at that time not all bodies had been identified; that after the authorisation the said forms were handed over to the pathologist; that they had 11 bodies that day; that all the bodies were later identified except one which is yet to be identified; that the number given to that deceased was PM 44/2000; that he is a male; that it was difficult to identify where he was found; that no information is available as to who escorted him to the hospital; that the Criminal Records Office of the Police Headquarters took photographs of all the bodies in the mortuary.At this point, he applied to tender six photographs together with their negatives of the unidentified body.

They were admitted and marked A,B,C,D,E,F, He went on to say that they issued notices at the public notices at police stations but up to now no one has come forward; that he had to go back to the Coroner to obtain authority to dispose of the unidentified body; that it has now been laid to rest at the Old Jeshwang cemetery.

At this stage, at the request of the Coroner, he tendered the photographs of the other eleven bodies. He said that apart the autopsies were carried out by Dr Omar Sam and Dr Sorhegui Rafael.

CROSS EXAMINATION

After examination by counsel, Abdoulie Bojang, father of Lamin Bojang, cross examined Inspector Jobe. He asked Inspector Jobe why he failed to ask him to witness the autopsy of his son.
In response, Mr. Jobe said that this was the first time he was assigned such a task; that it was the relatives who requested to witness the autopsy.


TESTIMONY OF DR SORHEGUI RAFAEL
He told the Coroner that he is from Cuba; that he is a pathologist at the RVH and has been there for 10 months; that he has been a pathologist since 1976; that he received a request from the police for an autopsy on 11 April 2000; that the request forms bore the names of the deceased persons.

He was asked to read out the names and he read out the following names: Abdoulie Sanyang; Burama Badgie and Wuyeh Mansally. Upon request he tendered the forms in evidence.He said further that he performed autopsies on the bodies of these deceased persons on 11 April 2000 and that he was assisted by Dr Sam, the pathologist in charge.
He then proceeded to inform the Coroner about his findings:1.


ABDOULIE SANYANG: In the external examination there was no damage or wound and no evidence of chronic disease.
Internal examination: He indicated injuries and swellings in the left lungs. As to the cause of death, Dr Rafael indicated that the left pulmonary vein crushed; that it could have been pressed physically.

2. BURAMA BADJIE:

Examination revealed that the deceased sustained gun shot wounds from the back causing loss of blood and damage to the lungs.
The doctor proceeded to say that the cause of death was massive haemorrhage;that two wounds were visible: entry point at the right upper chest and at the back.The counsel asked the doctor to tell the court whether the entry point of 20mm and exit of 30mm is due to a live bullet or a blank bullet. In response, he said it was due to a live bullet; that it cannot be sutured; that in the cause of examination he did not come across any bullet in the body because of the speed. Asked whether he had any experience to have an idea as to the type of bullet used, he answered in the negative.


3. WUYEH MANSALLY:
Dr Rafael told the inquest that Wuyeh Mansally was aged 19 years; that he had sustained a wound on the right side of his neck of length 25mm; that the wound penetrated the left jaw causing the jaw to fracture around the exit; that as a result of the force of the bullet moving at high speed the tongue was cut at the main joint around the gullet.

Dr Rafael went on to indicate that as a result of this there was serious bleeding which led to Mansally's immediate death. When asked if the wound was caused by a live bullet, he answered in the positive. Asked further whether the bullet was fired at close range, he said that it can be estimated to have been fired from a range of about 13 metres. He was also asked why the exit of the wound was larger than the penetration, he said that it was due to the high velocity at which the bullet was travelling; that this forced small particles of bones around the fractured area of the jaw to go out with the bullet.
He was also asked if the other parts of the body were affected and he answered in the negative. He was asked if a rubber bullet can cause a penetrating wound, he answered in the positive but noted that it cannot have the same impact as a live bullet.

Read my column next week for another Pathologist, Dr Sam's report on Momodou Lamin Njie; Calisco Priera; Karamo Barrow; Reginald Carrol; Omar Barrow; Momodou Lamin Chune; Lamin A. Bojang and Ousman Sabally.Until then, Assalamalaikum For comments write to Papak196@yahoo.co.uk.

Yet another gimmick

by PK Jarju

Last Tuesday, after taking my ten month-old son to bed, I tiptoed quietly downstairs to read the speech delivered by President Jammeh at our great nation's 43rd Independence Anniversary. But by the time I got to the tenth or eleventh paragraph, I started to yawn. Not that I was tired. I was not hungry either as I had eaten a full four inches pizza and drank two glasses of cranberry juice. I was bored.


While President Jammeh may have succeeded in impressing the large crowd at the Independence Stadium in Bakau with his speech, I found nothing new or exciting to warrant those people standing or sitting in that scorching hot sun to nearly dislocate their hands clapping for him. The speech was just mere rhetoric and political gimmick.


Years after years, we have seen him deliver similar ear-pleasing speeches only to see him act differently. President Jammeh seems to have forgotten that the deepening political differences among Gambians are of his own making. He has divided and continued to rule Gambians base on their political affiliations. And in order for Gambians to put aside their political differences and work together for the betterment of our country, Jammeh himself has to take the lead.


He has to take the lead by being sincere to his words and by governing The Gambia as a country and not his kingdom. Jammeh has to convince the Gambian people that he is a man they can trust. He has to stop being a chameleon that keeps changing its colours every now and then. There should be no room for hypocrisy. We have seen enough of that. All we want is action.


Since 1996, President Jammeh and his APRC militants have put politics before national interest. And while Jammeh can stand in front of those school children- the cream of our society and try to portray himself and his government as having the interest of the country at heart, many brilliant and hard working Gambians are being fired from their posts.


They are fired not because of corruption practices or wrong doing, but simply because someone elsewhere reported them for being opposition sympathisers. Many of those kids he was addressing will in a few months or years be denied jobs, government scholarships, arrested and tortured because their parents are opposition sympathisers or because they choose to be critics of his regime.


We have seen many Gambians killed, arrested and tortured by State Guard soldiers, the Gestapo (NIA) and other state security officers not because they are a threat to national security but because of their political affiliations or beliefs. And as i write this article, such crimes are continuing to be committed against innocent Gambians by men in uniform with the blessings of Jammeh.


Today in The Gambia, we use politics in everything. People suspected of having links with the opposition parties finds it very difficult - if not impossible to even register their businesses with the relevant government departments.


