Gainako Newspaper

I recently went back on a principled vow: I had promised myself
never to read again some of this trashy, gotcha-kind of journalism
that has taken much editorial real estate on some online Gambian
news sites lately. I failed. I guess, as the old adage goes, old habits
die hard. It is not easy to let go of certain impulses especially when
they stubbornly cling to your attention faculties, decimating your
in-built resistive mechanisms like weeds sucking the vitality out of
burgeoning plants. Or maybe, continued addiction is a function of
boredom and downheartedness � of the soul.

I have heard some people claim that a boring, stressful life forced them back to cigarette smoking. So
the human mind not only needs hard-boiled resistance but also a steady stream of vibrancy, enough of
a preoccupation as to will itself against a return to the old and the destructive.

Perhaps. I wonder (since I have been bored a lot lately) if that was the compelling urge for me to rush
for this shimmering yet careless headline: �Ex-Communication Minister Divorces His Wife, As He
Gets Ambassadorial Appointment At The African Union.� I challenge anyone to improve on that, and
to unload the sensationalism packed into this deluge of a headline. I realized, to my chagrin, that I was
making several trips to this news site, reading this particular story again and again. I checked and
discovered that this article�s hits had shot through the roof rather exponentially. Many more readers
were surfing, titillated perhaps, by a news article about the marital affairs of an (ex-minister) and his
wife.

What kept me going back? Perhaps, it had to do with Sarjo Jallow, the subject of the news article.
Full disclosure: Sarjo and I both hail from the same neighborhood in Basse. I grew up hearing a lot of
anecdotes about his �stubbornness� and firebrand MOJA activism during the First Republic. I heard
tales of his scuffles with the authorities and the toll they left on his family. I have always been curious
about this guy � never met him and had never seen his photo until this recent article. So I kept going
back to the news story, hoping for some new-found familiarity with the unknown. A lame excuse, you
call it? Your dissent is not in contest.

But even after reading this article repeatedly, I still came away none the wiser about the man. More
than that: there was no news to read, except if the article�s slant were purely directed at Sarjo�s
bagging a diplomatic post at the African Union. But no, the story was more about a divorce (or
estrangement?) and the incivilities of marriage crisis, something I believe, better talked about in the
household and the neighborhood � some time-honored Gambian values. Divorce and its sometimes
accompanying tawdry details, belong in the realm of Yellow journalism, something you will read, say,
in the National Enquirer or the Daily Mirror. Serious journalism, concerned about the intractable
issues of life and death like our own, ought to move beyond gossip and ad hominem caricatures. It is
journalism on the cheap. The public�s right to know doesn�t and shouldn�t encroach on certain aspects
of individual privacies. There is nothing newsworthy about a conjugal crisis involving a Sarjo Jallow
and a Jainaba Bah.

Reading such foolishness on Gambian news sites will not kill me. I am a tough cookie; and if the
rough-edges of teenage life in the hills and rice-fields of Basse couldn�t take me out, some trifling
pitter-patter in news portals will not. I am more worried about what this does to my voracious hunger
for credible news and information and to my intelligence level � don�t dumb me down any further. This
constant thud of overkill, rumors, innuendoes, untruths, midget truths, yarns or just plain nonsense, can
engineer psychological imbalances. Honestly, being forced on a regular diet of inaccuracies and
uncertainties is not something enlivening to the soul; it is unhealthy. But what is a reader to do when the
sources of information are restricted to an unreliable few or when the carriers of information show no
compunction for recklessness and incompetence?

It�s now being said that the Diaspora media is increasingly becoming the new face of Gambian
journalism. There is no validity to such assertions, but it is important to note that an increasing number
of Gambians are now turning to cyberspace for information. This raises important concerns about the
metaphysical qualities of our news sites and the information they dish out for public consumption.
What are the standards for accuracy? What is news? When do you report the news? Shouldn�t it be
after you have found concrete evidence of, say, Foday Makalo�s whereabouts? Or Edward Singhateh
was indeed mugged? Or he indeed has replaced Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay as the new Gambian
Speaker? I wonder sometimes, in the course of their duties do some Gambian journalists flout
journalism�s most important rule as to never print falsehood knowingly. It is the journalists� unwritten
Hippocratic Oath. The Greek historian Xenephone once wrote, �fast is fine, but accuracy is
everything.�

And so are good manners. It is important for journalists to know (at all times) that the reader is just
like the consumer; his sovereignty is inviolable, total. He is king. Thus reporters ought to be prudent in
their dealings with the readership in terms of boundaries � between decency and trashiness, between
fact and fib, between objective reality and subjective emotionalism, between skepticism and gullibility.
Good journalists are also those skeptical of every bit of information handed to them; for skepticism
forms an integral part of a reporter�s assessment of a news story�s worthiness or relevancy.

But how can there be skepticism amidst pomposity and self-importance? Journalists are, by the very
nature of their craft, arrogant and ego-inflated. In fact, they are some of the most unaccountable souls
walking on the face of the earth. Whoever gave journalists this watchdog role has made life miserable
for them, for they prance about like puffed-up Arnold Schwazenegggers, self-regarding and sniffing
for anything to expose. I know; I used to be one, predisposed to this line of behavioral thinking
particularly during my frequent sorties into the Quadrangle in Banjul.

Lance Morrow, the acclaimed Boston University Journalism Professor once said, �Journalists function
best when they are mature and experienced and intelligent � and calm.� This, unfortunately, cannot be
said of some Gambians currently dabbling at the craft. Their training is limited; skills are awful;
expertise in short supply. So competency becomes a casualty. And that has been part of the
perplexities of Gambian journalism. Its standards have been falling ever since the sale of the Daily
Observer and the demise of Deyda Hydara. Because of a toxic political climate, information flow is
limited; cant and misrepresentation keep poisoning the currents of public opinion. The Observer, the
largest newspaper, is misinforming; and The Point, the largest independent newspaper, is under
informing. Thus, Gambians are being left ever hungrier for information and context about their lives and
events transforming their state of affairs.

Journalism undermines itself when the information it provides is tainted and unreflective of reality or
when it fails to hold society to account. It is not fair to accuse the Gambian press of gross dereliction
of duty given the enormous challenges it faces. However, it has to be said that the glaring defects we
see in certain quarters of Gambian journalism don�t augur well for a profound understanding of the
issues and realities confronting our nation. This is undermining public confidence in the Gambian press.

To the extent that Gambian journalism is ill-equipped and fails to crystallize the contours of our
nation�s pulse pursuant to public consciousness, it becomes a drag on national progress. Leave aside,
for one moment, President Yahya Jammeh�s continued assaults on the press.

Editor�s Note: What do you think of this article? What is your take on Gambian journalism in its
current form? Do you have any comments, ideas, suggestions or criticism? Please write to us � we
would like to know how you feel.

To write to the author, please send your comments to: chernobjallow@hotmail.com

..KOMBO LAND DISPUTES A PANACEA
..FOR CIVIL STRIFE; Is Government Oblivious to it?
......................................By Solo ........April 9th, 2008

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

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