Gainako Newspaper

Reports reaching this reporter spoke of the removal of Mass Axi Gai,
the Secretary of state for Youth and Sports on Friday the 27th June 2008.

Mr. Gai who had recently threatened a young Point's sports reporter,
Mr. Ebou Manneh with death has been removed with immediate effect
by President Jammeh.

According to reliable reports, Mr. Gai will hand over to one Sheriff
Gomez on Monday 30th June. Sheriff Gomez up to his recent
appointment is the Director of the National Youth Service Scheme.
He is said to be a former Military officer and had studied in the UK
where he obtained a master's degree.

It is not yet known why Mr Gai is removed because hardly does the Gambian president give any
reason why he appoints people to positions of authority neither does he say why he dismisses them.
His method is more in tune with Autocracy than Democracy. But observers say Gai is not very
transparent in his dealings at the Sports ministry.

HALAKE CHARGED FOR SEDITIOUS
INTENTION AND GIVING FALSE
INFORMATION TO AMADOU SAMBA
....................By Solo, Banjul correspondent..............June 27th, 2008
The former managing Director of the pro-Government Newspaper,
the Daily Observer, Mr.Dida Halake was arraigned before Principal
Magistrate Buba Jawo at the Kanifing Magistrate court on Monday
23rd and Tuesday 24th June 2008 respectively.

The sacked managing Director was aided by lawyer Lamin Jobarteh
who informed the court that the accused has been in police custody
for sometime now and that the prosecution has already framed a
charge against him.

The police prosecution who earlier on told the court that they did not have intention to go ahead with
the charge against the accused person since they themselves were not satisfied with it, applied for a
short adjournment to enable them come up with a better framed up charge.

Counsel Jobarteh objected and argued for the prosecution to ask for an adjournment, that the
accused must first take his plea.

The magistrate on the 23rd then ruled that the accused should take his plea. The accused then pleaded
not guilty of intentional sedition.

The magistrate then struck out the case on the basis that the prosecution did not advance any genuine
reasons for their adjournment.

Halake however was later arrested as he tried to step outside the court room. He was later freshly
charged and brought to court on Tuesday 24th June, the following day.

The prosecution on the 24th then reframed the charge against him as thus; that he Halake as managing
Director of the Daily Observer has been charged with seditious intention contrary to section 52 (1) (b)
of the criminal code; that the former managing Director of the Observer was also charged with giving
false information to a public officer contrary to section 114 of the criminal code.

According to the particulars of offence, Halake uttered seditious words like �THERE WOULD BE A
REVOLUTION IN THE COMPANY.� According to the prosecution, this words constitute a threat
to the company.

On count 2, the accused on 12th June 2008, at the Observer Company, gave false information to
Amadou Samba, stating that �if the boss says I go then I go. Until then, it is revolution at the Daily
Observer, with me as the managing Director.�

Mr. Halake who appeared uneasy pleaded not guilty to the charges.Mr. Fafa E. Mbye now standing
for Halake applied for bail. He said even though the accused is an Ethiopian of British Nationality, he
has lived in the Gambia for the past 22years and is married to a Gambian; that his own property he
lived in, in Kotu is worth not less than 15million Dalasi; that they are applying for bail in his own
recognition and deposit the title deed of his propertyif need be, and even surrender his passport to the
registrar of the court.

The magistrate then granted court bail at the sum of D250, 000 Dalasi with a Gambian surety and his
Passport to be surrendered to the registrar of the court.

Sources however told this reporter that Mr. Halake could not have a Gambian surety making him
unable to meet the bail conditions. He is said to be still at the remand wing of mile two prisons
awaiting the trial.

Man Who Attempts Murder and
Suicide, Hospitalised
By Solo, Banjul correspondent..............June 27th, 2008
A middle aged man, known only by the name Uncle, was rushed to the Royal Victoria Teaching
Hospital, after allegedly attempting to commit suicide at his home in Bundung, in the early hours of
Monday, 23 June, 2008.

The man, said to be a Sierra Leonean national, is described to be quiet natured by neighbours. People
who claimed to be close to Uncle purported that he has a problem with his wife, who is also a Sierra
Leonean national. They alleged that the man had earlier attempted to kill the wife but succeeded in
only lacerating her face with a knife that led her to be admitted at the Serekunda Health Centre. It was
said that after this incident, the man, himself, then attempted to commit suicide on the same day.

Sources further claimed that Uncle had threatened that he would kill both his wife and himself if she
should disappoint him; that shortly before the problem occurred, the misunderstanding led the wife to
leave and went to stay with her sister, somewhere in Bundung for about two to three months.

On this fateful day of the attempted suicide, sources claimed that Uncle locked himself in his room
drank poison and stabbed himself on the throat and was struggling for almost one hour before he
could be rescued by the Bundung Police officials.