To suite the interest of President and his corrupt APRC government, Gambians are being restricted from setting up prosperous business entities like newspapers and other media outlets. Other media houses that have provided jobs for hundreds of Gambians like The Independent, Sud FM Banjul and Citizen FM are shut down for non other than political reasons. Communities that support the opposition are still being neglected by the government. Interestingly even though they pay their taxes to the government, yet they are being punished for voting for the opposition. These and many other things are happening in the country day in day out and they cannot just be ignored.


People cannot put their political differences aside while they are being bullied. Jammeh does not have any respect for his political opponents and critics. He have repeatedly called them and their sympathisers derogatory names on national television and even swears in the name of Almighty Allah to bury them six-feet deep just because they disagree with his policies and programmes.


And judging by the eyes which Jammeh looks at his opponents and critics, it would be very impossible for him to work with them. Jammeh has a lot of pride and does not listen to anyone. He is paranoid and reacts brutishly like a cobra to any advice he deems wrong. There is no job security when working with Jammeh and you can be lock up in Mile Two Prisons as long as he wants without even being charged for a crime. Working with Jammeh is like putting your hand in fire.


If there is to be real progress in our country's democratisation, the APRC regime has to try and win the confidence of Gambians. It cannot do so by continuing to manipulate the constitution left, right and centre to suite its interest. People cannot trust a regime that disregards all the democratic principles of the country. And unless Jammeh buries his pride and govern the country according to the dictates of the 1997 constitution, the political situation in the country will continue to get worst and worst.


With regard to women and youths, it is true that they have contributed so much to the development of the country, but they are still being failed by the APRC regime. The Gambian women continues to suffer from early marriage, female genital mutilation, poverty, you name it. Having a few women in cabinet, parliament and judiciary does not mean the government has the interest of women at heart.


Home is still the place of the Gambian women where she continues to suffer in silence. She wakes up at the first cock crow and goes to bed at midnight. She continues to be born in the cycle of poverty, grow up in poverty, live in poverty, and die in abject poverty.


The importance of the Gambian woman is only realised during elections and political rallies. She is transported around the country in trucks to campaign for politicians who are even too civilised to be covered in dust. Women are being transformed to political slaves. Take for instance, instead of looking after the kids, they are taken to Kanilai to work in Jammeh's farms and entertain his guests. They dance all days and night while Jammeh sits and giggle on his soffa and if he is too excited, he pumps money on them.


President Jammeh should stop playing political football with our women. His government should rather devise modalities of how to remove them from the firm clutches of poverty, abuse and sufferings.


The youth sector is another area which the government has neglected. The Jammeh regime has totally failed Gambian youths. It has failed woefully to provide a fruitful environment where the cream of our society will explore their talents to the fullest.


Over six thousand school children graduate annually from our schools while the public sector employs less than a thousand of then. In fact, I would be fair to say that more retrenchment than recruitment is taking place in the public sector. Giving out scholarships to members of the National Patriotic Student Association (Napsa) or children of Yai compins and senior APRC figures does mean that the government is helping to advance the cause of youth empowerment.


Our youths are being disempowered. They are not allowed to protest or criticise any government policy which is not in their interest. After 12 years of education, a large majority of youths ends up in the ghettos, or in the tourism industry as bumsters.


The government has created a ghetto culture in our youths and it is very unfair to see Jammeh accusing them of laziness. Gambian youths are not lazy. Provide them jobs and other opportunities and you will be surprise to see how hard working they are.


The National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) only recieves an annual subvention of D4.1 million. Only D800, 000 serve as a Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund. The rest is meant for salaries, allowances, utilities and other costs of sustaining the programme. The National Youth Council receives a subvention of D738, 000.


Only D50,000 is designated for Youth Assistance Training. All these subventions are part of the budget of the Department of Youth, Sports and Culture, which stands at D14.5 million. D2 million of this is supposed to be a contribution to finance a National Enterprise Development Initiative.


If government really had the interest of youths at heart, it would have surely invested more money in to the productive base of the economy. More jobs would have been created for the youths. If over 10 million Dalasis could be spent in glorifying the tenth anniversary of the July 22 military coup, why can't such a huge amount be spent in creating jobs for the youths? The answer is simple. The men in power don't care about them.


The new Gambia President Jammeh is envisaging cannot be developed without the regime respecting the political freedoms and rights of the citizenry. The current policies of President Jammeh and his regime are killing our country. There are many intelligent Gambians in Europe, US and other parts of the globe, who wants to contribute to the development of the country. But they can only do if the right environment is created by the regime.


The Gambia can only move forward if Jammeh starts looking at what Gambians can do for The Gambia and not what they can do for him and his APRC party. We can also move forward if most of the unresolved murder issues and other crimes committed against innocent Gambians are address. No justice, no progress.

The naked truth

by PK Jarju

How do you feel when you lie?

Straight faced while people cry

How do you feel when you promise something

That you know you'll never do

Giving false hope to the people

Giving false hope to the underpriviledged

Do you really sleep at night?

When you know you're living a lie

To you it is just a job

To the people it hurts to the bone ----Lucky Dube

Here we go again, the fact that an institution owned by President Yahya Jammeh is calling Gambian journalists and online newspapers abroad liars, idiots, trouble makers, cyber terrorists, enemies of The Gambia and other names is not surprising to any Gambian.

This reminds me of one of the seven commandments in George Orwell's book, Animal Farm, which reads: whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

In other words, the Daily Observer is implying that people who bow down and sing praises of Yayha Jammeh even when he declares a public holiday in honour of his son are the friends who have the interest of the country at heart. And those who criticise the Jammeh regime for its lack of respect to our rights are the enemies of The Gambia, the very country of their birth. How interesting is that?

The Daily Observer like its owner, hates to see any one who is demanding for the full restoration of democracy and the respect of the rule of law in The Gambia. As the only daily paper in the country, the Observer is doing a great disservice to The Gambia and Gambians by trying to build a false image of the country and its leadership.

How sad it is to see a newspaper with the motto, Forward with The Gambia, glorifying a man who for the past 12 years has transformed our great country into his kingdom, which he rules any how he wants with no regards to the laws of the land.

The management of the Observer wants Gambians to treat Jammeh as God and believe in whatever he says. They are taking advantage on the fact Gambians are believing and trusting lot and they want us to believe in Jammeh when he tells us bed time stories of pigs flying, curing Aids, curing barrenness or having the ability to know things that are about to happen in 40 years time. How wonderful is that?

