By Modou S. Joof The Gambia Press Union on Thursday began a two-day training of staff of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and members of the Gambia Police Force and the Gambia Armed Forces on Access to Information and Elections. Funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) through the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) in Uganda, the training is part of a project aimed at “Improving Transparency and Accountability in Electoral Processes in Africa”. It is being jointly implemented in The Gambia by the GPU, in Uganda by AFIC, and in Zambia by the Panos Institute Southern Africa.…
Author: Gainako
By Gambia Police Force The Police High Command wishes to inform the public that it has opened an investigation into the violent riot incident that occurred at Sanyang Village in Kombo South of West Coast Region on Monday 15th March 2021. This unfortunate incident resulted in several acts of vandalism, attack and burning of the Police Station in Sanyang, burning and looting of a Fish Meal processing factory, burning of tires on roads as well as numerous acts of destruction to properties by rioters. Preliminary assessment of properties damaged reveals that 13 Fishing boats, 9 Boat engines, 5,273 Fishing nets…
By Sura Susso Media Team Tili Saba comes nearly a decade after his debut album, Sila Kang. Whereas Sila Kang documented a personal journey, Tili Saba was created with community and cohesion in mind. It is therefore by no accident that the album was produced with contributions from many amazing musicians and other creatives both in The Gambia and The UK. Tili Saba carries the listener on a journey across periods and settings, immersing them in the warm and uplifting sounds of Gambian music. Nyancho, an upbeat, multilayered rearrangement of an antique traditional composition was, amongst others, recorded with some…
MOI & UNDP Press Release Banjul, 22nd March 2021 – The Ministry of Interior (MOI) is set to launch the Prisons Rapid Assessment Report, Photobook and Documentary with the support of UNDP on Wednesday 24th March 2021 from 8:30am to 1pm. The launching of the report is a step taken by the Ministry of Interior to improve the standards of The Gambia Prisons Service to meet the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules). For the past two decades, The Gambia Prisons Service has faced significant challenges. However, several improvements have also been registered including the…
Statement by the Chair, Dr Lamin J. Sise, at the opening of the Twenty-Second Session of the TRRC’s public hearings delivered on 22nd March 2021 Today Monday, 22nd March 2021 the TRRC will begin its 22nd session of public hearings. As at the end of the 21st session, the Commission had heard testimonies from a total of 358 witnesses. Of these, 285 were male and 73 were female. Out of the total number of witnesses appearing before the Commission so far, 216 were victims and 75 were self-confessed perpetrators and adversely mentioned persons. Twenty-nine witnesses have testified via video link…
By Louise S. A. Alsan, @AlsanLouise The Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) flew four victims who testified before the Commission to Turkey in December 2019 for urgent medical treatment. Three of the victims returned from Turkey in late 2020 with one still receiving treatment in Turkey. This article aims to highlight some of the lessons learnt during the interim reparations process. The TRRC’s Interim Report highlights that “urgent Interim Measures are being applied in respect of urgent cases that warrant immediate remedial action”. According to a 2018 Commonwealth report “Turkey, has signed a Power Protection Agreement with The Gambia, offered…
Preserving the Gambia’s Recent Gains and Reviving the Economy After COVID-19 Will Depend on Strengthening Resilience BANJUL, The Gambia, March 18, 2021— Following two years of strong growth, at 6.1% in 2019 and 7.2% in 2018, The Gambia’s economy has been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to stagnate in 2020 due to trade disruption and the fall in tourism, according to the first World Bank Economic Update for The Gambia released today. Declining incomes, rising food prices, and school closures resulting from the health crisis took a toll on the livelihoods of many households. The economy…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT and Yusupha Jobe Security Officers of the Anti-Crime Unit (ACU) have arrested almost 40 youth at Sanyang after last week’s mob attack which burnt down Sanyang Police Station and sections of Nessim Fishmeal Factory, following the killing of a Sanyang local by an alleged Senegalese national. It’s alleged that the alleged “killer” worked at the Chinese owned Nessim Fishmeal Factory which has been polluting the local coastal environment of Sanyang. According to a report published by Greenpeace titled A Waste of Fish, “the over-exploitation of small pelagic fish in Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia is causing…
By Human Rights Watch, Reed Brody Major Advance for Victims of Abuses During Yahya Jammeh Rule (Berlin, March 17, 2021) – The arrest in Germany on March 16, 2021, of an alleged former Gambian “death squad” member suspected of crimes against humanity is an important step for Gambian victims and international justice, Human Rights Watch said today. “Bai L.” was an alleged member of the notorious “Junglers” death squad, set up by then-president Yahya Jammeh in the mid-1990s. German officials have withheld the full name of the accused in line with national privacy laws. Jammeh’s 22-year rule was marked by…
By Tumbul Trawally, Seattle, USA On January 3rd, 2019, I posted on my Facebook page an article titled [Demba is not OK—Demba is Superb]. The crux of my argument was centred on the PPP’s lost opportunity in denying Bakary Darboe its top job. I wrote that Papa Njie would not be able to appeal to a wide section of the Gambian population. Two years later, the party realised its mistake and changed its leadership. Unfortunately, the party has not solved its problems, with the change in leadership. We all know that the UDP came into being after the PPP was banned…