‘GROUPS INTENSIFY PRESSURE TO HOLD JAMMEH GOV’T ACCOUNTABLE FOR STUDENT MASSACRE; HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND POLITICAL OPPRESSION IN GAMBIA’ Press Release On April 11, 2015, in Washington, DC, Gambian civil society organizations will hold a protest to commemorate the 15th anniversary of one of the darkest days in Gambian history, the April the 10th and 11th student massacre. On this day, the Jammeh regime unleased security forces on students peacefully protesting the rape of a 14 year old student, and the death of another at the hands of security forces. This day will be forever be etched in…
Author: Gainako
By D. A. Jawo We can all recall with some apprehension that during his speech to mark the Gambia’s Golden Jubilee celebrations on 18thFebruary, President Yahya Jammeh reiterated his vision to transform the Gambia into an economic super power which will surpass such economic giants like Dubai, Singapore and Qatar by 2025. However, even with a cursory glance at the Gambian economy and the prevailing untenable governance and social environment, to hear such a statement in the presence of some foreign heads of state and representatives of the international community was indeed an embarrassment to many Gambians who were…
‘THOUGHT PROVOKING COMMENTARY’ Winds of change are in the air, storm clouds are gathering over The Gambia, the end is near for good luck Jammeh. 20 years of systematic degradation of all civil society groups have relegated The Gambia into a stable ambulatory failed state. All efforts at the moment have been centralized and focused on the remedy for the country’s prevailing ailments; sooner or later good luck Yaya Jammeh will inherit his final name change – bad luck Yaya Jammeh. Like his Ugandan brother from another mother, Idi Amin, bad luck Yaya Jammeh will have no choice but…
Students of the University of the Gambia Yesterday 25 March 2015, held Bakary Minteh a protest against the decisions made by the Administration on the Grading system as well as a 10 percent increment of tuition fees. The protest was held in the form of a march past from the law faculty campus in Kanifing towards the Higher Education Ministry at Bertil Harding High Way in Kotu. A large number of students from different faculties of the UTG around 4-4:30pm gathered at the law faculty campus and marched along Karaiba avenue up to…
Gambia has effectively thumbed its nose to the international community after it failed to accept a raft of recommendations to address its deteriorating human rights situation, Amnesty International said today. The government of Gambia only accepted 93 of the 171 recommendations at the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva. “The significant number of rejections on key human rights issues demonstrates the government’s weak commitment to addressing its deplorable human rights situation – including unjustified restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, enforced disappearances and the use of torture to stifle dissent,” said Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty International’s West Africa…
THE TIME IS NOW; “WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR” The catalyst of change in the Gambia will have to come through a movement of the people within Gambia. Movement within a nation does not happen by itself, nor will it happen with the approval or blessings of any head of state or government. The Gambian people will have to mobilize with a common goal in mind that is a swift departure from the status quo of brute force era and a return to true democracy as it was and should be. This movement, …
You said he is an educated-illiterate. But how is that possible? How can one be educated and still be illiterate? “But how could he not understand this simple equation? People want to live according to their natural will. Forcing people to do things they don’t like is equal to unhappiness and resentment. The absolute power now rests with the supreme leader and that is not how it should be. At first it was not like that. It is the legislative branch that should decide what can or cannot be done by the citizen. But even the legislative branch should…
“Idioms of Hope”: Tijan M. Sallah’s Harrow Poems By Nibir K. Ghosh Harrow: London Poems of Convalescence by Tijan M. Sallah, the celebrity Gambian poet and icon of contemporary African writings, is a unique departure from the usual socio-political and cultural concerns that he addresses in his earlier works. The poetic terrain in this slender volume, comprising eighteen poems and a “Foreword,” is neither Africa nor America (where Sallah currently lives and works) but a hospital in Harrow, London where, nursing his wounds, he sets out to explore the veritable landscape of the soul crowded with myriad impressions…
By Baba G. Jallow Crowds, crowds everywhere Not a face in sight Heads, heads everywhere Not a single nod Laughter, laughter everywhere Not a single smile Shouts, shouts everywhere Not a single whisper Eyes, eyes everywhere Not a single sighting Ideas, ideas everywhere Not a single thought Light, light everywhere Yet darkness reigns supreme Noble thoughts swallowed So ignoble wins the day!
The activist and educator Yosef ben-Jochannan, a founding scholar of Africana studies, died this week. Yosef ben-Jochannan, one of the last of the Harlem activist-intellectuals of the 20th century—those fiery, independent scholars who taught classical African history and shaped it into a sword against white supremacy—died Thursday after a long illness. He was 96. The man known as Dr. Ben joined his ancestors the morning of the first day of the annual meeting of the organization he helped found, theAssociation for the Study of Classical African Civilizations. ASCAC, meeting in Seattle this year, describes itself as a group with a mission…