The leadership's gross disregard to the constitution and other laws of the country has indeed turned our blessed country into kingdom of the fittest. Criticisms are not tolerated and the men in power comes down heavily on anyone who try to speak out against them.

The Daily Observer has to differentiate between Jammeh and The Gambia. Yahya Jammeh is an individual and The Gambia is a country. While Jammeh will be history, whether today, tomorrow or day after, The Gambia which is home to 1.5 million people will remain forever until the end of time.

The Daily Observer got to understand that no matter what mechanism it employs, it cannot change the truth, the reality on the country. The more it tries, the more laughable its efforts will be to the Gambian public. Its effort to suppress the truth, can be compared to that of a person trying to hide from the sun with his hands.

While we maybe far away from home physically, the Daily Observer, got to know that our minds and spirit are still in The Gambia. We are proud to be Gambians and as a concern people, we follow the events back home minute by minute. The Observer has to remember that the world is now a global village. With the help of technology, we are aware of any development in Banjul within minutes. In most occasions, we are privy of events in Banjul even before the news reaches Serekunda.

While we may be hated by President Jammeh and his regime, which has since 1994 employed all sorts of brutality ranging from intimidation, arrest and detention without trial, torture and murder, we are loved and respected by the Gambian people.

Our newspapers have a much wider Gambian readership, which shows solidarity and support in our service of writing nothing but the truth without fear or favour. Day after day, we receive letters of solidarity from people around the globe thanking us for being sane Gambians, who are not seeking for any political office but trying to keep a tyrant accountable.

The Daily Observer got to realise that the Gambian people are fed up with Jammeh. They are tired of waking up everyday and seeing their president getting more and more obessed at their expense while they suffer with starvation. They are sick of being unable to meet the rising costs of living while the president and his associates diverts their taxes to fund their flamboyant life styles. They are tired of being held to ransome by a president who is being paid from their taxes. They are sick of seeing a President who does not have their interest at heart. They hate a president who waste millions of dalasis to feed exotic animals in his Kanilai zoo while the population cannot afford to a decent three square meal. They hate to see a president who treats them like kids and swears Billahi Wallahi Tallahi at them.

Gambians are not fools. And thanks to the gallantry of the independent media, they have now fully understood that President Jammeh is not representing their interest at State House. He is there for his own selfish interest.

What the Gambian people need at the moment is a stronger opposition leadership. When that is fixed, hopefullly soon, then President Jammeh and his cronies will realise how frustrated Gambians are to his rule.

I and a thousands of other Gambians wants a leadership that will rule the people according to dictates of the 1997 constitution. We want a government that will not enslave Gambians. We want a government that will not seize the rights of the citizenry. We want a governemnt that will respects the opinions of the electorate. Jammeh and his cronies may not be hearing from these people, certainly not in the Daily Observer, but they are out there in our streets, work places, ghettos, everywhere- and their anger is brewing just beneath the surface.

As a democratic minded journalists, all I will keep doing is to continue telling the Gambian people what they need to hear as well as provide them with the space- the space they are shamelessly denied by the Daily Observer to freely express themselves. This will no doubt enable them to exercise their democractic rights by voting Jammeh out of power.

President Jammeh and his cronies and indeed the Daily Observer, got to realise that the so-called return of the country to civilian rule in 1996 does not in anyway make us a democratic country. The mere periodic voting in general elections does not make us a democratic country. The mere existence of the three arms of government does not make us a democratic country. What we have is The Gambia is Jammehcracy, a system of government that can best be define as government of Yahya Jammeh, by Yahya Jammeh and for Yahya Jammeh.

In Jammehcracy, while there exist the three arms of government, yet the president gets total control of their activities. He hires and fires ministers, legislators and judges. A minister who disagrees with him during cabinet meetings gets a good kicking on the backside. A member of parliament who fails to vote for any bill drafted by the executive is whack from the National Assembly and a judge who delivers a verdict against the state gets his contract terminated or remains at the bottom of the judiciary ladder with no prospects of promotion.

In Jammehcracy, the president becomes so intoxicated with power and will do everything in his powers to remain president for life. Like all dictators and tyrants, he becomes so paranoid thus trusts no one. He surrounds himself with his tribal men from the same village or division, who are pampered with goody goodies as long as they remain loyal to him. These tribal men in uniform spend sleepless nights arresting, torturing and in most occassions killing anyone who refuses to bend his knees for the president.

This of course reminded me of an article, The Portrait of a Tyrant authored by one of my mentors, Baba Galleh Jallow. In the article, Mr Jallow said: "Democracy, it is often said, is the tyranny of the majority. It is a political arrangement in which the majority elect representatives who then make and impose laws on the minority, whether the minority likes such laws or not. But it is universally acknowledged that a well-ordered democracy with the necessary checks and balances to prevent abuse of power is the best-known form of government. The situation becomes tricky when there is but a semblance of democracy, when there are no checks and balances, and where the elected representatives lack the personal wisdom and integrity to do the right thing and abstain from abusing their powers.

"The elected minority, knowing that those who elected them are really not in any position to control or punish them, begin abusing their power. Under the leadership of the would-be tyrant, they throw all care to the winds and employ every sort of conceivable device to deceive the people. They steal and get rich, lie and lavish goodies to blind the minds of the people, and become veritable sycophants to their leader, the would-be tyrant. When they are adequately corrupted and stripped of all honor and integrity, the would-be tyrant would start eliminating them one by one. So that in a short while, he would be the only surviving member of his former companions, thus beginning the rapid transition into a fully fledged tyrant. He would have been transformed, by his greed and insatiable lust for power, into a monster in human skin. For he would have lost all sense of proportion and would see himself as the very paragon of virtue and righteousness, thanks to the creeping and cringing sycophants groveling at his feet at every moment of his waking life."

The Daily Observer needs to know that while it is willing to blindly glorify President Jammeh and his bandwagon, sane Gambians will not. Gambians know that the APRC leadership is a complete sham. It is a bunch of currupt and selfish individuals who are using their positions to enrich themselves.

Take for example, we all know how much the president and his ministers are earning. Their earnings are not even upto £12,000 a year, yet they boast of fleet of cars, uncountable houses, zoo, foreign accounts and other properties far beyond their wages. How can they acquire all these riches if is not true bribery and corruption? Well you tell me that?