An eye witness, who was at the scene when the police arrived, said he noticed fresh wounds on the
throat of the man being escorted out of the house with foam on his mouth and clothes stained with
blood. The police had to break his door and later rushed him to the Serekunda Health Centre.

Whilst at the Health Center, the victim laid helplessly on the hospital bed, for almost an hour, because
there was no ambulance to take him to the RVTH in Banjul.

A lady said to be his partner was also sighted at the Serekunda Health Centre. An ambulance was
later fueled which transferred him to Banjul.

Critical Bones II � A short story
............................By Baba Galleh Jallow...............June 27th, 2008
As he rumbled angrily away, Samba Kookah reminded himself
of all the things he was going to do to this evil guy who sat on his
mind like a cloud of salt and made a fool f him in full public view,
before the eyes of the whole wide world. If this evil guy thought
that he was going to get away with all his evil deeds, then he was
the very fool Kookah knew he was. People will have to take
responsibility for their evil deeds, whether they know it or not.

People will have to watch their steps and their words and their
looks and even their smiles when they are dealing with other
people rather than just pretend that they are better than everyone
else. Otherwise, they will soon grow old and their bones will
wither inside their bodies and they will die unnatural deaths,
sneering at the world with their evil fangs, and they will have no
one to blame but their evil selves!

Yes, he Samba Kookah was going to deal mercilessly with this impudent bloke! He would turn into a
green snake and hide in the green grass and deliver an overloaded bite-full of poison into his evil
shanks when he least expected it. He would smile at him when he was around, but he would let him
know that beneath the whiteness of the smile lies the red-hot blood of a true Kookah. When they
meet, he would hail him hi and tap him on the back and call him bro and say oh yes you are truly
great; but behind that gentle tap on the back will be a devastating blow that would send this evil guy to
his stinking grave!

If people asked him whether he knew this guy, he would say oh yes I know him well and then like the
great craftsman and nimble wordsmith he was, he was going to gently ask that guy whether he really
knew this guy? When the expected answer of no I don�t really know him or just a little bit comes
floating out, he would then slowly nod and gravely shake his head and say never mind, I should not
even tell you this. And when the expected insistence that he need not worry about telling comes falling
out, Samba Kookah would make sure to paint such a nasty picture of just how evil this guy was that
he would instantly turn his interlocutor into yet another deadly enemy of this stupid guy who thought
that he knew it all and filled his heart like a sea of pepper.

He would say that people really did not know this guy and that if they did, they would not touch him
with even the longest bamboo stick. He would say that people should not be deceived by this guy�s
innocent face or his friendly smile, that below that kindly glitter in his eyes lay the poisonous fangs of
an evil snake. People should not, Samba Kookah would gravely warn, mistake this guy�s friendly
appearance for genuine humanity because just beneath that smooth and bright skin lay the darkest soul
ever to walk the streets of Dusty City. He would say that this guy pretends to be pious and deeply
religious when in reality, he was the very devil himself in human form. Did people know that the devil
actually enters and possesses the souls of really evil people like this guy? That often times we see
someone engaged in evil deeds and not realize that his soul, his mind, his body had entirely been taken
over by the horned devil himself? Why do people think that no one considers themselves bad or evil
even if they are the most evil person alive? He would ask these questions and add whatever spicy
details were necessary to ensure that whoever he was talking to would never again tread the same
road with this evil guy.

And no, that was no going to be the end of the story. He, Samba Kookah was determined that this
was going to be the grandfather and grandmother and uncle and father and mother and cousin and
nephew and niece of all battles. Every night he would kill a black cat and lay its dead carcass at the
doorstep of this evil guy so that when he comes out in the morning and sees it, ill luck would be his
companion all day long. And sometimes he would even creep up to a few meters from his house in the
middle of the night and throw a huge rock on his corrugated iron roof to scare the shit out of him. He
would listen to whatever this stupid guy says and do his very best to distort it and relay the distorted
version to the whole big wide world. If this guy says anything, he would report him as saying the exact
opposite. And he would get a big sharp invisible stick and follow him around and constantly poke him
in the ribs to make him taste the fruit of his evil deeds! This way he would bring out this devil�s true
colors and stop him from constantly pretending to be something he was not.

