Gainako Newspaper

Many a Gambian is baffled by their Government's high spending on
Vehicles and ceremonies which when closely looked at has no viable
returns on the country's ailing economy. The Western Division or
Region which is the most populous area and appears to be the nation's
bread basket has shown all signs of decay and therefore at loose end
now a days.

The most lucrative item in the country today, Land, is being heavily sought
after in this region where most land owners relied on to build modern day
mansions or buildings, lucrative cars, modern furniture as well as prestige.
But this lucrative commodity is now becoming scarcer and scarcer as the
struggle to acquire it become more intense.

The little investigation this reporter has done shows that the ordinary people of Kombo are at the
loosing end. In every place one goes to, the people are either seen to be engaged in land quarrels
resulting to brawls. There is always news of disputes among the people over this land or that land.
Sometimes the struggle is between the indigenes themselves, sometimes between an indigene and
some poor person who has spent his or her scarce savings to buy land only to discover that the
person who sold the land to him has resell it to another poor person thereby pitting them against each
other.

This reporter has discovered a potential land crisis in Sukuta between the Manya Kunda family and
several families in Sukuta. This particular case is now before the Kombo Central District Tribunal
where a group of chiefs are sitting to resolve it in court. The interesting thing about this case is that
even though the five chiefs made an injunction to restraint all the parties from developing their
properties, people continue to build their houses, because the case has taken three years and is still
not been resolved.

Last week the head of the Manya kunda family complained that people are not respecting the law and
the chiefs are not fair in dispensing justice; that they are in fact siding with their opponents. The leader
of this family expressed angrily and said the fact that the paramount chief Dembo santang Bojang
decreed that no journalist should write in his court shows that he is not ready to be fair in dispensing
justice in this case. He said people want to take action against those who are still defiling the law on
the land but he is the one who has restraint them. He argued that no one should be above the law.

In Kunkujang another Mr. Badjie and his brother who are presently before a court complained that
they are a victim of chief Demba Sanyany?s abuse of power. Mr. Badjie who is of age and a former
gendarmerie said he has his land for many years and has been paying his rates for all these years. He
said he was approached by the Lamin chief to help him get the said land and when he said he has
given it to his brother, his brother received a summons from the same chief that one businessman of
Serehule origin is claiming the land as his. Mr. Badjie said when they went to court the first day for him
to give evidence on behalf of his brother, he himself was charged by the chief for assaulting a police
officer while he was performing his duties and he the chief is going to try him Badjie in his court. He
said he has not even seen any officer not to talk about fighting one. He said he was baffled by the
charge.

There are land disputes all over the Kombo East from pirang to Shom to Gidda and so on. There are
land disputes in Kombo South such as Jamburr, Sanyang, Tujereng, and in Kombo North such as
Busumbala, Brufut, Sukuta and so on and so forth.

The recent frightening seeming battle of wits between the residents of Makumbaya, Babylon and
Daranka axis has been a long standing crisis. Last year the chief of Lamin sent his batch messengers to
Daranka to forcibly evict the people who acquired plots from one Lamin Jarju and who have already
settled there with their families. That case is at the Brikama Magistrates court and is nowhere near
completion. Lamin claims that the land belongs to his fathers even though he is not the Alkalo of the
village of Makumbaya.He also claims that he sells his land to the people at very cheap prices. I was
informed that many prominent people in society bought land from this man which makes it very difficult
to resolve.

Some observers of the scene are of the view that the recent appointment of colonial style paramount
chiefs is not an answer to the crisis; that the task is a Herculean task; that those Kombo chiefs are part
and parcel of the land problem and therefore cannot possibly have any tangible and long lasting
solution to the problem; that it is these very chiefs and Alkalolu whose livelihood depend entirely on
land deals to sustain their expensive life styles.

One observer told me that these people support the ruling party because they know that what they are
doing is not correct and the Government is oblivious to their actions; that they now believe that nothing
will come out of what they do, so they too reciprocate the ruling party with not only moral support but
also material support.