To conclude, let me make this clear once and for all. The Gambian media is here to stay. While the management of the Daily Observer is willing to bend its knees and bow its head to President Jammeh and his band wagon as they embark on their quest to milk the country to dry, we will not. We will always remain steadfast and committed to our principles. We will never abdicate our responsibilities no matter what bullying tactics you use. We can never be silent. NEVER.

Peace

Self defense

by PK Jarju

So far so good we still living today

But we don't know what tomorrow brings

In this crazy world

People dying like flies every day

You read about it in the news

But you don't believe it

You'll only know about it

When the man in the long black coat

Knocks on your door'

Cause you're his next victim

As you are living in this crazy world

.. Lucky Dube

This Tuesday, while reading the online papers, I came across an article on the February 5th edition of President Yahya Jammeh's newspaper, the Daily Observer, captioned Flagrant Injustice. While lashing out at the British High Commission for denying an entry visa to ill Gambian, Momodou, the paper stated: "Imagine how much money the British embassy in Banjul makes out of the pockets of the many poor Gambian students genuinely seeking scholarship in UK universities. This again contrasts sharply with the readily available visas for so-called dissident asylum-seeking journalists who end up becoming liabilities to the British citizens, as much as they remain forces of evil for their own countries. Is this how Britain intends to help The Gambia develop?....Also people that turn their backs to their countries, suddenly making themselves enemies of their home, are not only given asylum in the UK, but the country serves as sanctuary for them in their anti - development propaganda works."

I had to laugh aloud when I read this vile statement because Dida Halake, the paper's managing editor is doing the dirty work he is hired for by President Jammeh from his council flat in Leeds. It is very idiotic and stupid of him to try to compare Momodou's case with others. Dida has to know that his Master at State House is nothing but a corrupt and bloody dictator, who do not have the interest of the Gambian people at heart. Jammeh is not a blessing for the Gambian people.

How insane it is for an Ethiopian refugee to come to our very own country and insult us simply because we call for a democratic government that will govern the electorates in accordance to the laws of the land? Mr. Old man, if you are reading this piece, you got to know that we Gambians are not fools. We can be the most hospitable people on earth but never take our hospitability for weakness. We will not sit idly and watch a green snake like you come to our backyard and tell us that rubbish.

While he boost to anyone willing to listening that he holds a British passport, Dida was nothing in the UK but a mere primary school teacher in Leeds, West Yorkshire. He had to thank his lucky stars for being made Observer's managing director. He got the job not because of his intelligence. He got it not because he has any journalism experience. He got it simply through selfishness. For many years, we have seen him praise singing President Jammeh even when does things that are not in the interest of Gambians. And after all Jammeh does not care about one's qualifications when putting them in positions of public trust. As an incompetent leader himself, all Jammeh cares for is how much support you give to him and his APRC party.

As a man who have spent many years in Kenya and the UK, it is very ignorant and naive for Dida Halake to call Gambian journalists as anti-development. How stupid of him to think that we are enemies of the Gambia? How can a bloody foreigner come to our country and make such vile statement? Mr. Halake, we are not enemies of our motherland. We will never be. While you are nothing but a locust, who is only looking for green grass to chew, we are not. We will forever be proud to be Gambians and will do anything within our means to ensure that our country is not transformed into a kingdom rule by one mad man.

We have seen how corruption, nepotism and dictatorship led to the savagery resulting in the death of thousands of Ethiopians. And before you waste your time preaching us to love our country, why not preach love to your adopted home, Kenya, where thousands of people were killed.

Mar Halake, it is only a mad man who will try to put his own house on fire while his parents and kids are sleeping inside. Our criticism of the Jammeh is not in anyway geared towards bringing instability to our very own country. We have a gaddem right to criticize a tyrant like Yahya Jammeh, who thinks that he can rule us anyhow he wants. It is our God given right to express ourselves which Jammeh can never take away no matter how much he tries.

Like Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, exile Russian top nuclear physicists once stated in an interview with John Simpson of the BBC: "The desire, the instinct to oppose brutality and repress freedom of though is unquenchable. Of course it can be be force to keept quite at times, when repression gerts worse. Not everyone wants to be a matrtyr but the instincts remains and will always remain. And when circumstances becomes a little favourable, it will raise its head again. You cannot crush the instinct, because its part of us - part of human condition. The desire to be free is one of the fundamental human desire." So Mr. Old man, there you go.

Mr. Halake needs to realise that Jammeh is doing no one a favour by constructing roads or schools. He is doing what he is vote in for. That is why we pay our taxes. Dida has lived in Leeds for many years and never did he write a letter thanking the Leeds Metropolitcan Council for clearing his rubbish bin. Why, this is because they are doing what they are expected to do. If that is the case, does he think we a bunch of dummies who will heap praises on Jammeh for building a hospital in Fatoto, that only have paracetamol?

Dida Halake needs to know that the political situation in the Gambia is getting worse and worse by the day. It can be compared as being in a boat which is being driven by a mad captain in a stormy sea. People are being oppressed left right and centre everyday.

Where was Dida Halake when journalists like Alhagie Mbye of The Independent was arrested and tortured for over a week at the NIA headquarters not for setting Banjul International Airport on fire, but for writing an article seen critical of the regime. Where was Halake when my friend Malick Mboob was detained and tortured for over three months for just writing to the Freedom Newspaper? Where was Dida Halake when over a dozen innocent subcribers of the Freedom Newspapers were rounded up in the country and tortured by the NIA? Where was Dida Halake when armed soldiers set The Independent on fire? Is the closure of The Independent, Citizen FM and Sud FM justifiable? Where was Dida Halake when Deyda Hydara was brutality killed by NIA officers for just being a journalists? Where was Dida Halake when Ebrima Sillah's house was set on fire? Where was Dida when Chief Manneh, a bloke he knew very well at the Observer disappeared from earth after been arrested by the NIA? Why is the government wasting tax payers money in prosecuting Fatou Jaw Manneh? Is Dida not aware of Decree 70/71 and the new criminal procedure code which makes it a crime liable for six months in prison for just caricaturing someone? Well, I will excuse him if he is not aware of it as he might have been busy teaching kids in his Alhassan Madarasa how to support Yahya Jammeh.

Mr. Halake, Gambian journalists are today living in an atrocious political climate and you must have hammered 20 pints of larger if you think that all is well and fine. President Jammeh regards himself as God and wants every living soul in the country to bow down to him. And Dida Halake must be have gone completely crazy to see us as a forces of evil. We will never be cowed.

