The National Reconciliation Party NRP headed by Hamat Bah trounced the APRC candidate in the lower Saloum byelections conducted August 6th, 2015. The opposition NRP candidate Modou Bamba Gaye defeated the APRC candidate Kebba Touray almost 2:1 margin in the hotly contested elections pulling 2764 to 1618. The opposition victory came amid political tension in the country where the ruling APRC Party which has been in power for 21 years is increasingly facing political pressure to change the direction of the country. On July 22nd marking the 21st anniversary of the military take over which premise on the former government staying…
Author: Gainako
It was sudden and shocking! Like a thunderbolt, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya A J J Jammeh Babili Mansa (the Professor) stunned universal Gambia when he announced prisoner pardons on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of his ascent to power. Reactions were clearly mixed! Direct family and friends remain unquestioningly pleased. And quite understandably so! For ordinary card carrying supporters, this awesome demonstration of magnanimity accentuates the refrain about of the Professor’s exemplary leadership credentials. For Government officialdom generally, the picture is more complicated. Whatever questions may be gnawing at the entrails, the official line must…
A renowned international security expert has told Gambia Beat that Gambian president studied in “the worst US military torture school” as a soldier, which probably explains why the leader uses torture as weapon to “punish” his critics. Former Latin American military dictators like Augusto Pinochet of Chile, who was indicted by Spanish Court for crimes of torture and mass executions, and once arrested, detained in London in the 90s, went to the same military school as Yahya Jammeh. Under Pinochet’s rule in Chile, students, writers, Catholics, indigenous people and union workers were all rounded up and sent to the…
A State Department official on Tuesday declined to say whether the U.S. will issue a travel ban against Gambian officials responsible for human rights abuses in their country. The official in a statement to the Washington Blade cited a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that requires visa records to remain confidential. The official said there are “a number of provisions of U.S. law that deny entry to human rights abusers and the State Department applies them in appropriate cases.” The official noted the Obama administration late last year announced Gambia is no longer eligible to take part…
Gainako is in receipt of a press statement from the National Resistance Movement of the Gambia (NRMG) announcing a sudden change of leadership. The carefully worded brief statement only mentioned the movement’s spokesperson Capt. (Rtd) Alhagie Kanteh as being appointed the interim leader replacing the well respected Frm Colonel Pa Ann who headed the movement since its inception. Due to the brevity of the statement and inline with our commitment to our readers Gainako has decided to run it as a story so we can bring in more details to our readers so they are not left in suspense on…
Introduction Two hundred and twenty seven men and women were released and discharged from prison on account of being pardoned by the President of the Republic on July 24. It must be clear to all that the constitution under Section 82 empowers the president to pardon prisoners under the prerogative of mercy. The constitution demands that a committee be set up for that purpose to provide advice and guidance to the president in reaching such decisions. One may not know the internal workings of this pardon, but it is essential that it is seen to follow the constitutional requirements…
Our great grand -parents, grand parents, most of our parents and some of us today were raised and lived a life stuck in the ways of the dinosaurs, we all know what happened to the dinosaurs, they became extinct. The Gambia and its political apparatus is much too versatile a survivor for extinction, but rather we the progressives, the entrepreneurs, the intellectuals and the political opposition apparatus as we know it will be further marginalized into the position of yalla bahna. Over the years we have put all our political eggs in the lone basket of these political oppositions.…
By: Ousainou Mbenga In his tucked – tail retreat from travelling outside the Gambia and his cowardly movements between Kanilai and Banjul under heavy armor and the senseless military check points, Jammeh is given a taste of his own medicine of “living in fear”; thanks to the December 30, 2014 attack on the State House. Jammeh now more than ever before knows that we have driven him to the edge of the cliff of no return to join past neocolonial gangsters like him that wreaked havoc on Africa. The once paralyzing fear, never known in our beloved Gambia has finally…
Prisoners’ March: Where does the truth lies? “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song” (Maya Angelou, Poet, Educator, Activist). I know. There are times when the real truth is neither the whole truth nor the public truth. The type of image pretention and political hypocrisy in today’s Gambia is mindboggling. I too had a chance to follow the so-called march by the released prisoners. I want to believe that the Gambia have a long way to go, for the wounds are too deep. It is clear that Jammeh is not…
Pic: Google images ‘Justice Delayed amounts to Justice Denied’ Shocking is an understatement; the Gambia court of appeal presided over by Justice Edrisa Mbye, Justice Awa Bah and Justice Naceesay Sallah-Wadda today took less than 10 minutes to dismiss a high profile political appeal case filed by UDP’s Amadou Sanneh. Mr. Sanneh’s appeal case has been postponed three consecutive times without a full hearing. Today’s appeal hearing came amid controversy over President Jammeh’s abrupt prisoner pardons which has drawn eye brows in many corners. The list of people pardoned by the President included high profile criminals convicted…