One Alkalo told this reporter that the reason why they charge land sellers 10% of the price of their
land is because they too are being invited to fund the government rallies, meaning APRC, to buy
ashobi for the women and to cook food and rent transport for party supporters etc. He asked, where
would all that money come from if not from land sales?

But the land crisis has another potential danger, i.e. Unemployment. The Kombo people especially are
known for their "Naakoo"Garden or orchards where they produce fruits and vegetables and sell them
at the markets. Now the land is mainly sold out by their men folk to the extend that farm land has
virtually disappeared. The country or state has not fulfilled its promise of building industries to generate
employment. So the Kombo youth and women are left vulnerable not knowing how the future would
suffice for them.

The land grabbers usually fence their land and left it to fallow for years only to come back and sell it at
exorbitant prices in the future. With this scenario in place, the ordinary indigenous farmer is tempted to
sell his farm land and invest it on an old passenger vehicle only to become bankrupt later thereby
becoming more vulnerable to poverty.

The interesting thing is that the present government has not shown any tangible programs to help solve
this crisis but instead engages in the buying of very rare and expensive limousines and displaying them
in the midst of poverty and decadence.

As the situation stands now, commodity prices are daily on the rise such as rice and oil etc.Even
though that is the case the central Bank comes quarterly with their funny statistics trying to convince
the unenlightened masses that inflation has gone down by preaching that government has put in place
macro- and micro- economic policies that are geared towards reducing poverty and inflation and
encouraging investment opportunities. But the reality remains that inflation is physically on the rise
while the earning capacities of the average worker remains stagnant. The only hope the president tries
to build on is to misinform the people that the country has oil but the reason why we did not exploit it
is because the companies want to give us only 5% of the proceeds.

The reality however is the contrary. The exploration is what is going on and it remains to be seen
whether the explorers will discover oil or not. Empty promises alone cannot fill people?s stomach.
However whatever the government do, they should not be oblivious to the land crisis because the
recent arson attacks involving over a hundred people is a harsh reminder of the potential crisis looming
over the western region about to explode.
....................................The Gambia UPDATE:
Fatou Jaw Manneh's missing case file found

The Kanifing Magistrates Court will on April 16, 2008, hear the case of
Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist on trial for an alleged
sedition.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that this
followed the retrieval of Manneh?s file, which was reported missing at
the last hearing on March 17, 2008.

The file was found at the Banjul Magistrates Court, one of the many places
where the case had formerly been tried.

Manneh, a former journalist with the then independent Daily Observer newspaper, has been charged
with three counts of sedition, following a series of articles she wrote criticising the regime of President
Yahya Jammeh.

The journalist was released on bail a week after her arrest but is forced to remain in The Gambia,
unable to return to her base in the US.

Since the trial started more than a year ago, there has not been any significant progress. The case has
been prolonged on numerous occasions and the authorities seem to lack interest in finishing the case.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director
MFWA
Tel: 233 21 242470
Fax: 233 21 221084
Email : <mailto:mfwa@africaonline.gh> mfwa@africaonline.gh
Website : www.mediafound.org

.................................Press Release
The Gambian Families Association-GFA Launched in Atlanta!!
.........................................April 8th, 2008

Even though it rained hard in Atlanta on Saturday April 5, 2008, people took time off from their busy
schedules to attend a meeting held by the Gambian Men of Atlanta purposely to plan the upcoming
Mother's Day celebration in honor of their Gambian women and families living in Atlanta.

After generous donations by some attendees, amplified with careful and detail discussions regarding
the logistics of the upcoming Mother's Day slated for Sunday, May 11th, 2008, those who attended
the meeting further recommended that such an event ought to be organized under the umbrella of a
permanent structure, which will also be responsible for organizing the annual Father's day celebration
as well, thus a new organization known as Gambian Families Association-GFA was formed.

Subsequent to the agreement to launch the association in Atlanta, an organizing committee consisting
of two co-chairpersons, Deputy Chairperson, Treasurer, Accountant, Secretary and Public relations
team consisting of many members were selected for the time being.