If there is any force of evil, it is Dida Halake. He is deliberately turning a blind eye while Jammeh is milking us to dry. He is careless about the oppression taking place in the Gambian. He does not care about the sufferings of our people. All he wants is too is to see Gambians been transformed into destitutes while Jammeh gets fatter and brutal.


Mr. Halake, we have seen many of your types and we know that you are only glorifying President Jammeh and his brutal regime for your own selfish desires. You will be on the next plane back to Leeds the very day you get the sack from the Observer.

Dida needs to know that Jammeh has brought nothing but untold sufferrings to the Gambian people. Poverty is increasing everyday with many families living under less than one Pound Sterling a day? While Dida is being paid D10, 000 a month, he needs to know that a large majority of civil servants are earning less than D1,000 a month. They are finding it difficult to survive the hardship which is epitomise by sky rocketing prices of commodity goods, high electric and water bills.
Our farmers are finding it difficult to put food on the table simply because their nuts are still unsold.

Mr. Halake you have been in the Gambia for many years and how many times have you had people losing their jobs just because they oppose Jammeh? How many times have you seen people being abtrararilly arrested and lock up at the stinking Mile Two Prisons for months without standing before any court of law just because they fell out with Jammeh? How many times have you heard of people disappearing from their families just for being opponents of the regime? Would you sit in your cozzy office and rant about forces of evil if your father, brother or uncle was one of these people buried in an unknown grave?

You are just being an ignorant wanker but you knew how unpleasant persecution is. You have witnessed it first hand in your native Ethopia and you have to be so grateful to Kenya for providing a safe heaven for you. While you are glad that those days are over, we in the Gambia are facing it. Yes big time.

Mr. Halake, have you forgotten that I am a signatory to your will and I know all about you. For the time being I let those things to be.
Peace
For comments, write to papak196@yahoo.co.uk

Incompetence - Sort of typical of President Jammeh

by PK Jarju

My attention has been drawn to an article published on the January 3 edition of The Point Newspaper in which President Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, spoke at length about the Gambian civil service, opposition, Nepad, and the West.

In the story, Mr. Jammeh was quoted saying: "The amendment [Local Government Act] was made by the majority of the National Assembly. If you are telling me that National Assembly’s action is illegal then I wonder which authority in this country can make laws which anybody considers constitutional, legal or illegal? If I have to intervene to save Gambians I will do so and who ever does not like it, you can leave the country."

To be honest with you, I have to laugh out aloud after reading the above quotation as it exposes the President's ignorance to the 1997 constitution and his lack of respect to the Gambian people. The President in the above quotation was naive in failing to realize that Section 193 subsection (1) of the 1997 constitution is an entrenched clause, which cannot be amended by the National Assembly. This clause can only be changed through a referendum.

While the President may try to act smart by trying to highlight the importance of the National Assembly, he needs to know that the Gambian National Assembly is nothing but an APRC bureau. It is an unfit for purpose institution dominated by APRC men and women, who like the President, do not have the interest of the Gambian people at heart. They put the President's interest above the country. They have openly manifested their loyalty to the President by blindly and stupidly passing obnoxious laws such as the Local Government Amendment Act, which can be described as a killer bomb to our democracy.

The President got to know that most of these members of the National Assembly are unfit to be in that institution. They are lucky to be in that place simply because many electorates were intimidated to vote for them.

We have all seen the role played by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), police and the electoral commission in wrecking the chances of many opposition and Independent candidates in the National Assembly election.

Furthermore, despite being President of The Gambia, Jammeh got to know that he does not own the country. We are a country and not a village and we have a constitutional right to challenge any obnoxious law passed by the National Assembly.

And by saying that any Gambian who does not like what he is doing can leave the country, shows the contempt with which he holds the Gambian people. Of course, Jammeh is using his Gestapo [NIA] and soldiers to intimidate and torture his opponents there by giving them no choice but to flee the country. His motto is simple. You are either with me or I make life difficult for you. This is working well for him and as a result he has become so big headed and intoxicated with power. He treats us like small kids in kindergarten, swears at us billahi wallahi tallahi and threatens to bury us six-feet deep. This is total lunacy- period!

On Civil Servants

While, I am against lazy civil servants who get paid for doing nothing, I would began by saying that, the gross under performance of the Gambian civil service is encourage by the incompetence of President Yahya Jammeh and his regime.

There are many square pegs in round holes in the civil service as employment into the Gambian civil service is nowadays not determined by merits, but who you know. And as a result, many bright Gambians with good educational background and skills are being sidelined simply because they don't have any relationship with the top echelons. Be a son or daughter of a secretary of state, permanent secretary or an APRC yai compin (party woman patron) and you are guaranteed a job in our civil service upon completion of school.

The Gambian civil service is greatly undermined by favoritism, corruption, bribery, you name it. We have for many years seen many civil servants close to the President who are indicted for corruption being fired only to be reappointed to top positions of public trust. What about the President himself? He should count himself lucky that Gambians don't have a right to sack him. We would have fired him ages ago for incompetence, corruption, and worst of all, the mess which he has put our country into.

Opposition

The Gambian opposition has become less ferocious against President Jammeh simply because of his brutal and oppressive ways of governance. The Gambia is turned into a Nanny State. Jammeh is in control of everything from what we say, what we do and even where we go.

Gambians are arrested, tortured and even killed for no other reason than for opposing the regime. Government refuses to undertake certain development projects in communities that support the opposition. Civil servants suspected of being opposition sympathisers are made jobless. The political terrain is not level and how the hell does Jammeh expect Gambians to continue supporting the opposition?

Nepad

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) is failing due to the lack of support from corrupt presidents like Jammeh. They were too selfish and blind to see the noble objectives of the organisation, which include eradicating poverty; putting African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development; stopping the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process and enhance its full and beneficial integration into the global economy and to accelerate the empowerment of women. Nepad was built on the principles of good governance, which it sees as a basic requirement for peace, security and sustainable political and socio-economic development.

Its desired outcomes were to enable Africa to become more effective in conflict prevention and the establishment of enduring peace on the continent; to enable Africa to adopt and implement principles of democracy and good political economic and corporate governance, and the protection of human rights becomes further entrenched in every African country as well as to help the continent to develop and implement effective poverty eradication programmes and accelerates the pace of achieving set African development goals, particularly human development to name but a few. Jammeh should be honest with the Gambian people.