And he was not going to stop there. He would make sure to dig up all the dirt that this guy had left in
his evil trail and lay it out for the whole big wide world to see. He would dig up all the lies and the
cheatings and the betrayals of trust and the adulteries and fornications and hypocrisies and double
standards and slanders and libels and everything else that reeked of evil that this guy had said and
done, and he would bring it out so that everyone would know this evil guy who constantly sat in his
mind for what he really was. And all that would just be the beginning, the very tiny tip of the giant
iceberg of terror that Samba Kookah was determined to make this impudent bloke see! Was it not
the great Greek philosopher Junkus who said you saw what you ripe? Did not the great Arab thinker
Ibun Basapus say that what goats surround goats surround? And did not our own Dr. Soberface
Fuzzymind himself say that if you see a star in the sky, then the moon is sleeping? If this evil guy is
ignorant of all these words of wisdom, he Samba Kookah of Mbotagi fame will mercilessly hammer
the sharp nails of truth and wisdom into his stupid skull, just let him wait and see!

..................................News:
The University of The Gambia officially signs an
MOU for a Masters Degree programme with the
University of Limoges.
...........By Cherno Omar Barry Lecturer University of The Gambia...............June 26th, 2008
In a serene closed door ceremony, the President of the
University of Limoges, Professor Jacques Fontanille and
the Vice Chancellor of the University of The Gambia,
Professor Andreas Steigen jointly signed a Memorandum
of Understanding thus officially agreeing to work together
towards the establishment of a Master of Arts joint
degree beginning in September 2009. This took place on
Wednesday, 25th June 2008 in Professor Jacques
Fontanille's office at the University administrative building
in Limoges, France.

"This agreement is long overdue" said Professor Steigen who has worked hard to make sure the
agreement is made official.
The two universities started a bilateral cooperation in 1999 when Dr Jean Dominique Penel, who was
a French technical assistant responsible for education at the French cooperation in Banjul, contacted
Professor Jean-Marie Grassin, the then Head of comparative literature at the University of Limoges,
to create an extension Master of Arts programme in The Gambia so as to boast the human resources
in the higher education institutions such as the University and The Gambia College. The intention was
to equip the French department of the University of The Gambia with the human capacity necessary to
run the programme under the university administration. Since, several Gambians have graduated with
distinction from the University of Limoges and some others are expected to do so soon. This
cooperation has always been under the direct supervision of the French cooperation in The Gambia.
Once the agreement is put into effect, it would guarantee the following:

1. A joint Masters degree directly conducted and supervised by the Universities of The Gambia and
Limoges. It which will be conducted adopting the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System
(ECTS) which was decided at the Bologna convention. This system would assure that there is
harmony in the transfer of credits, the conduct of courses and more importantly, it will give
international value to the degree awarded as well as set the standard for the courses to be provided.

2. A properly coordinated exchange programme where some students and lecturers in each institution
would travel to the partner institution. This will ensure a closer collaboration and provide the necessary
training particularly for the Gambian students.

3. Gambian students would graduate with a dual certificate from the two institutions thus given them
the opportunity to apply for Ph. D. in any university of their choice with little or no difficulty.

The agreement is a part of a framework agreement that defines other areas of cooperation as well as
the possibility to conduct Masters professional degrees in areas of interest to be defined by the two
institutions.

The President of the University of Limoges, Professor Fontanille, when asked what this means for the
two institutions, he had this to say:

"We have had a long standing collaboration with The Gambia and have, with time, provided training
for several Gambians who are in very high positions today and are serving in different capacities. We
have now moved a step further by signing an international agreement that will solidify, expand and
strengthen the already existing collaboration. We hope to provide more assistance particularly in the
area of professional degrees. I also believe it is due now to seal this collaboration with an official visit
to The Gambia which is scheduled for the next convocation in January 2009."

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Steigen endorsed this by saying that it is an added opportunity to
expand to other professional degrees in areas very pertinent to The Gambia. He added a cautionary
note though when he said that "I believe getting few agreements and collaborations which would be
constantly and effectively supervised and strengthen would be better than getting too many but which
could be poorly handled as we do have a problem with following-up on established running projects."

Others present during the august ceremony were Mr Michel Thera, (Delegated Vice President for
International Cooperation, UNILIM), Ms. H�l�ne Dejoux, (Director of International Cooperation,
UNILIM), Dean Jacques Migozzi, (Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of
Limoges), Professor Michel Beniamino (Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of The Gambia-Limoges
agreement, UNILIM), Dr Momodou Tangara (Coordinator of The Gambia-EC projects in The
Gambia and an alumnus of the University of Limoges) and Mr Cherno Omar Barry (a Lecturer of the
University of The Gambia and a Ph. D student of the University of Limoges).

The Memorandum of Understanding has been prepared under the close supervision of Dr Pierre
Gomez, Head of the French unit at the University of The Gambia and Professor Beniamino of the
University of Limoges. The final documents were translated by Cherno Omar Barry who also served
as interpreter during the signing ceremony.

This is one of many other agreements already signed by the University of The Gambia. Some of the
partners of the UTG are the Saint Mary's college of Maryland, the USA, a university in Sweden,
Leeds Metropolitan University, Saint Mary's University of Halifax, Canada but to name a few.