It is in this spirit that we want to welcome all existing Gambians and organizations in Atlanta to join us
and give us a helping hand for a successful Mother's day Weekend.

We continue to seek the presence of those who were unable to attend the meeting to come help and
join this vibrant idea, irrespective of organizational affiliation, to further solidify and expand on our aims
and objective.

The next meeting will be held on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 5.00pm @ Ebou Touray's Restaurant
on 3105 Campbellton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30311.

For further inquiries please send via email to gfaatl@gmail.com.

Independent Media Barred From National
Assembly Coverage -Wuli West Member Boycotts?
.......................By Solo, Banjul Correspondent.................April 6th, 2008

The Independent Print Media in The Gambia which includes the
Foroyaa, were barred from entering the National Assembly on
Friday 28 March for the coverage of the annual state of the Nation
address.

The media practitioners were seen baffled after realization that they
would not be allowed in the Assembly. This reporter spoke to some
of the barred reporters who said they were informed by the clerks at
the Assembly that they would not be allowed but after the deliberation
they would be given them the president's speech for publication in their
papers.

It is a legal provision that the president addresses the National Assembly at least once a year to
articulate to the peoples' representatives the achievements, constraints and plans of his government for
the year.

But instead of doing precisely the above, the president and his government decided to turn the whole
thing into a grand political rally, by fixing APRC party flags throughout the vicinity of the National
Assembly as well as inside and outside the Assembly building.

This reporter has also observed that the National Assembly Speaker became so trivial as to change
the colour of the Assembly speaker's chair and table to Green, the party colour of the ruling party, the
APRC.

It has also been observed that Mr. Sidia Jatta, Member for Wuli West Constituency who is also the
only member of the Opposition National

Alliance for Democracy and Development in parliament was surreptitiously absent. A close associate
of Mr. Jatta told this reporter that Mr. Jatta has not attended the session because the ruling party has
defiled all commonsense and all democratic ethics by turning a state function into a party affair.

Is Journalist Malick Jones Earmarked by the State?
......................By Solo, Banjul Correspondent.................April 6th, 2008

A former news presenter at the only Government radio station, The Radio
Gambia, was arrested on Friday 4th April, on what is considered by some
as a flimsy accusation that he has insulted President Yahya Jammeh.

Mr. Jones was said to be arrested at his residence in Kanifing by uniform
soldiers who were said to have handed him over to the police at the
Kanifing station. it could be recalled that the former news presenter was
arrested together with his colleague, Mam Sait Ceesay, the former press
officer at state house, only few months back. Mam Sait was however
charged with false publication of news on the Daily Observer Newspaper

but Malick escaped the net at the time. Malick Jone's arrest on Friday came on the heels of a
co-resident's complaint to an army officer who sent soldiers to pick up Jones and taken him away.

This reporter was informed that Mr. Jones and the woman who reported him were watching
Television when the woman suggested that they too should go and visit President Jammeh so that he
could give them some vehicles since he was said to have brought over a hundred vehicles from the
United States of America.

According to my informant, Jones was said to have reacted to this by saying to hell but did not specify
further. This my informant said the woman just got up and abruptly walked out of the room only to see
soldiers some minutes later asking for Mr Jones and taking him away.

Reports also has it that Jones was released on Saturday after being charged with insulting the
president but arrested again on Sunday and charged with a new charge of breaching the peace.

Mr. Jone's case is a peculiar one since he was seen by many before the 2006 Presidential elections
during his Saturday Programme where he interviewed politicians manifesting his ardent support for the
president and bias cajoling of the opposition. This according to some is what is responsible for his lack
of sympathy within the opposition circles nor could he gain sympathy within the ruling party who are
seen to be even more petrified than ever, not to be seen as sympathetic to him lest they be categorised
as 'Sheep In Wolf Clothing'.

Jones was also speculated to have bagged his troubles when he was said to have refused to give
evidence against his colleague Mam Sait Ceesay in court. Many speculated that since then the state
earmarked him. He is now expected to appear in court to answer to the charge of bridging the peace
in the community.

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