There is nothing wrong with Nepad's principles. It is an organisation for Africa set up by patriotic Africans whose sole interest was to move Africa forward. Africa is sick and tired of corrupt and greedy leaders like Jammeh who turned their country's coffers into their personal accounts. Jammeh got to know that while other selfish and myopic Gambians are willing to blindly buy his cook and bull stories and ridiculous ideas, intelligent Gambians will always stand tall and tell him the unpleasant truth. For the Bible says, Truth shall set ye free and it will surely do.
Peace!
May Allah the most Gracious and Merciful shower His love and protection on our dear Mother Gambia.
For comments, write to papak196@yahoo.co.uk.

Flabbergasted

by PK Jarju
Deyda Hydara must be turning in his grave, wondering what the hell has gone wrong with his friend, Swaebou Conateh, publisher of the Gambia News and Report weekly magazine. The whole idea of Mr. Conateh naming Dictator Yahya Jammeh his 2007 Man of the Year is just a joke.

The blood of Deyda Hydara is still dripping from the hands of President Jammeh and Mr. Conateh's decision to bestow the award on Jammeh can only be described as an act of hypocrisy and an insult to the memory of his late friend.

I must admit that I have for many years been an admirer of Mr. Conateh, but am currently dying of shame after seeing him go so low to honor a man, who brought nothing but hardships, untold sufferings, retrogression as well as made many children orphans, mothers widows, and parents childless.

While Swaebou Conateh may be laughing his way to the bank, he needs to know that Jammeh has not met the criteria for the award in the first place. He has not contributed the most to the public welfare nor has he significantly contributed in enhancing in a direct and tangible form, the social, and economic status of Gambians as a whole.

Old age may have tricked my old friend into believing that Jammeh's HIV/Aids cure was real. Jammeh's AIDS treatment is a hoax, period! If the world scientific community with all modern technology cannot find a cure to the disease, how can a man without even a microscope find a cure to the disease?

I am not having a go at Mr. Conateh, but telling him the unpleasant truth, the very truth he taught me to say even if an AK 47 rifle is pointed at me. And I strongly disagree with Swaebou that Yahya Jammeh helped to bring an end to the stigma attached to the HIV/Aid in Gambian society. For the past four years or so, the National Aids Secretariat and UNDP office in Banjul have done a tremendous job in sponsoring workshops across the country and adverts on our radios and television geared towards sensitizing Gambians on the risks and prevention of HIV/Aids. All Jammeh was seen doing in Kanilai is sprinkling a concoction of leaves on some malnourished people. Is that what we call ending stigmatization?

Jammeh's so-called HIV/Aids treatment programme was a political propaganda and money generating venture. I say this because Jammeh insists on all patience to be filmed by Gambia Television while receiving treatment. He now has a bogus Aids organization, which all government departments and some private enterprises have pumped huge sums of money. Jammeh is the richest Gambian today and if he is really sincere, then he would have used his money to fund the programme. After all, all he uses for the Aids treatment are some local herbs, which are in the bushes of Kanilai.

On Swaebou's claims that Jammeh have brought about rapid developments and improvements in education, health, agriculture, sports, culture, information/communication, and infrastructure, that is just laughable. Yes, the AFPRC/APRC government has built schools and hospitals, Conateh got to know that most of these projects can only be described as white elephant projects. Despite the building of hundreds of new schools which don't even have a library not to talk of a lab, the number of students completing senior secondary school without a single credit in eight subjects is increasing at an alarming rate.

In fact, it is only children from poor backgrounds who attend these schools built under Jammeh. All senior civil servants including Jammeh himself take their children to expensive private schools that are well equipped to arm them with the required education.

On the health services, while government has built hospitals and health centers, yet many of these hospitals and health centers like the schools are not well equipped. They are continuously hit by persistent drug shortages, lack of qualified doctors and ambulances. Many Patients die of preventable diseases like malaria and the infant mortality rate gets higher.

In some cases, patients are asked to buy fuel for ambulances to transport them to major hospitals and due to the poor state of our public health services, many Gambians now prefer to seek medical care in private pharmacies and health centers. And if our hospitals and health centers are well equipped as Swaebou wants to make us believe, why should senior civil servants, including Jammeh, be sending their pregnant wives to deliver abroad in expensive private hospitals? Well, let Swaebou answer that question.

The Gambia's agricultural sector is at its worst state. Cultivation of groundnuts which is the country's main export has declined rapidly due to disastrous trade seasons. The continuous failure of government to put in place effective agricultural policies has severely affected the livelihood of farmers.

Many farmers today struggle to put food on their tables and the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities is causing a lot of suffering in the farming communities.

Despite spending millions of Dalasis on the Jahally Pacharr and Kuntaur rice projects, Gambians are far from being food self-sufficient. The price of rice, Gambia's stable food, increases week in week out. The country continues to import almost everything we eat from neighbouring countries.

Based on misguided and over zealous policies, the government has failed to meet many of its targets. Development is politicised and many of the development projects were embarked upon without taking into consideration the needs of the people.

Another laughable thing is Swaebou's statement that Jammeh has husbanded and safeguarded the country’s finances, thereby bringing inflation and currency depreciation under control and, in the 2008 national budget, turning to a surplus the deficit that had existed previously.

The Gambian economy is in a serious mess due to power government policies. The dalasi is continuing to depreciate sharply against foreign currencies and our national and external debts are near choking points.

How did Jammeh safeguard our finance when he has transformed our Central Bank into his personal treasury?

I could waste my time responding to every point Swaebou Conateh stated on his letter to the President. But rather than waste my time and that of my readers, I will conclude that President Jammeh did not come to power to alleviate the suffering of Gambian people. He is a greedy, and power hungry soldiers who is only interested in becoming wealthy and powerful. He is so intoxicated with power and does not hesitate to come down heavily on his opponents and critics. That is why Deyda Hydara was killed, Imam Karamo Touray and Pa Sallah Jagne were detained at the stinking Mile Two Prisons on trumped-up charges, Justice Hassan Jallow and Pa Sallah Jeng were removed from their positions and Lamin Waa Juwara arrested and tortured. And funnily, these people were previous recipients of this very award Swaebou Conateh shameless bestowed on Jammeh.