............................................................NEWS
GAMBIA'S COUNTRY-SIDE;
........A FORGOTTEN TERRITORY
.............................By Solo, Banjul correspondent..........June 23rd, 2008
This reporter travelled through the length
and breadth of the provinces and found out
that despite the high sounding propaganda by
the Gambian bureaucracy, the country- side
is totally neglected like a forgotten territory.

The country-side of the Gambia has been
awash with a heavy down pour of rain which
came with a wild and ferocious wind that
destroyed corrugated iron roof buildings,
grass huts and uprooted trees at a time when
the peasants are engage in sowing their fields.

The down pour of rain occurred on Saturday21st June 2008
This reporter who traveled throughout the country saw corrugated roof houses and grass huts
destroyed by the heavy wind. Speaking to farmers whose buildings have been destroyed; one man
said he does not actually know what to do because as he said while he is trying to work quickly on his
fields, he is challenged by the necessity of repairing his damaged houses. Another said that while the
rain is a blessing to human beings, this kind of rain is a catastrophe to them. He expressed wonder as
to how he could repair his damaged houses because as he said his food stuff is also destroyed by the
rain.

Apart from the destruction by nature, farmers are challenged with the lack of food, the lack of
capacity to buy fertilizer or its high cost, and the high cost of renting tractors to plough one's field.
In many parts of the provinces closer to the Senegalese border, farmers are seen coming from lumos
(weekly markets) at the border on the Senegalese side with bags of rice. According to them a bag of
rice is far cheaper in Senegal than the Gambia; that a bag of rice across the border is a bit less than
2000 Cfa francs which if exchanged to the Dalasi, would amount to just about D500 Dalasi. When
asked about the cost of transport, many said they simply use their horse carts to transport it to the
Gambia. When this is compared to the price of rice in the provinces of the Gambia, a bag of rice has
gone as far as from D850 to D950 Dalasi.

Some farmers' expressed anger as to why the Senegalese Government is able to supply their farmers
with fertilizer and farming implements but the Gambia government is refusing to do any such thing for
them. The price of fertilizer in Senegal remains at D550 Dalasi across the border but cost D700 Dalasi
inside the Gambia sharing the same border areas.

In places where there are tractors available for ploughing, ploughing one acre of land cost a farmer
D360 Dalasi. Many complained of its cost but tractor operators also complained of the high cost of
fuel and spare parts.

In places like URR, there are complaints that police are affecting the arrest of those petty fuel dealers
in rural villages surrounding Basse and even those away from the provincial town, on the pretext that
they did not have license to sell fuel. One fuel dealer told this reporter that the police are taking over
two thousand dalasi from each dealer caught selling fuel in exchange for his or her release. They asked
what they could do except to accept to give the required bribe especially at a time when they have to
work on their fields.

This reporter also spoke to some people who expressed the fact that dealing fuel is more beneficial to
them as it prevents everyone from going all the way to Basse to buy few litres of petrol. They said the
URR has more motor cycles than any region of the Gambia and their major means of transaction is
done by motor cycles; that asking everyone to go to Basse to buy fuel is unreasonable and
unjustifiable. They asked for the representatives to make it an issue at the National Assembly.

This reporter went to the provinces at a time when the present crisis engulfing the whole country
because of the shortage of gas oil. He has seen drivers refusing to ply long distances but maintaining
the same fares and some increasing fares. This reporter paid D275 Dalasi from Barra to Bansang and
30 Dalasi from Bansang to Basse. One had to avoid the Sandu road completely because of its worse
state. In some places like Wuli Chamoi, transports could not pass due to the destruction of the road.
Passengers had to drop and push the transport from the ditch before it could pass. It is best described
as a forgotten country. Nothing seems to be working in the country-side.

To the surprise of the visitor, the only visible sign of state apparatus is the road blocks deliberately
placed almost every two kilometers on the high way. Over 30 so-called check points by the military,
police and the immigration can be seen between Essau and Fatoto. It is incredible how the military
insists on searching every luggage as if the Gambia is in a state of insecurity or under alert.

This reporter observed how some members of the security would move with a motor cycle away from
the established check point and create their own check points on the high way. These are the type of
security personnel who would insist on searching the belongings of especially those who are seen to be
newly arriving from abroad, all in the flimsy name of security. Infact if it were not the miniature security
check points and unnecessary and illegal searches, the movement of goods and services would have
been very swift in the North Bank of the country. The state should be aware and investigate this self
established or unauthorized check points meant only to usurp bribes from travelers who are also
Gambians like them.

To allow the security personnel to feast on the poor and ignorant travelers especially at a time when
the suffering has overwhelmed the common person is not illegal and unjust but disheartening to say the
least.

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