“CLASS STRUGGLE REVISITED” By Sainey Faye The role of the intelligensia in the post Independent Africa is one that needs to be disected, to better see how and why intellectuals behave the way they do; with regards to regimes and/or governments. Why would a class of supposedly highly educated workers join any train wagon,undemocratic — or, say even outright despotic. In his book “Class Struggle In Africa”,Kwame Nkrumah notes that ‘In Africa, as in Europe and elsewhere, education largely determines class.As literacy increases, tribal and ethnic alliances weaken, and class divisions sharpen”. In the early days of…
Author: Gainako
Press Release No. 15/430 September 21, 2015 The Gambia has experienced large balance of payments and fiscal imbalances, caused by persistent policy slippages in recent years and financial difficulties in public enterprises. This was exacerbated by sizable exogenous shocks from the impact of the regional Ebola outbreak on tourism and the delayed summer rains in 2014. The authorities embarked on an economic program based on a strong 2015 budget and structural reforms, and efforts to secure donor support. The Fund supported the authorities’ efforts through a Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) disbursement in early April 2015 and a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP).…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reporting more bad economic news for the Gambia despite recent Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) or financial bailout extended to the cash-strapped regime of Yaya Jammeh. In a news release announcing a recently-concluded mission to The Gambia, The Fund announced that the country continues to experience large balance of payments and fiscal imbalances. Two reasons were cited for the deteriorating conditions of the economy, what the Fund described as persistent policy slippages in recent years and financial difficulties in public enterprises. These same reasons have been persistently cited by the Fund in previous Fund…
By Binneh s Minteh Former Army First Lieutenant It is often said that Africa is the richest continent on planet earth, yet harbors the world’s poorest people. Poverty is a menace in Africa. It is an endangering national and international security threat that is destroying the lives of millions of Africans. Hunger, disease and now the migrant deaths in the high seas of mostly young Africans fleeing conflict and poverty, is taking a human toll on Africa. But why is there persistent poverty in Africa? What has gone wrong in Africa? These are some of the questions that we…
The Spotlight: Sainabou Phall By Yero Jallow Today, our spotlight is on one of the Diaspora activists, Sainabou Phall, fondly Sister Sai (pronounced Sei). Sai lives in Las Vegas Nevada though off and on, she in the Washington DC area. In talking to Gainako, Sai disclosed that she is working on some projects currently to help liberate the Gambia. For Sai, she believes in action movement, and spends her time and energy to see something going for Gambians. Name, fame, position, credit and material are far from her agenda. Sai said she is in it…
By Baba Galleh Jallow The African condition is desperate and ugly. African intellectuals know this. What are they doing about it? These old but perennially new realities were the recent subject of a series of articles and a panel discussion on Kairo News. One of the pieces published by Kairo was an open letter to African intellectuals in which the writer seemed to wonder what African intellectuals working in international educational and other institutions are doing about the desperate situation in their own native backyard. What seemed to escape critical scrutiny in the conversations on Kairo News was whether…
“A soldier without Political Education is a virtual Criminal” Thomas Sankara As a law abiding African, far to many times we have found ourselves using and making all kinds of convoluted argument , just to avoid acknowledging an obvious fact, that is the enemy of the African people is the Military elite. At this point, from historical reference, it is very reasonable to conclude ALL national African military establishment are outright enemies from within to their own people.I will further qualify this statement by advocating the only good African military is a regional African military . case in point ,…
By Mathew K Jallow Last week, two different reports focused on separate aspects of the Gambia’s political quandary, yet the reports are similar in a major way. Human Rights Watch’s blistering criticism of the two decades of political tyranny and administrative mayhem, and the Standard Newspaper’s shocking revelations of the mind-boggling state of mental health in the Gambia, encapsulate the tragic human devastation in a country that continues to veer dangerously towards utter instability and self-destruction. But the Gambian regime’s denials of brutal human rights abuses, repeated with amazing frequency by Yahya Jammeh’s lapdogs, has not hindered international institutions from…
By Sanna Camara The complete impunity with which Gambian state security services have committed numerous serious human rights violations against the people of Gambia over many years reflects fundamental disregard for citizens’ most basic human rights, a rights report has said. An independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all, in its 89-page report released on Thursday indicted the Gambia government over various and diverse cases of human rights violations, abuses and non-conformity to national and international standards. “The Gambian government has an…
Gainako has confirmed that several Gambians who were awarded Hajj tickets to perform the 2015 Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca were denied visa entries to Saudi Arabia. The annual Hajj ticket allocation which has turned political and created a lot of division within the population has been a hot topic in Gambia this year. The controversial ticket allocation appears to have brought a lot of embarrassment to many families this year especially when they announced to their families, relatives and friends that they are going to perform the Hajj only to not be able to secure Visa. Reliable reports from family…