And you know what? Jammeh does not even respect Swaebou Conateh's profession which he calls a stinking business and once urged religious leaders not to buy newspapers as a way of starving them financially. And as a result of his hatred to the private media, many journalists have been arrested and tortured by the Gestapo (NIA) while many were left with no choice but to flee the country living behind their families. Other media houses like The Independent, Citizen FM, and Sud FM are arbitrarily shut down.

Swaebou Conateh needs to realise that no matter how much he tries, he can never succeed in rebuilding the battered image of his old friend. And if respectable men like him are willing to compromise their professionalism and ethics, then God help The Gambia.

For comments write to papak196@yahoo.co.uk

A futile excercis

by PK Jarju

Next month's Local Government elections in The Gambia can best be described as an exercise in futility.

The elections are only a mockery to democracy and an insult to the intelligence of the Gambia people, looking at the fact that President Yahya Jammeh has been given sweeping powers by the National Assembly to remove the very people Gambians will be voting for on January 24.

Looking at the new Local Government Amendment Act, it will be correct for me to state that the forthcoming elections amounts to nothing but a waste of time and resources. The democratic rights of the people to have an autonomous local government that will run their affairs at the local level have been brutality taken away from them.

Yes, we can now elect our local representatives but expect them to be fired from their posts whenever the President who is out of touch with the reality on the ground wants to.

Of course, this reminds me of the type of democracy we have in The Gambia; Jammehcracy, where the president is deemed supreme, wiser and more patriotic than any living soul in the country.

And looking at the resentment President Jammeh has for the opposition, I cannot help but laugh at the decision of the UDP and NRP to contest the elections. While their intentions are clear,  their effort is rather too late. Our democracy has died a gruesome death. We are in a dictatorship and elections are nothing but a formality.

The whole terrain is far from level and I am sorry to say that Mr Darboe and Hamat Bah must be living in a dream world if they think that President Jammeh will allow an opposition mayor or chairperson to run the affairs of any local government council.

Lawyer Darboe's own admission that his party is unable to identity candidates to run as councilors in the Fonis, because of the reluctance of the people to run on a UDPticket shows how un-level the political terrain is. My brothers in Foni are reluctant because of the fear of persecution as President and his cronies ensure that those who oppose them live a miserable life.

How many times have we heard President Jammeh calling opposition leaders and their sympathisers names that I will not state in this column for the sake of decency? How many times have we seen civil servants being sacked left, right and centre just because someone has accused them of being opposition sympathisers? How many times have we seen opposition leaders and their sympathisers being rrested, detained, tortured and killed under the direct command of President Jammeh? How many times have we seen the President fired members of the electoral commission who make decision deemed to be in favour of opposition parties?

Jammeh and his cronies are hell bend on transforming The Gambia into a one party state and nothing can stop them in their quest. We are at their mercy. Our councils are not autonomous anymore. The central government is in control of the councils with the President being the CEO. And we should not be surprise if President Jammeh wakes up one morning and decides to abolish Local Government Elections.

Commending Mathew Jallow

Mathew K Jallow's article on the Gambia Echo captioned The Gambia's struggle against a de facto dictatorship is a well written piece.

Mathew Jallow

The political situation in The Gambia is getting worse every day with President Jammeh tightening his grip on power. Our rights and freedoms have been taken by a mighty and brutal regime that has no interest to the welfare of Gambians at heart.

President Jammeh and his cronies are a bundle of terror who are wrecking our hopes and aspirations of a better Gambia. The Gambian people are today living under constant fear and oppression. And the oppression is bound to continue forever as long as we Gambians continue to remain silent and wait for divine intervention. God only give help to those who make an effort.

We need to wake up and say enough is enough to the President and his regime. We should have a desire to be free and the instinct to oppose brutality and repression. Gambians should forget nursing the dream that international organisations like the UN, the Commonwealth among others will solve our problems for us. While they can influence the process, it is left to us to take the leading role as the country as ours.

Well done Mathew!

A prayer to Gambians

O ye the oppressed people of Gambia, as we are about to say goodbye to 2007, I pray that 2008 will be a year that will bring loads of joy, happiness, peace, and prosperity in our lives and country. I also hope and pray that the ever merciful and ever gracious Lord, will end our sufferings and oppression.

May Allah bless The Gambia with a selfless leadership that will strive day and night to create a better and prosperous country for all.
Happy 2008 in advance. Long live the Gambian people, Long live our great country. Amen.

A Derailed Revolution

President Jammeh

by PK Jarju

Fail, fail, and fail is the only word I can use to describe the July 22nd revolution that brought President Yahya Jammeh and his AFPRC/APRC government to power in 1994. I cannot think of any better adjective to describe a regime that despite 13 years in power is unable to provide a good standard of living for the average Gambian.
The regime has failed to live up to its slogan of accountability, transparency and probity. It has become unaccountable, nontransparent and unable to get rid of the ills it claimed were riffed in the previous Jawara regime. This regime is worse than the Jawara regime and the once happy people of The Gambia are today living in a sad and miserable society; where a greater percentage cannot even afford to acquire a decent meal for the day. In other words, the revolution has brought nothing meaningful but retrogression, hardship, and endless suffering to the Gambian people.

What can be described as bad under the erstwhile Jawara regime is at its worst state today. Corruption is at its highest with the president and his cronies hijacking the country's economy which is squandered and diverted into personal use. The president and his associates, who were nowhere near the rich ladder before coming to power, are today the richest and most wealthy people in the country. They own vast assets and properties and businesses both in the country and abroad.

The July 22nd revolution was not brought about to alleviate the suffering of Gambian people. It was conducted by a group of unpatriotic, selfish, greedy, and power hungry soldiers who were only interested in becoming wealthy and powerful. They have become so intoxicated with power that they crush their political opponents and anyone who has the dares stand their way. Never do they intend to exit the corridors of power, for it is a dream come true. The national cake belongs to them alone. All those calling for a fair distribution of the cake are branded enemies and unpatriotic citizens.

In order to protect themselves from any future corruption proceedings, the regime has enacted legislation that immune the president and his cronies from any criminal prosecution for any wrongs they have committed or deemed to have done while in office.

This gives the leadership the carte blanc to do anything it wants as it is not accountable to anyone. All Gambians are accountable to the president, who treats them with utter contempt, like his forbidden children. He swears at them Billahi Wallai Tallai, lock them up at the Mile Two Central Prisons without facing any due process of the law, and even threaten them with death for merely opposing him.

