Voters’ card registration locations in Banjul By Gainako’s Banjul correspondent Over the last couple of weeks Gainako’s Banjul correspondent has been gauging the mood of eligible voters in the capital city, Banjul. The supplementary voters card registration process commenced on January 14th and is set to conclude on March 12th. According to the Independent Electoral Commision (IEC), only voters who have lost their voters cards are required to pay 100 Dalasis for a replacement card. New voters will be issued voters card free of charge. However, the majority of Gambians this reporter interviewed explained that they are not willing to…
Author: Gainako
By Mathew K Jallow In Africa, the tendency for totalitarian rule is as pervasive as change is dynamic. The two forces are locked in a constant struggle that continues to plunge many African countries into conflicts, with devastating consequences. Incredibly, a little over two decades since the end of Liberia and Sierra Leone’s bloody civil wars, Gambia, more than any ECOWAS member nation, has become the epicenter of a persistent friction between political tyranny and the dynamics of change. Even discounting the natural course of change, an increasingly more civilized world is relentlessly seeking ways to ameliorate the crises that…
By Sarjo Bayang Part 2: Grouping, Crowding, and Lack of Teaming in Gambia We explored the scope of institution building and organisational development for Gambia starting with Office of the President on our earlier issue in these series. Facts at hand confirmed that current occupier of Gambian presidency prefers to operate without being established. For that reason he dismantled all organised structures and abolished systematic dispensation without following due process. In the absence of policy and procedures what obtains in Gambia is arbitrary rule by anarchic leader with iron fist. Office of the President alone is not where all…
Former President of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo who lost elections in 2010 but refused to step down which engineered a political unrest in his country, is scheduled to go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague on Thursday January 28th, 2016. The unrest claims the lives of over 3,000 citizens which Gbagbo the then sitting President allegedly refused to handover power and ordered his loyal forces to resist his ouster after his rival Alassan Wattara was declared a winner in a second round of voting. Mr. Gbabo and at least one of his security chiefs faces four…
The Gambian President in another abrupt cabinet reshuffle has eliminated three ministerial departments and positions and fired four cabinet ministers without prior warning. As usual the President has taken over the portfolio of the department of Forestry under the purview of the office of the President. In a statement read on the GRTS evening news Wednesday, the erratic dictator Yahya Jammeh has relieved four ministers of their cabinet appointments without any replacement. Mr Lamin Nyabally former SG and Minister of Fisheries, Dr Edward Saja Sanneh Minister of Energy, Mrs Yambaba Njie Keita Minister of Presidential Affairs and Mr Burama Sagnia the newly…
I’d written this back in 2014 and with a little tweak to reflect our current situation in the election year, I thought I’d reproduce. I was sitting at home minding my business and thought I would grab my routine dose of Gambian News, so I went on reading the local Newspapers. I started with the Daily Observer and I saw a story about our ‘magnanimous’ president ‘negotiating’ the release from immigration detention and repatriation of Gambian Deportees from Angola. $10,000 USD forked out. As important as that story is, it was not as interesting to me as the next.…
By Baba Galleh Jallow The song struggles To escape the cage Hits the wall On every side Dances on the inside with Silence on the outside as The whole universe trembles At the deafening echoes Of this silent song!
By Ebrima Manneh Like all other tyrannies, the tyranny of Yaya Jammeh has reached an unacceptable stage that caused an international outcry. This tyranny and the extent of the violations can longer be underestimated due to the reoccurring severity of the violations. When political and social liberties are violated without resistance, tyranny and rights violations becomes a norm. The non-resistance stance taken by Gambians emboldened Yaya Jammeh in his never ending denial of citizens’ rights. Fear coupled with the non-intervention sovereignty policy, gives him an unwarranted immunity, extending the trend of rights violations. The detriment of Yaya Jammeh’s tyranny…
Big Dreams Incorporated, a charitable organisation founded in Georgia, USA in 2011, Tuesday donated school materials to more than 250 students at Sika Lower Basic School in Sika village, Upper Niumi District. The donation is part of the association’s aim of making a difference in the life of children all over the world. The donated materials, worth more than D280,000, included school bags, pens, pencils, shoes, toothpastes and brushes, water bottles among others. Mamina Ebrima Sonko, co-founder of Big Dreams, said the objective of the foundation is to help students in the rural areas of The Gambia. Mr Sonko,…
REMEMBERING AMILCAR CABRAL(ABEL DJASSI ) – 1924-1973, “KAABU NYANGCHO” – A REVOLUTIONARY AFRICAN HERO AMILCAR CABRAL – 1924-1973, A REVOLUTIONARY AFRICAN HERO Remembering Amilcar Cabral (Abel DjassI) “KAABU NYANGCHO” -1924-1973 JANUARY 20TH, 1973 …On this date Amilcar Cabral, one of Africa’s greatest revolutionaries was killed by Portuguese Colonialist agents in Conakry, Guinea.A true Pan-Africanist and an outstanding theoritician of the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist struggle; Cabral’s loss was mourned by many freedom loving people around the world.Born in September 12, 1924 – he led a war of liberation in Guinea Bissau,as leader of the PAIGC – one of several armed liberation…