Based on misguided and over zealous policies, the government has failed to meet many of its targets. Development is politicised and many of the development projects were embarked upon without taking into consideration the needs of the people. For example, while thousands of Gambians remain unemployed, the government spent millions of Dalasis in building Arch 22 in Banjul, which neither provides employment opportunities for Gambians nor provide revenue to the government. While Arch 22 has not increased the number of tourists visiting Banjul, thousands of Dalasis are spent on its maintenance while little is being generated from it.

While I welcome the construction of schools especially in the provinces, where I originated from, yet some of the schools can only be seen as white elephant projects. They only have quantity and not quality and do not provide the much needed education to Gambian children. Take for example, while many of the upper basic schools built by the revolution boasts of high enrolment, they lack qualify teachers, libraries and other educational materials. As a result only a small percentage of students get good results to make it to Gambia Senior or St Augustine's Senior or Nustrat Senior Secondary, which are regarded as the best schools in the country. With regard to public senior secondary schools, the number of students graduating with no credits in eight subjects is rising at an alarming rate. These students do not have a bright future. All what they face is a bleak future where they cannot go to university or get any meaningful marketable skills.

Although the government continues to rant about the quality of these schools, government officials prefer to send their kids to private schools like Marina International, Ndows Comprehensive, and other expensive schools that produce good grades. Education in The Gambia today is divided between the rich and the poor. I say this because public schools that produce poor grades are for children from poor backgrounds while private schools are for children from wealthy backgrounds.

On the health services, while government has built hospitals and health centres, yet many of these hospitals and health centres like the schools are not well equipped. They are continuously hit by persistent drug shortages, lack of qualified doctors and ambulances. Many Patients die of preventable diseases like malaria and the infant mortality rate gets higher.

In some cases, patients are asked to buy fuel for ambulances to transport them to major hospitals and due to the poor state of our public health services, many Gambians now prefer to seek medical care in private pharmacies and health centres.

The Gambia's agricultural sector is at its worst state. Cultivation of groundnuts which is the country's main export has declined rapidly due to disastrous trade seasons. The continuous failure of government to put in place effective agricultural policies has severely affected the livelihood of farmers. Many farmers today struggle to put food on their tables and the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities is causing a lot of suffering in the farming communities.

Despite spending millions of Dalasis on the Jahally Pacharr and Kuntaur rice projects, Gambians are far from being food self-sufficient. The price of rice Gambia's stable food increases week in week out. The country continues to import almost everything we eat from neighbouring countries.

With every sector of the Gambian economy failing, Jammeh has to admit his failures as a president and step down.

Good Riddance

by PK Jarju

Major Musa Jammeh

President Yahya Jammeh must be crying himself to sleep at the moment after hearing the death of his personal protector, Major Musa Jammeh. I bet he must be asking himself a thousand times or more why the Angel of Death should turn its attention to Major Musa just a few months after it took away  Major Tumbul Tamba, another loyal servant of his.

These two men were the most trusted men of President Jammeh. He gave them all the immunity and support they needed and as a result, they committed some of the most heinous crimes in our country's history. They saw Jammeh as a Messiah, sent to the Gambian people by Almighty Allah. Jammeh was their saviour and to them, anyone who fails prostrate before the Messiah deserves nothing but to be buried six-feet deep.

To these men, Jammeh is just super perfect for Mama Gambia and those who oppose him are nothing but opportunists, tribalists, and detractors. They were feared by even their colleagues because they are the Big Man's friends. They have no human feelings and they can kill, torture a fellow Gambian without even giving a second thought about their actions.

While Gambians and Africans in general believe that the Angel of Death is a bad reaper who is always after the unripe fruit, in the case of Major Musa and Tumbul Tamba, I will disagree. Don't get me wrong. I am not rejoicing at the death of the two men. I am sad to see them die peaceful on their hospital beds without having the chance to be flown in handcuffs to The Hague for the killings of Gambians and non Gambians.

I am also sad that the Angel of Death have taken them away without giving Gambian journalists and critics of the Jammeh regime the chance to see them pay for the inhumane torture and other brutalities they suffered in their hands.

The death of the two men should send a wake up call to Ousman Sonko, Alagie Martin, Kawsu Camara, Sana Manjang, Malick Jatta and other members of President Jammeh's hit squad that their crimes against the very people they swore to protect will never go unpunished. They may have the immunity today from Jammeh to kill, torture, and rape innocent Gambians, but they should know that nothing is hidden from the sun. If they escape justice in this world, they would still have to face it on the Day of Judgement when all living soul  account for all their deeds.

Let them remember that the things they do will always live after them and they will always reap what they sow.

From where I stand

Over the past few days, I received loads of support from concerned Gambians both at home and abroad regarding the threats I got from one Kebba T Sanneh, believed to be a member of the Jammeh hit squad.

I want to make it clear to Mr Sanneh and those murder happy boys at the NIA and army that I am not shaken by their threats and no amount of blackmail and intimidation will make me abdicate my noble profession. The Gambia belongs to all of us and it is our responsibility to bring the Jammeh regime to its senses anytime it enact laws or does things that are not in the interest of the country and its people.

I have matured into the journalism field seeing my colleagues like Baba Galleh Jallow, Alagi Yorro Jallow, Abdoulie Sey, NB Daffeh, Alhagie Mbye, among others being persecuted left, right, and centre by the NIA for writing nothing but the truth. Kebba and his hit squad may hate me for being the only Jola who have the balls to criticise the brutal Jammeh regime but I don't give a monkey.

This is because I don't regard myself as a Jola. I regard myself as a Gambian and an African who is only interested in the full restoration of democracy and rule of law in our beloved country. And if my calls for the respect for the rights and freedom of the Gambian people is a crime, then I am willing to be a criminal. Listing me among coup plotters and other people wanted in The Gambia does not in anyway scare me.

To the hit squad, do not ever think that my commentaries and articles will ever disappear from the front pages of Gambian newspapers and websites. The ink of my pen shall never dry; neither will my computer keyboard get stuck because my instruments of information shall always be mightier than Jammeh's sword and your machine guns and RPGs.

Your claims that you know my address and what I do will never make move out of my apartment. I will continue to live in the same place and do what I am doing.

And in the event that you succeed in blowing my head up like you did to Deyda Hydara and Chief Ebrima Manneh (may their souls rest in peace), more radical Gambians including my son will stand up and express their thoughts and feelings about the brutal and dictatorial regime in whose name you are committing heinous crimes against the very people you swore to protect.

I rest my case, chi jamma.